Opal Hills

There are two outstanding hike that begin at the northwest tip of Malinge Lake and we enjoy them both - Opal Hills and across a valley, Bald Hills. For great views of the lake, go to Bald hills, and for the best wildflowers, the alpine meadows of Opal Hills, the shorter but steeper trail. As one trail guide states - from the trailhead, "the trail dips briefly and then heads grimly upward through dense lodgepole pine forest with nary a switchback, gaining elevation at a heart-pounding rate."

The trail is a lollypop, splitting at the 1.6 km point. When we got to the split, the left hand trail had a closed for bear sign. We knew that the meadow at the top of the lollypop attracted grizzlies so we weren't too surprised. We had intended to take the right hand trail to the top so we went on, wondering how far we would get before this branch closed. We met some people coming down and they told us the trail into the meadow was closed but that we could continue on a trail that climbed the side of the Opal Hills. On we went!

We usually don't stop for pictures on the way up the trail, except for animals. Usually we see marmots among the rocks in meadows, but this big fellow was hiding out in the woods. We speculated that maybe it was trying to avoid the bear up in the meadow, bears love marmots. 

Sure enough, when the trail emerged from the woods, the junction into the meadow was closed so we took a trail to the right and continued to climb.

What we got for our efforts were incredible views of Maligne Lake and the twin peaks of Mounts Unwin and Charlton.

Down below we could see the meadow and the trail running through it at the base of the two small hills on the left. The Opal Hills are to the right.

Opal Peak 

This is as far as we went, to the ridge that we guessed would take us to the top of the peak. Maybe another day.

It was very windy on the high ridge so we came down a bit a found a lunch spot in a meadow on the side of the trail.

Lunch view, the meadow that is hosting a bear this summer. We never saw the bear.

Some of the high altitude view we enjoyed while we ate our lunch.

Maligne Lake with a tour boat heading for Spirit Island. Those are the twin peaks on the left.

The northern end of Maligne Lake with the docks on the right.

Heading back down the ridge to take the same trail back down through the woods. The valley meadow is in the center at the base of the Opal Hills.

On the drive back to Jasper we passed these two mountain range ramparts. They are know as the Queen Elizabeth Range and...

the Colin Range.

Today's hike:

Length - 4.88 miles (7.86 km)

Duration - 3 hours, 24 minutes (including lunch)

Elevation gain - 2,070 feet (625 meters)