08/09/2026
Little photo dump from a fabulous day hike at Lake O’Hara in Yoho National Park!
Access to this gorgeous place is either through the lottery for a bus ticket or hut booking, or the extremely competitive campsite booking system, which sells out in seconds. If you are like us and couldn’t secure a bus ticket in, the alternative is an 11 km hike in on a not-so-exciting dirt road (no biking allowed). But the destination is absolutely worth the hike in!
Once at the lake, there are several hikes you can do, with the most iconic being the Alpine Circuit, which is about a 12.8 km loop. So of course, since we had hiked all the way in, we had to maximize our time there and do the circuit too.
This hike is challenging, dynamic, and absolutely stunning every step of the way. We swam at Oesa Lake, where we shared charcuterie and cat napped in the sun before undertaking the remaining half of the circuit.
Now, the trick with hiking in is to bring $15 and catch one of the buses out, as there are often extra seats available for the ride out only.
We timed our day well enough to be back at Lake O’Hara in time for the bus, but since we had already hiked 25 km, we collectively decided it would look good on our Stravas to hike the road out too. ;)
We wrapped the day with 36.6 km and were very tired, sore, and hungry. But what a fantastic experience, and even better company!
Photos captured on my broken Sony a7 III with a vintage 24mm lens.
