Today, we explored the highlights of Yoho National Park, just to the west of Lake Louise.
It occurs to me that a map of the area would've been helpful several posts ago, but better late than never. Shamelessly stolen from some random blog:
Heading west on the Trans-Canada highway, our first stop was the Spiral Tunnels viewpoint. More specifically, the Lower Spiral Tunnel viewpoint.
It's a bit confusing to conceptualize, but there's a photo of a great 3D model in the Wikipedia article. The black line here is the Trans-Canada Highway. The lower tunnel viewpoint would be roughly at the top edge of the photo, just off the highway.
By dumb luck, we happened to stop there immediately before a train was approaching; literally within a few minutes of getting out of the car, we could hear the diesel locomotive.
Without a big lens, it's difficult to photograph, but I swear if you zoom in, you can see the train positioned just as the model shows, with the headlight of the engine visible in the trees, pulling the very long freight train up through the spiral. The white train cars are passing under the engine, moving from left to right.
As the train turned the corner to run under the highway, we were able to see it moving on three separate track segments at once. This one is even more difficult to see, because the two segments above the red locomotive are black tankers, peeking out from between the trees.
Remarking at how lucky our timing was, we drove a few miles down the highway, turned onto Yoho Valley Rd, and then stopped at the Upper viewpoint.
We had unintentionally raced the train to the second viewpoint, apparently, because we could see the white rail cars entering and exiting the spiral tunnel, up on the hillside to the left of the bare spot (where avalanches have cleared all of the trees). Again, difficult to see due to lack of a zoom lens, and it's in the shade.
Stopping at the Spiral Tunnel viewpoints was very much a short distraction on the way to the true objective, which was the Takakkaw Falls. The road up to the falls is a winding, occasionally-narrow, mountain road that is only open seasonally ("late June to early October, weather permitting").
Across the road from the falls, there's also a "wilderness hostel", with another (smaller) waterfall behind it. (The hostel is temporarily closed for maintenance, according to their website.)
Takakkaw Falls is tall enough to easily spot it in the distance, along with the swift-running, frigid stream that follows the road down to the Yoho River.
As with most locations we've visited, there was a small-but-decent parking lot next to a "day use area" with (pit latrine) bathrooms, picnic tables, and nice walking trails.
Also as with most locations we've visited, we found the famous (in Canada) Red Chairs. I think they've been occupied by people, every other place we've seen them, so I didn't include them in photos. There are apparently 11 sets of them, just in Banff National Park; I think we saw three of those.
The walk from the parking area to the falls was a along well-maintained path, over this lovely little bridge, and along the stream.
This couple was trying to get their dog to pose for the perfect photo, presumably to post on the dog's Instagram account.
For as many cars as were present in the car park, there weren't too many people at the falls. But there were also some other hiking trails, and some groups of people eating their Thanksgiving dinners at picnic tables, turkey included.
The Wikipedia page cites multiple sources claiming that this is the second-tallest waterfall in Canada, but there's a lot of conflicting information on another page, so I don't know if this is true.
The view looking back down the valley to the south was gorgeous.
On the way back to the car, we stopped to admire this model of the Yoho River valley, including the glaciers that feed the falls and the river.
One of the reasons that road is seasonal, other than what can be inferred from the various "No stopping, avalanche zone" signs, is a series of tight switchbacks halfway up the valley.
It was around noon as we were returning to Highway 1, en route to our next destination. We had a vague plan to get lunch there, but I wanted to stop for a coffee first.
The only potential option for coffee (or anything, really) in the entire park was the tiny town of Field (population ~200), and Sabrina was also curious about a point on the map labeled "Burgess Shale Fossils", both of which were conveniently located next to the Yoho National Park visitor center. We ducked into the visitor center to inquire about both of these topics.
When I asked what were my chances of finding espresso in Field, the guy's literal answer was "Well, if the Truffle Pig cafe is open, in the basement of the hotel, then it's 100%. Otherwise, it's 0%. It's the only hotel in town, by the water tower."
I then asked about parking, or how long it would take to walk there, and got something like "I live in Field, and walk to work here. If there's no train, it's 10 minutes. If there is a train, it can get much longer".
Not quite sure what to make of that, we drove around all three streets of the town, found the Truffle Pigs, and went in for some caffeine.
I commented about the train that was stopped, just outside town, with the engine idling. I probably said something clever like "we'd better hurry, or we might get stuck here."
As promised, it was right by the water tower.
The cafe was... interesting, perhaps even "eclectic", doubling as sort of a gift shop / general store.
It's definitely the only place I saw "classic poutine lounge pants", for example.
Back on the road, my words came back to bite me. Total elapsed time between train photos: 8 minutes. It wasn't even moving when we got there; I think we sat for another 10 minutes before the train cleared the crossing.
Our next destination on our tour of Yoho was Emerald Lake, just a few miles down Highway 1 and then about five miles up into the next valley.
But first, just off Emerald Lake road, we stopped to see the Natural Bridge.
The Bridge is a geologic feature carved by the Kicking Horse River.
I had parked vaguely next to two guys who seemed to be having car trouble and were busy attempting to untangle some jumper cables, with the hood up. Not really wanting to get involved, I joked that we'd try to help them after we got back from seeing the Natural Bridge. One of them replied "we couldn't find the bridge... there's just a waterfall over there." Not a great sign, I thought.
They were obviously still there; it couldn't have been 100 yards from the car to the viewing platform at the Bridge, so it didn't take long to see it.
We attempted to get their car started, but it seemed like maybe it was a more serious problem than a dead battery. That, coupled with barely-serviceable-quality cables, was not a recipe for success.
Sabrina helpfully documented the process, wandering around nonchalantly while slyly taking photos. It didn't help that they had basically parked in the shrubbery.
I joked that if they were still there when we came by in a few hours, we could give them a ride to Field. Sabrina pointed out that one of them mentioned they were headed to Calgary, and I could've sworn she was suggesting we could bring them with us, as we were also headed that way. I'm still shocked, and assume I must've misinterpreted her comment.
Ironically, one of the first things I saw when we parked at Emerald Lake was a payphone. It wasn't the first one we saw at a backcountry tourist attraction here, but the timing made me chuckle.
While not nearly as crowded as Moraine Lake or Lake Louise, the parking lot was bustling and every flat surface within 1/4 of a mile of the entrance was teeming with activity. Not even the service road for the lodge and cabins was safe.
After wandering around briefly to get our bearings, we headed for the trail around the lake; it was advertised as approximately 3.5 miles. We decided to go counterclockwise because that was the obvious direction from the bridge, although we figured out later that this was probably not the recommended route.
There were five or six of the famous red chairs in front of the lodge's clubhouse. I don't think they were the official Red Chairs.
The lodge was originally built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1902, and appeared to have been restored at some point. I think I read somewhere that CPR had built several similar lodges like this, as a way to encourage tourism and drum up business, but don't quote me on that.
The path meandered through the cabins, up and down a few gently rolling hills, giving us a false sense of how easy this hike would be.
At the end of the cabin access road, the trail abruptly turned to a dirt single-track path.
As we got deeper into the woods, the dirt turned to mud and tree roots. Expecting a "mostly flat" walk, we weren't exactly equipped for these conditions.
The views made it worth the slog, however.
It might've been around here where I asked a couple hiking the other direction if the trail was like this the whole way around. The British man said it was mud for maybe 1/3 of the way, but that it wasn't too bad; the exasperated look on his wife's face disagreed, though.
As we rounded the southeast corner of the lake, the "emerald" emerged more and more. Just like the other lakes, there was absolutely no wind, being deep in a valley surrounded by mountains in all directions.
This is the face-response to "I'm ready to take your picture when you fall in that puddle".
From the eastern shore, the sun was hitting the water at just the right angle.
We had been following behind this group of Brits, who kept stopping to take photos just ahead of us. Rather than leapfrog them around the entire lake, we usually just stopped and waited. I couldn't help indulging my habit of taking photos of people taking photos, in this case. She declared this stag handstand "not good" and did it a second time. It looked the same. 🤷
Around the halfway point, we found a spot to sit for a late lunch/snack with a view. The original plan had vaguely included lunch at whatever food facility was here, but that didn't really work out. Thankfully, one of us is diligent about keeping the snack bags in our backpacks topped up.
After snack time, we continued walking along the pebble beach until we found a path back to the main trail. The mud had mostly given way to hard, wet dirt by then, so the pace was faster.
At the northern edge of the lake, the trail swings wide around the alluvial fan, and the trail was suddenly a manicured gravel pathway, with boardwalks and bridges. This is where the marked trail, coming from the other direction, appears to end on Google Maps.
We were glad to start out with the rougher end and progress to better and better surfaces as we walked, instead of slowly getting worried about the worsening condition of the trail.
Along the western edge, the trail could probably be considered handicap accessible, albeit with a few small hills. The route went more into the woods, and by then (approaching 3 PM) the clouds were rolling in, so the views sort of ran out.
Here's where I should probably mention a few things that will become important, shortly:
- We had to get back to Calgary tonight, where we had a room reserved at an airport hotel.
- We have a 7 AM flight home tomorrow.
- The rental car had to be returned by 7:30 PM, or we'd be charged extra (it was originally 7, but I got a 30-minute buffer just by asking, when we picked it up, knowing this would be tight).
- It's almost a 2.5 hour drive from Emerald Lake to the airport.
- We had to drop off our bear spray somewhere, after we no longer needed it (anywhere that sells it will apparently take them as donations and give to park rangers, volunteers, etc.)
- We didn't have enough gas to get all the way back to Calgary anyway.
Given all of that, the original plan had been to leave Emerald Lake by 3 o'clock, get to Banff around 4 o'clock, donate the bear spray, see a few things that we'd skipped on the first Banff day, be on the way to Calgary by 5 o'clock, check into the hotel, drop off bags, gas up the rental, return it by 7.
It didn't all work out exactly as planned, although it was damn close.
Downtown Banff was mobbed, so we decided to leave the bear spray in Canmore on our way through, instead, and to get gas there as well, hoping that it would still indicate "full" after driving the ~75 miles back to Calgary.
We were almost right on time, in Banff, as we drove the scenic Tunnel Mountain drive/road, stopping at the Hoodoos viewpoint.
The scenic drive and hoodoos stop was just a short detour on the way to Lake Minnewanka. Fun fact: I just learned by reading that Wikipedia article that there's a submerged village, and another entire submerged dam, at the bottom of the lake.
There is a (tourist trap) boat tour available, but we had neither the time nor the interest. Results seemed to be split on whether or not the tour was worthwhile, when we were looking for opinions on the various activities in the area.
We mostly just walked around and admired the view. Oddly, it had suddenly gotten very windy. It was unclear if this was weather-related or just because the lake is enormous and maybe not as well shielded from the wind?
Either way, the wind was cold, so we didn't stick around too long. Also we had some looming deadlines.
Continuing the drive over the dam at the western edge of the lake, we followed the loop back toward the entrance, stopping briefly at Two Jack Lake. It was also very windy, but there were some people picnicking and the views were lovely. The red chairs were occupied, sadly.
We were nearly on schedule when leaving Banff; I think we were back on the highway by 5:30 PM, and had built some wiggle room into the plan anyway.
It was only a 20-minute drive to Canmore, where Sabrina ran into the outdoor shop to donate the bear spray, about 15 minutes before they closed (at 6). We filled the VW with gas practically across the street from where we stayed those first two nights, and jumped back on Highway 1, headed east.
What we had not accounted for, however, was the fact that it was the end of a holiday weekend in the mountains, and there was exactly one road back to Calgary (unless you count the slower, scenic 1A).
The nav screen estimated a 7:08 PM arrival at the hotel. Then it started ticking up, one minute at a time; heavy volume combined with a few construction zones and laid-back, west coast and/or Canadian drivers does not make for speedy traffic. When you're used to thinking in miles/hour, but the speedometer is in km/h and the speed limit is 110, it all seems fast anyway.
A little bit of (allegedly) creative driving got us to the hotel at the original estimate of 7:08, if I recall correctly. I rushed inside to check in while Sabrina unloaded the car onto the sidewalk. I handed her the keycard as I got back into the car to zip over to the airport. The nav said it would take 7 minutes; I had 12 minutes to spare. By the time I found the correct route through the maze of rental car returns, parked, and handed the key to the attendant, it was 7:20 PM. Gotta love it when a plan works out.
I walked over to the terminal and called the hotel to request a shuttle. The driver was confused why I only had a backpack, but asked how my flight was anyway.
Back at the hotel, I got another card at the front desk and went to find Sabrina; she'd been evaluating dinner options, organizing, and repacking bags during my solo adventure.
Rather than join the single table of customers having "Thanksgiving dinner" in the Hyatt Place lobby, we walked next door to a fancier hotel's restaurant. I ordered a burger and upgraded the side of fries to a side of poutine. Sabrina had some sort of healthy rice bowl.
By the time we got back to the Hyatt, it was just after 9 PM. We cleaned up, packed up, set an alarm for 4:30 AM, and went to bed early. We're booked on the 5 AM shuttle to the Calgary airport.
