Hiking the BEST trail in the ROCKIES: Lake O'Hara's Alpine Circuit

We finally complete one of the best hiking trails in Canada, completing an insane 12km loop around Lake O'Hara in Yoho National Park. There are five alpine routes above the O'Hara basin for experienced hikers who are comfortable with route finding, heights and traversing exposed terrain.

Alpine routes are often shown by cairns, and may involve scrambling on scree slopes or over boulder fields where the way is marked by painted blue and yellow symbols. Expect early season closures on the alpine routes due to avalanche hazard. Hikers must be aware of avalanche conditions year round and follow protocols for travelling in avalanche terrain.

- Wiwaxy Gap / Huber Ledges
- Yukness Ledges
- All Soul's Prospect
- Abbot Pass
- Odaray Grandview*

*Note: A voluntary program is in place to limit use of the Odaray Highline Trail which provides access to this route. Please hike other trails first to help protect a vital wildlife corridor.

The Alpine Circuit was first created by George “Tommy” Link and Carson Simpson. Through the 1940s, they worked to create most of the alpine circuit we enjoy today, putting up the routes to Wiwaxy Gap and All Soul’s Prospect, as well as the Huber and Yukness Ledges. Since there was little to indicate where the trails were, Tommy decided to mark the route with red and orange squares of paint.

In 1969, the legendary Tim Auger started working as the district warden at O’Hara, and became a protege of Tommy, who was by this time in his 80s. Tommy took Tim out to all the trails he had built, and since the paint squares were fading, Tim repainted the red and orange in the early 1970s.

Fast forward to the 1980s, when Edwin Knox got his first trail crew job… at Lake O’Hara! He spent three summers up at O’Hara. Edwin overlapped the era when the trail markers were changed. One summer, Edwin was on a crew that included Rob Hemming and Diny Harrison (who later became the first woman in Canada to become a full mountain guide). Diny had studied fine art in university, and from her knowledge of the colour wheel, she knew that two colours from opposite sides of the wheel would give the highest contrast and be the most visible – even to those with colourblindness – so she chose blue and yellow. So Edwin, Diny and Rob went on a mission to paint the new squares on the alpine route. They had little stencils, small paintbrushes, and a couple of cans of paint.

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