to Yoho!

We drove the the north then headed west into British Columbia and Yoho National Park this morning. Denise wanted to hike part of the Iceline Trail. She knew doing a loop on that trail would take a lot of hours so she planned an out and back hike. Of course that meant that our hike was all up on the way out and all down on the way back.

We stopped at the park information center in Field. Denise thought we were in British Columbia but the sign said "Travel Alberta". She asked the Parks Canada person who was helping her with a map and directions. It turns out that Parks Canada and Travel Alberta have partnered on the information centers in the parks. Denise is pretty good about knowing where she is - I think she was relieved to find out that we were in the province she thought we were in. I told her it really didn't matter what the name was since we were exactly where we wanted to be.

We drove down the Yoho Valley road and left the car near the end of the road. We walked on a gravel road past the Whiskey Jack Hostel and then found the trail to Iceline heading up through the woods. The trail was mostly dry but there were some sections were the ground felt a little slippery. There was even one switchback where there wasn't anything between the edge of the trail and a steep drop down. I was a little surprised that Denise kept going even though she knew she wouldn't like that turn on the way back down. We went up and up following the twisting path, up and up some more. After 2.6 kilometers we were finally above treeline and at the real start of the Iceline trail. We walked along the trail for a while, stopping to chat with some other people, walking up some more, stopping to enjoy the scenery. Then we turned around and retraced our steps. There are two Iceline loops, one that is supposed to take 7 hours and one that says it takes 8 hours or two days. Maybe we'll come back here again some day and do the full 7 hour loop. I think that would probably take us more than 7 hours though, and I think we would need to stay in Field so we could start earlier in the morning. Hmm...

After we walked down from Iceline we crossed the road and followed the trail to Takakkow Falls. We could see and hear the falls for most of our hike today. It was only when we walked behind a ridge that the sound from the falls disappeared. Wow, that's a big waterfall!

--- Rover

Takakkaw Falls from high on the other side of the valley

Takakkaw Falls Nothing captures the awe and wonder of Yoho National Park like the tremendous thunder of Takakkaw Falls. Plunging from above at a height of 380m (1246 ft ) with a 254m ( 833 ft ) freefall, Canada's second highest waterfall leaves every visitor humbled. Fed by the Daly Glacier above, Takakkaw Falls' flow is at its peak in July when glacial meltwater is running freely. courtesy of the Field, BC page: The Waterfalls of Yoho