Things to do
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Emerald Lake
Glacial flour gives this lake in Yoho a green that shifts with the light and the season, deepest after the summer melt. A level loop of about five kilometres circles it, crossing an alluvial fan and a pocket of western red cedar on the shaded side. Canoes are rented at the lodge on the near shore. The access road leaves the highway near the Natural Bridge.
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Takakkaw Falls
Meltwater from the Daly Glacier drops more than three hundred metres off a cliff in the Yoho Valley, loudest on a hot afternoon when the ice above is running hardest. Ten minutes on foot from the car park reaches the spray at the base. The approach road climbs switchbacks so tight that coaches must reverse through them, and snow closes it for much of the year.
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Burgess Shale
Soft-bodied animals of the Cambrian seas lie pressed into mudstone on the ridges above Field, half a billion years old and detailed down to gut and gill. Charles Walcott opened the main quarry early last century, and the beds later carried a UNESCO listing. Visits are by guided hike only, a long steep day booked well in advance. Collecting a fossil is an offence.
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Lake O'Hara
Access to this alpine basin is rationed: a quota bus runs the eleven kilometre road in summer and seats are drawn in a lottery months ahead, though walking in is always allowed. Above the lake a web of trails engineered by early guides links Oesa, Opabin and a high alpine circuit. A lodge and a campground hold the few who stay. Snow lingers into July.
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Wapta Falls
Eighteen metres high and much wider than tall, this fall carries the volume of the whole Kicking Horse near Yoho's western boundary. A flat trail of a few kilometres leads in from a gravel spur off the highway, ending above the lip, with a steeper branch descending to the base. The access road is rough and closed by snow. Spray soaks the lower path, and the last stretch down is steep.
