Could really use advice re: this place.
Have been several times to the Rockies in Fall & have never had any luck w/this spot.
And, so have held off on visiting this part of Yoho, thus far. (Have been to sights closer to Emerald Lake Lodge)

Considering planning well in advance this time around. And are considering a summer trip, this time around.

Wondering, if anyone here could share their experience at Lake O'hara Lodge & in that vicinity? Do you think it would be particularly nice at a certain time of summer/fall? If so, *please* share! We could really use the insight.

It's quite steep, to say the least. But, if it's in a *glorious* location & neat area to stay in...we might just splurge. Our Fall trip this year we had planned to Vancouver Island unfortunately had to be cancelled due to a family health situation. So, we have some $$ saved up.

If you've been, did you stay in a Lodge Room/shared bath or one of the Cabins?
They call them lakeside, but I don't know if they are really that much more 'lakeside' than the Lodge? There's quite a significant price difference.

Anyway, just wondering if you'd say the experience is worth the price? One reason it's so much more, too, is it includes all meals. We're vegetarians, so again...perhaps they don't 'excel' as much w/our kind of food. Not sure if they excel w/any. I'm just assuming it's decent, however, based on the cost.

'Course I know what weather you get, determines often just how 'worth' you consider a visit/stay. ;-) It can influence greatly the 'feel' of a place, naturally.

Are 2 nights enough, or would 3 make more sense. Thanks so much!! Appreciate your time.

Oops!
Don't know what I did wrong in posting this. Meant to post to the B.C. section.

Also, somehow I just now found a thread on this topic, even tho' I thought I'd checked thoroughly before. :-{ Apologies if this is too redundant. Didn't mean for it to be.

I even posted on the other person's thread. But, completely spaced checking back...
must be 'cos of all the stuff that's been going on w/my elderly mom. Just been too pre-occupied, of late.

So, I'm happy to have found the info shared there...and, if anyone else has any further recommendations/thoughts on the Lake O'hara Lodge or area, that would still be most appreciated!

Could esp. use advice on just when is the best time to visit.
Do you have a favorite time of year in the Rockies??

Hello Daydreamer,

Several of your questions were answered in this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34508876

Paraphrasing what Bob Brown says about this place, if you are not already convinced that it's the Holy Grail, and if you still are asking whether or not it's worth going there, it may not be the place for you.

Nonetheless, I will attempt to answer your questions.

>>>>>>Considering planning well in advance this time around. And are considering a summer trip, this time around.<<<<<<

By the standards of Lake O'Hara Lodge, enquiring at the end of October 2004 in order to go in the summer of 2005 is not "planning ahead." I don't know whether or not there are vacancies in 2005. If you want to go, you may have to enquire about 2006.

>>>>>>Do you think it would be particularly nice at a certain time of summer/fall?<<<<<<

If you love mountain scenery, Lake O'Hara would be wonderful at any time of year. Although I have not been there in September, I think that might be a particularly nice time to go, because the larch trees would have turned to gold.

>>>>>>If you've been, did you stay in a Lodge Room/shared bath or one of the Cabins?<<<<<<

My husband and I stayed in a lodge room, and my parents-in-law stayed in a lakeside cabin. Yes, the lakeside cabins really are lakeside cabins. The main lodge building is set back from the lake a little way.

>>>>>>Anyway, just wondering if you'd say the experience is worth the price?<<<<<<

The answer to that would vary from person to person. To me, the opportunity to be in a pristine wilderness, with only a handful of people staying in the same place (and whom one does not see when everyone fans out to hike in different directions during the day) is worth a lot.

>>>>>>One reason it's so much more, too, is it includes all meals. We're vegetarians, so again...perhaps they don't 'excel' as much w/our kind of food. Not sure if they excel w/any. I'm just assuming it's decent, however, based on the cost.<<<<<<

The cuisine is excellent. I don't know what the vegetarian cuisine there would be like but, if you were to let them know in advance, I'm sure they'd accommodate you.

>>>>>>Course I know what weather you get, determines often just how 'worth' you consider a visit/stay.<<<<<<

We spent all day hiking. Towards the end of our hike, in the late afternoon, it started to snow. It carried on snowing all night, and by the next morning the place looked like a Christmas card. That was on the July 1st long weekend a few years back. Lake O'Hara is at quite a high elevation, and anything can happen at any time. For us it was quite a treat. With a huge roaring fire in the lounge and snow outside, the lodge felt all the more romantic to us.

The lodge has a library with interesting old books in it. You can borrow one and curl up and read if you have some time between getting back from your hike and dinnertime.

If you can afford it, 3 nights would be better than 2. However, 2 nights with one full day of hiking would be enough to get a sense of what the place is like.

The lodge rooms are quite small. The rooms in the lakeside cabins are more spacious. My husband and I didn't mind the small room. But then, since we had driven from Calgary for just a couple of nights, we had minimal luggage with us. Someone coming to Canada for a longer period might have more luggage and might experience a lodge room as more cramped than we did.

When we were there, the lodge did not serve liquor. However, one could bring one's own alcoholic beverages and have them with one's dinner if one wished. We sat on the front verandah of my parents-in-law's cabin and had a pre-dinner drink while our dinner wine was chilling in the lake.

The lodge gives one the choice of several kinds of sandwiches for a picnic lunch if one wants to spend the day hiking. You write your name and the kind of sandwiches you want in a book the night before. In the morning, the sandwiches of your choice are waiting on a counter in a brown bag with your name on it.

Hope that helps.

Hello Daydreamer,

Sorry, your 2nd post in this thread wasn't showing when I answered the questions from your 1st post.

Anyway, to answer your other question about the best time to visit the Canadian Rockies. My own favourite time is from the middle of June to the end of September. That is when one can be guaranteed that nearly all of the lakes will be thawed, and one can see them at their turquoise best.

However, the mountains are packed with visitors in July and August. While June and September also are busy, they are not AS busy. So I think the latter half of June or any time in September are the best times to go.

Actually not ALL of the lakes are thawed by the middle of June, but most are, and certainly the ones that are most frequently visited by tourists are thawed by then.

During our July 1st trip to Lake O'Hara, which I mentioned before, our hike brought us to a lake that was at an even higher elevation than Lake O'Hara and that was still frozen.

All the best to your mom.

Gosh, Judy!
Thank you so *very* much!
I appreciate your time. Your info was most helpful!!

We would have a lot of luggage, I'm guessing, unless we could leave some in the car, wherever that gets parked for the bus in. Our trip will probably be 2 weeks.

May I ask if you posted on that other thread, as cmfong? Just curious if your review here makes this two "thumbs up" reviews for regular lodge rooms...or just one. ;-)
(I know we all sometimes have various emails we use at times.) If you're not the same person, then, someone else too, seemed plenty pleased w/the lodge rooms. So, that's encouraging.

Did you think the cabins were way more quaint, since you got to see your in-laws'? Or, not so much?

Anyway, your advice was *most* helpful! Actually, I'm too late as of now for the primetime (July/Aug) but not necessarily for the edges of the season...very early or very late. And, also, they could still get openings, as they don't yet have deposits in. That happens later this Fall.

We've been to the Rockies in autumn twice now, & I'm thinking we may have a conflict this year too...so that's why I was inquiring esp. about summer months & when's best. I naturally gravitate towards Fall, but don't have that option this time.

Would be nice to see wildflowers for a change, but...
to gain the smaller crowds of June & a bit more freedom to travel some places w/out reservations...
probably means we'd have to do without the flowers, huh?

I'm guessing they don't appear 'til mid-July in these alpine areas?

Also, you mention the lakes being frozen. (some of them) I take it, Lake O'Hara itself was thawed when you went that weekend of July 4th?
And, you felt like all the hikes you'd want to do, were accessible? We're not major hikers. Have done the tea hikes at Lake Louise & some others at Moraine, but it's not like we'd need the most rigorous ones open. ;-)

One last question...
does the lodge offer any naturalist-guided walks...like Moraine Lake Lodge does?

Sometimes, when you're only 2 travelling together, like w/my hubby & me, having guided walks can help you meet quotas. Some of these areas, recommend/enforce *not* hiking w/fewer than 6 due to grizzly activity. That was the case, at least, when we were at Moraine Lake last time.
Thanks again!!!
(appreciate the wishes for my mom, too)

Hello Daydreamer,

No, I'm not cmfong. That is someone else.

The lakeside cabin that my parents-in-law had was a log cabin, and looked quaint from the outside. I didn't think it looked particularly quaint inside. It was just more spacious than our lodge room, and it had an en suite bathroom, which our room didn't have.

The lodge building, which is made of logs and stone, is quite quaint in itself.

Some wildflowers appear in June. Moss Campion, for example, starts flowering about mid June. Flowers are more prolific, however, from the beginning of July onwards.

Yes, Lake O'Hara itself was thawed when we were there. Early in the morning, my husband took one of those photos of it where you don't know which end of the picture is the right way up, because the reflection in the water is so clear. We have an enlargement of it framed on the wall of our breakfast nook.

The area has a great variety of hikes, so it's easy to choose a hike for one's own fitness level.

The good thing, from the bear point of view, is that there are many hikes in alpine meadows, where one is out in the open, and doesn't feel as if one will get a big surprise when one turns a corner in the forest.

Lake O'Hara Lodge did not have a naturalist / guide when we were there. The lodge did sell topographical maps, however, and I do recommend getting one of those.

Judy in Calgary has helped me plan a couple of trips and I found her very helpful. As to the hikes, they did not have a naturalist there during any of my three visits, however, there were naturalists over at the Alpine Club hut who proved very helpful with our questions. The trails are exceedingly well marked and my husband and I found ourselves quite at ease hiking alone. Warnings about bear activity are easily noted. I hope you go. It is a great experience.

PS, I am a vegetarian as well and have been exceptionally happy with the meals served to me at Lake O'Hara.

Thanks again to you both!!
Thrilled to hear the meals were satisfying, too, to boot.

Okay...we'll make it a big target, then, this time around. And, I think we'll just stay open to whatever happens to pop up.

Price-wise..the lodge is more appealing. Altho', it sounds like cabins aren't silly to go for either, if only given that choice.
(and, we'd just have to limit it to 2 nights then)

Leaning towards the 3 nights in the Lodge, for more time there.
Appreciate your help!!

And, Judy...neat that you've that particular photo gracing your walls.
Inspiring. (my hubby is a great photographer...as a hobby)

If you want to go to Lake O'hara Lodge, you may be too late. Ask, and get on the waiting list. I got there the first time by falling into a cancellation.

The food is good, no doubt.
The scenery is good, no argument.

Why not take the bus in as a day visitor?
You can reserve a spot in advance through Yoho Nat. Park HQ.

There is a bus fee and a booking fee.
You take a gamble on the weather of course.

Lake McArthur is usually frozen until after July 4th. O'Hara itself is lower and usually ice free by the end of June. But it depends on many factors we cannot predict.

With the US dollar growing weaker daily against the Canadian dollar, lake O'Hara Lodge is rather expensive.

Have you looked at the prices??