Lake McArthur

Access to Lake O’Hara is limited to protect this alpine area, and the shuttle requires an advance reservation. It carries visitors 11 km up the access road to Le Relais, where the trail starts. Walking instead adds 22 km round trip before the hike; cycling is prohibited on the road, and pets aren’t allowed on the bus. The main hiking window is July through late September, though higher routes can stay snowbound into late June. Le Relais sells hot drinks and snacks during hiking season, so treat it as a useful snack stop rather than a meal plan.

The circuit leaves Le Relais through an alpine meadow near Elizabeth Parker Hut, then climbs through larches for about 800 metres. It crosses a bridge over Schäffer Creek and continues through McArthur Meadows to McArthur Pass. From there, the Low Level Trail follows a rock ledge and open meadow to the north shore. The loop returns on the McArthur Highline Trail, with a steep descent by Devil’s Rockpile before it levels out toward Le Relais.

From the shore, the blue water sits beneath a broad bowl of layered rock and glacier. Give the basin a moment to come into view rather than treating the lakeshore as a quick turn-around. For a photo, keep some of the rocky shore in the foreground and aim across the lake so the glacier and enclosing peaks stay in the same frame.

The larger McArthur Valley–Cataract Brook corridor gives wildlife a route across the Rockies. Parks Canada identifies the adjacent Odaray Plateau as seasonal habitat for grizzlies and mountain goats. Serious grizzly conflicts in McArthur Valley and on the plateau led to access restrictions in 1993; some neighboring routes still have wildlife protections, so check the current trail report before setting out.