Yoho National Park

We spent the day exploring nearby Yoho National Park. First up, Takakkaw Falls, one of the tallest waterfalls in Canada. To get there you take a road with two hairpin turns, that are so sharp buses actually have to travel backwards between them to get up the road. The falls is only a short walk from the parking lot, but it is so spectacular with its huge drop and about a ¼ of the way down it it’s rock and sprays outward.

Emerald Lake

Our next stop was Emerald Lake where we stopped for lunch. We took the 5.3 km hike around the lake. The easy way is to head clockwise around the lake – which has a flat trail and is easy to turn around when you get tired.  But, because of the angle of the sun, and my desire for nice photos, we went counter-clockwise which required us to go up and then down a hill, before beginning the flat part of the trail. Indeed, it proved picturesque, especially because the reflections were superb in the calm water. But, it made it more difficult to turn around if we got tired, because of the hill. Mary made it completely around the lake, and she was grateful for the flat trail at the end. The path had a lot of contrasts in land and vegetation. The South side of the lake was damp with plants that would normally grow near the Cascade Range on the coast. Then we came to dry-land forest, and finally an area that was wide-open from the avalanches that would regularly pass through. This area sported a lot of Fireweed and Indian Paintbrush.

Yoho Natural Bridge

Our final stop was the Yoho Natural Bridge. The water feature here used to be a waterfall, but the water undercut the rock and left a bridge of stone above with the water shooting through below.