Linda Lake

Linda Lake is an alpine lake in Yoho’s Lake O’Hara area, reached from Elizabeth Parker Hut by way of Lower Morning Glory Lake. It’s a good add-on if you want a shore circuit among the larger Lake O’Hara hikes; this is a hiking destination, not a roadside pullout. The Linda Lake and Morning Glory route is listed as 3.5 km one way with 140 m of elevation gain from the hut.

The trail stays level through forest for the first 1.6 km from the hut. After the Lower Morning Glory Lake connection, the Linda Lake Beeline climbs steeply for its final 300 m to the water. From there, the trail circles the shoreline and descends on gradual switchbacks to the Lower Morning Glory Trail, or continues to Lake O’Hara Campground. It’s a through-route, so plan how you’ll connect it to the rest of your day.

At the west end of Linda Lake, the trail continues through meadows toward Cathedral Lakes. The northeast ridge of Mount Odaray rises as a 900 m rock buttress above Duchesnay Valley, giving this walk a much bigger alpine backdrop than the lake alone.

Many lakes in the Lake O’Hara area are kettle ponds: depressions in glacial debris left when buried chunks of ice melted. Linda Lake itself isn’t specifically identified as one, but that glacial history helps explain the basin’s chain of lakes and hollows.

The lake’s emerald water, wooded edges and steep alpine slopes make the circuit the best place to take in its scale. From the shore, include a strip of forest with the water and mountain backdrop so the frame shows more than a sheet of turquoise.