A Walk along Yukness Ledge

Yukness ledge is part of the Alpine Circuit, a hike so good, it has an elusive 4.9 star rating which is unheard of for a 'hard' trail. At 2300 meters above sea level, the views from up here are difficult to describe but here we go. We are a few hundred meters above Lake O'hara looking at the Wiwaxy peaks.

Watch your step, it's a long way down! The slope is around 32 to 35 degrees which means you want to stay on the trail. One would think with a view this good, it's difficult to pay attention but instinct takes over.

Yukness ledge takes one around Yukness Mountain. We were hiking from Lake Oesa to the Opabin Plateau which is pictured in the background below Mt Schaffer.

Some people are in a rush to get off the ledge while others like to hang back and take it all in. The entire circuit is 11 kilometers and you do about 800 meters of vertical. It's not really a hard hike in that you don't need to use your hands more than once or twice but the vertigo can be daunting.

As one rounds the corner the trail begins to descend into the Opabin Plateau. It's nothing short of magical to enter from the high road. The views are unbelievable along the entire ledge.

We are high up in the Canadian Rockies in Yoho National Park, it's in British Columbia. On the other side of the mountain (to the left) is Alberta. Yukness Mountain is on the continental divide. It's that squiggly line which divides the two provinces on the map of Canada.

That would be mount Biddle, a 3300 meter peak on the other side of the valley. I wanted to hang out and enjoy the view but there was so much to see and we had to continue on our hike.

The only animals up here asides from birds we saw were Pikas. They make chirping noises like Pikachu and are only found in upper alpine zones.

We came here at the height of the summer and hope to come back this year. Due to the sensitive nature in the area they only allow a few thousand people to take a bus to the area and cars are prohibited. There's still one week left to enter the draw to get a chance to purchase a bus ticket to visit the lake O'hara area, this is a window that opens up for a few weeks each year and let's just say it's a highly sought after ticket. Thanks for reading.

All photos were taken with an s22 and are unfiltered