After spending so many days at Lake O’Hara over the past couple of years, I noticed that everybody seems to talk about the trails but not the lookouts. That’s why we decided to take the time over multiple days chasing all the best lookouts we could find around the area and compile them into one comprehensive guide. After sitting down and making a list, I realized something surprising: the most popular lookouts are by far not the best ones.
This exploration around Lake O’Hara in Yoho National Park will hopefully help you decide which lookouts you’ll want to see when you’re hiking in this spectacular alpine environment. Whether you’re planning your first visit or returning for another adventure, knowing where to find the most rewarding views can transform your experience in this iconic mountain destination.
In my video below, I walk through the experience exactly as shown and explained:
Introduction to Lake O’Hara Lookouts
The video begins with an important realization that shaped this entire exploration. While countless hikers visit Lake O’Hara each season and share their experiences on the popular trails, there’s surprisingly little discussion about the incredible lookout points scattered throughout the region. These viewpoints offer perspectives that many visitors never experience, simply because they don’t know where to find them or which ones are worth the effort.
Over the course of multiple days in the area, we systematically worked through every lookout we could identify, visiting each one to document the views and assess their relative merit. What emerged from this process was a clear understanding that popularity doesn’t necessarily correlate with quality when it comes to scenic viewpoints around Lake O’Hara.
Scenic Views from the Opabin Prospects and Plateau
The first section of our lookout exploration takes us to the Opabin Prospects and Plateau area. This region offers a collection of viewpoints that provide sweeping vistas of the surrounding alpine landscape. The Opabin area is characterized by its open terrain and elevated position, which naturally lends itself to panoramic views.
As we worked our way through the prospects, we took time to identify which specific vantage points offered the most compelling perspectives. The plateau itself provides a different experience than the prospects, with its more expansive terrain allowing for views that stretch across multiple valleys and mountain ranges. This area demonstrates how even within a single named region, different lookout points can offer distinctly different visual experiences.
The accessibility and variety of views in the Opabin Prospects and Plateau area make it a significant component of any comprehensive lookout tour around Lake O’Hara. The time spent here revealed why this section deserved its place as the first major stop in our systematic exploration of the region’s viewpoints.
Scenic Views Scrambling Around Yukness Mountain
The second major section of our lookout journey involved scrambling around Yukness Mountain. This portion of the exploration required more technical movement and a willingness to engage with steeper, more challenging terrain. Scrambling, as opposed to established trail hiking, opens up viewpoints that fewer visitors ever reach.
Yukness Mountain presented us with multiple opportunities to find unique perspectives on the Lake O’Hara basin and the surrounding peaks. The scrambling route we followed allowed us to gain elevation and access vantage points that simply aren’t available from maintained trails. This type of exploration requires comfort with exposed terrain and basic scrambling skills, but the reward is access to views that remain largely unphotographed and undiscussed in typical trail reports.
As we moved around different aspects of Yukness Mountain, we discovered that the mountain offers not just one signature view but rather a series of distinct lookouts, each revealing different elements of the landscape. Some positions emphasized the lake itself, while others showcased the dramatic peaks that ring the basin. The time invested in this scrambling section proved worthwhile, revealing some of the less popular but genuinely outstanding viewpoints in the entire Lake O’Hara area.
Scenic Views Around the Linda Lake Area
Moving to the Linda Lake area brought us to another distinct section of our lookout inventory. Linda Lake sits in a different part of the Lake O’Hara region, offering perspectives that contrast with both the Opabin area and the Yukness Mountain scrambles. The topography around Linda Lake creates its own set of viewpoint opportunities.
We spent time systematically exploring the terrain around Linda Lake, identifying which positions offered the most rewarding views. This area tends to receive less attention than some of the more famous destinations around Lake O’Hara, which means the lookouts here often provide a more solitary experience. The character of the views from this section differs from what we’d encountered earlier in the day, adding important variety to the overall collection of lookouts we were documenting.
The Linda Lake area reinforced one of the key findings of this entire exploration: that moving beyond the most popular destinations reveals viewpoints that often match or exceed the quality of their famous counterparts, while offering far fewer crowds and a more intimate connection with the landscape.
Scenic Views Scrambling Up to Schaffer Peak
The scramble up to Schaffer Peak represented another significant elevation gain and technical challenge in our lookout quest. Schaffer Peak stands as a prominent point in the Lake O’Hara landscape, and reaching its summit or the viewpoints along its flanks requires commitment and scrambling ability.
As we worked our way up toward Schaffer Peak, we encountered a progression of viewpoints, each revealing more of the surrounding landscape as we gained elevation. The scrambling terrain demanded attention and care, but the developing views provided constant motivation to continue upward. This type of objective separates casual hikers from those willing to push further for exceptional viewpoints.
The perspectives from higher on Schaffer Peak offered some of the most expansive views we’d encountered during the entire multi-day exploration. From this elevated position, the relationship between different valleys, lakes, and mountain ranges became clear in a way that’s impossible to appreciate from lower elevations. The effort required to reach these lookouts means they remain relatively unvisited, making them prime examples of how the most popular viewpoints aren’t necessarily the best ones.
Scenic Views Hiking Up Mount Odaray
The final major section of our lookout exploration took us up Mount Odaray. Unlike some of the scrambling objectives we’d tackled earlier, Mount Odaray involved more traditional hiking, though still with significant elevation gain. This mountain offers its own distinct perspective on the Lake O’Hara region.
As we hiked up Mount Odaray, we paid attention to how the views evolved with each gain in elevation. The mountain’s position relative to the lake and surrounding peaks means it provides angles and perspectives that are unique among all the lookouts we visited. The hiking route allowed us to identify multiple viewpoint positions along the way, not just at the summit.
Mount Odaray served as a fitting conclusion to our comprehensive lookout tour. The views from various points on this mountain tied together the landscape we’d been exploring from different angles over the previous days, providing a sense of completion to the entire project. The experience reinforced that Lake O’Hara offers far more viewpoint diversity than most visitors realize.
Following Eric Tremblay Adventures
This comprehensive lookout exploration is part of my ongoing documentation of the Canadian Rockies, which I’ve been pursuing since 2020. My channel covers a wide range of content across multiple national parks and protected areas, providing practical information for trip planning and inspiration for outdoor adventures.
For those interested in Jasper National Park, my content includes coverage of Maligne Lake, Spirit Island, and Athabasca Falls, along with hikes like Valley of the Five Lakes and the Skyline trail. I also provide information about where to stay in Jasper, including campgrounds, cabins, and hotels.
My Banff National Park coverage includes destinations like Johnston Canyon, Lake Louise, and Moraine Lake, with trail guides for Tunnel Mountain, Sentinel Pass, and Bow Glacier Falls. Accommodation information for Banff is also part of the content I provide.
For Yoho National Park specifically, beyond this Lake O’Hara lookout guide, I’ve documented Natural Bridge, Takakkaw Falls, and Emerald Lake, along with trails like the Alpine Circuit, Iceline trail, and Hamilton Lake trail. Information about where to stay in Yoho, including campgrounds, cabins, and hotels, is also available through my channel.
My content provides road trip ideas, travel guides, campground reviews, and itinerary information that can be invaluable for planning trips throughout Alberta and British Columbia. The systematic approach I take to documenting locations, like this comprehensive lookout guide, reflects my commitment to providing thorough, practical information for outdoor enthusiasts.
Resources for Planning Your Lake O’Hara Visit
For those planning to visit Lake O’Hara and explore these lookouts themselves, I maintain several resources that complement this video guide. A detailed gear list is available at EricTremblayAdventures.com/Gear, which can help you prepare appropriately for the scrambling and hiking involved in reaching these viewpoints.
I also provide a video map at EricTremblayAdventures.com/map, which can help you visualize the locations discussed in this lookout guide and plan your own route through the area. For those struggling to secure camping reservations, which can be notoriously difficult for popular destinations like Lake O’Hara, I recommend checking Campnab at campnab.com/r/s5nrrv for cancellation notifications.
The combination of this comprehensive lookout video, the supporting resources, and the detailed exploration we conducted over multiple days should provide everything you need to decide which viewpoints to prioritize during your own visit to Lake O’Hara. Remember that the most popular lookouts aren’t necessarily the best ones, and that some of the most rewarding views require additional effort through scrambling or extended hiking beyond the main trails.
