Abbot Hut Stories (Part 4)

This the fourth in a five part series of posts on our adventures in the Lake O’Hara area. If you missed the earlier posts, go here:

• Abbot Hut… A Bucket List Adventure (Part 1), 
• The Wiwaxy-Hubert Ledges Route (Abbot Hut Part 2) and
• Gettin’ Screed (Abbot Hut Part 3).

This hut has incredible, rustic charm, a long mountaineering history, and plenty of tales to tell. While achieving the climb to the historic refuge, and being up there, on top of the world, adventuring, cooking, sleeping and eating with great friends was an amazing experience, what captured my imagination even more were the stories of the people who had come before us.

The hut has a sign-in book in which visitors can write and draw. There was certainly a common theme: surviving the scree slope and conquering fear. But what I found overwhelmingly wonderful was the sense of joy that permeated just about all of the writings in the 2016 & 2017 books.

Some of the entries were the basic, “Wahoo, we did it!” kind of posts… but some shared intimate details of personal struggles, revealing in their stories who these people were, who they wanted to be, how the experience of coming to Abbot Hut had profoundly effected their life journey, often revealing who they were becoming in the process. It was fascinating stuff.

Some entries celebrated the fabulous outhouse and its views (!! Really!!). Some celebrated friendships, old and new. Some thanked the ACC and Parks Canada for making opportunities like this available to all. And some… well, some were downright funny. Come along & see…

What a location! At night, the winds blew so fiercely, it felt like you’d get blown off the narrow spine connecting the outhouse to where the hut stood!

I’ll leave you with our entries in the book (and for the record, if anyone’s out there maintaining that proverbial record, there was definitely more than one bear in that sleeping nook upstairs!).

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To be continued... next up: descending the scree and completing the Alpine Circuit (heading out via Lake Oesa, the Yukness Ledges & the All Soul’s and All Soul’s Prospect route).

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To find out more info about the hut we stayed at, go here: Alpine Club of Canada. If you are wanting to book passage on the bus to the Lake O’Hara area, go here: Yoho National Park Bookings. And if you want to find out more about the amenities at Lake O’Hara, go here: Lake O’Hara Lodge.

Don’t be too discouraged. Access is limited for a reason, to preserve the beauty and ecosystem of this incredible place. And people DO bail on their bookings… especially if the weather is bad.

• SO it is possible to snag a cancellation (calling ahead 1-877-737-3783).
• You can go to the bus shelter pick up spot at the base of the road and talk to a Parks Canada person (green uniform & a clipboard). You can get on the bus if there is space from no-shows that day.
• Also, watch the Hike Alberta and the Scrambling In The Canadian Rockies facebook pages for notifications of people selling off their spots as their plans change closer to hiking season.
• Cancellations are also posted on the Yoho Trail Conditions page by Parks Canada. Be flexible about your dates, keep this page open on your phone, refresh it frequently, and you’re far more likely to get in. (Thanks for the tip, Ian!)

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Click here for more terrific hikes in Yoho National Park. And check out more hikes from Canada and our adventures around the world here.