Yoho - the hidden splendor of the Canadian Rockies

I know some of the regular readers of this blog are fans of this part of Canada and have travelled a lot here. But with those exceptions has anyone heard of Yoho National Park?

I must admit that I had not heard of, or even seen images of, Yoho National Park until I was introduced to it by the Guide App on our trip up the Icefields Parkway. It is an amazingly beautiful place with so much to see. It was a delight to spend Sunday in the Park on our onward route West. 

Takakkaw Falls

Today's Route

We needed to review the options for today's journey. Before coming to Canada I had looked at the option of travelling through Kootenay National Park on a less direct route towards our destination, it is a gentle drive day today. But since arriving here I have heard so much of Yoho National Park which is on the most direct route via the AB1/BC1 - Trans-Canada Highway that I have been having a rethink. I am also influenced by the warning on the Kootenay National Park about  Forest Fires taking place in the park at present. The Kootenay fires have closed the BC93 and BC95 routes in the last few days due to fire, rather than just smoke. So we opted for Yoho and it paid off very well. 

Having made our decision we redesigned the route on Google Maps, so today our route is as follows:

Banff to Revelstoke - with stop-offs in Yoho National Park

Breakfast

I got up at 4.00am and Drew woke at 5.00am. Time for me to make coffee for us both. 

I reviewed and edited the photos we took yesterday ready to upload them at (another) visit to Starbucks later.

After our shower and other ablutions we went down to breakfast at 7am. The sausages are very tasty here, with a hint of spice. The bacon is really crispy and the potatoes are lightly sauteed with red and green peppers and onions. Delicious. 

Sunday Breakfast

Drew finished off with two pancakes with maple syrup

At 7.30am we went back to the room to finish packing our cases. It seems strange to have been fully unpacked these last few days after weeks of taking clean clothes from one case and putting dirty clothes into the other on a daily basis.

Leaving Banff

We sit relax and read until check-out at 10.00am. We drive to downtown and park, so that we can go into Starbucks to load up photos we could not load in the hotel. After an hour or so we fill up with petrol and leave Banff at 11.40am

Beginning the Trip

Having had such a good experience with the Gypsy guide on Friday I decided to use more of the Google Play voucher I have to download the Yoho one. It was really good value too. 

Before getting to Yoho the guide takes us up the Bow Valley Parkway, which runs along the AB1 and immerses you in nature. The trees were wonderful to see, but the elks and deer which were promised were nowhere to be seen.  We did manage to see the bum of a bear climbing up a tree, but that was all. 

If you have good eyesight you will see the bum of a bear up the tree

It was a chilly afternoon with the temperature at 55℉ (12.5℃). 

After the pretty detour through the valley we headed back to the AB1 at Castle Junction. 

Kicking Horse Pass

At 12.40pm we crossed over the continental divide, the point which distinguishes whether rain that falls will run to the west (the Pacific) or the east (the Atlantic). The continental decide is also the border between British Columbia and Alberta. The mappers in the 1880s earning their money travelling over this rough terrain to map the divide and therefore the Provincial borderline. It is also the border between Banff National Park and Yoho National Park.

Welcome to British Columbia

So, we cross into British Columbia at the Kicking Horse pass.  The pass, and river, have the strange name due to an incident which occured to Sir James Hector who explored the pass in 1858. Hector was kicked in the chest by a packhorse and knocked unconscious. His fellow explorers dug a grave for him, but as he was being lowered in and regained breathed loudly and woke up from his coma. He named the pass after his experience. No record is made of what he said to the horse!

Soon after Kicking Horse pass we arrived at a pull out place for the Spiral Tunnels.

Having chosen the Kicking Horse Pass for its route, the Canadian Pacific Railway had the challenge of Big Hill. This was the most difficult piece of railway track on the Canadian Pacific Railway's route. The essential problem was that the railway had to ascend 1,070 feet (330 m) along a distance of 10 miles (16 km) from Field at 4,267 feet (1,301 m) climbing to the top of the Continental Divide at 5,340 feet (1,630 m). The narrow valleys and high mountains limited the space where the railway could stretch out and limit the grade. They managed the feat of engineering, but the area was prone to steam engines blowing up and for run-away trains to break loose, the very first train on the route did just this!

The solution in twenty years later was to dig into the mountain and build the Spiral Tunnels. So an eastbound train leaving Field climbs a moderate hill, goes through two short, straight tunnels on Mt. Stephen, under the Trans-Canada Highway, across the Kicking Horse River and into the Lower Spiral Tunnel in Mt. Ogden. It spirals to the left up inside the mountain for 891 metres (0.6 miles) and emerges 15 metres (50 feet) higher. The train then crosses back over the Kicking Horse River, under the highway a second time and into the 991 metre (0.6 mile) tunnel in Cathedral Mountain. The train spirals to the right, emerging 17 metres (56 feet) higher and continues to the top of Kicking Horse Pass.

We were lucky to be there to see a train pass by with its front below us and its back above us - what a strange sight, the train looked as if it could be two trains travelling in opposite directions, not one winding around. 

The same train above and below - slightly obscured by the smoke in the air

Takakkaw Falls

We drive further into the park and are advised by the guide app to turn off the road and head for Takakkaw Falls, wow was it worth it. 

At 1.15pm we come to a place called the 'meeting of the waters' where two types of river (one a pure spring, the other glacial water meet) the cloudy, rock flour full of the later contrasts with the clear running of the former. 

Meeting of the Waters

As we progress up the valley the road has some sharp bends. One (or I guess technically two) where a long vehicle like an RV or a bus has to pull into the corner, reverse up the next bit of road into the next corner and then go forward again. (Caravans and other towed vehicles have to be unhitched and parked at the area at the bottom of the drive and picked up on return. )

How to manage the switchbacks

At 1.33pm we reach the Falls Car Park and walk across the bridge to the Falls. The falls and the way it crashed against the rock and bounce up makes it spectacular. It is the second longest falls in Canada (or as the guide put it - the longest falls in the Rockies. )

The fall of the falls also fills the air with spray, so as we get close we also have a refreshing spritzer, which is good as the temperature is 80F. 

Takakkaw Falls

Emerald Lake

We head back down the valley and onto the BC1 (as the Trans-Canada Highway is called in British Columbia). A short distance on the guide directs us to another, shorter, turn off to Emerald Lake where we arrive at 2.36pm. This beautiful green reflecting lake is a wonder of nature. The photos don't do it justice due to the smoke, but it is in a meadow setting in a bowl with high mountains and hills all around. 

Emerald Lake

One more stop on the tour is on our way back from the lake at Natural Bridge, here the power of the water in a waterfall has undercut the surrounding rocks and now flows below, not above, them looking like a bridge above. 

Natural Bridge

We got back onto the BC1 and headed further West, noting that the smoke seemed to be getting denser and by 4:10pm was almost a cloud blocking out the light. 

Glacier National Park

At 4:26pm we left Yoho National Park, and the Rockies and entered Glacier National Park. So 4:26pm becomes 3:26pm as we gain an hour due to British Columbia, apart from the two Rockies Parks (Yoho and Kootenay), being on Pacific Time and we have been in Mountain Time since we entered Saskatchewan on Tuesday. 

In Glacier National Park we were involved in road works (they are making this road a dual-carriageway) for the next 80 miles. This was gruelling as parts of the road had been scraped ready for new tarmac to be laid, making them deeply rutted and hard to drive. I think this has been the worst section of road of the whole holiday, though we have seen plenty of roadworks - Canada is limited to roadworks in the summer, due to the winter snows - none had been this long or challenging. 

We crossed the Rogers Pass 6168 feet (1880m) at 3.45pm (4.45pm as was) and headed for Revelstoke where we arrived at the Best Western at 5pm (6pm as was). 

Best Western, Revelstoke

Dinner

I've mentioned back in Quebec, that our plans for eating are flexible on the holiday until we come closer to the end and have booked places in advance. Well today we begin the more Foodie part of the holiday. Though to be fair we have not done badly already.

We had seen an eccentric looking Woolsey Creek Bistro on Trip Advisor and, as we were going to stay in Revelstoke, we decided we had to try it. The food was by no means eccentric, it was blissful, but the place has a clear focus on local, sustainable food, which is not a bad thing. <<Co-pilot's note: cough, HIPPIES, cough>>

We began with a amuse boche of homemade bread with balsamic and olive oil, a lovely palette enticer. 

Bread with Balsamic and Olive Oil

I began with Parmesan Gnocchi - this was a homemade potato gnocchi with a roasted squash purée and crispy sage beurre noisette with chunks of confit leeks. The large gnocchi pieces meant it was easy to pick up the other flavours on the plate. My tongue was tingling with delight at the end of the dish.  

Parmesan Gnocchi 

Drew had Tuna Tataki which is Haida Wild albacore tuna (river fresh and sustainable, as the menu told us) with lime aioli, ginger soy caviar and sesame crisps. Drew loved the seseme seed crisps and thought the alioli and ginger soy went well with the crisps and the Tuna. It was an excellent size portion.   

Tuna Tataki

For mains I had Duck Confit Leg - a locally farmed duck (again the menu riffs: raised naturally/medication free/ harvested ethically) with a risotto a textures of beets and a shot glass of cardamon and mint infused carrot juice. The duck was crisp on the outside and juicy in the middle, the sauces on the plate were so rich that I find it hard to describe the pleasure they gave, the shot glass of flavoured carrot juice was a great palette cleanser. Whoever cooked this food loves their food, and shows it in the care for their customer such great food fives. 

Duck Leg and all the trimmings - Duck Side

Duck Leg and all the trimmings - Decorated Side

Drew opted for the Wild Salmon, this was a grilled filet of local sockeye fillet (sustainable, of course) with a coriander and mint harissa, Tuscan grilled vegetable salad with a British Columbian Goats Cheese served with a nori sesame cracker. Drew thinks this is the best thing he has eaten on the holiday so far. The vivid orange of the Salmon was remarkable and the texture was delightful, the salmon skin was nice and crispy and the salmon was juicy. The accompaniments all went well with the main celebration on the plate - the Sockeye Salmon.  

Sockeye Salmon

For dessert it was a pleasure for me to see an Artisan Cheese Board, my second dessert of the holiday. The cheeses were served with a wholemeal crispbread which is much preferable, to my taste, than biscuits. I had a Danish blue cheese which was weeping with flavour, a lovely local goat's cheese which was rich and luscious, a brie style cheese which was soft and warning and a hard sheep's cheese in the Manchego style, which was hard and sheepy, as it was supposed to be. If I didn't live thousands of miles away I'd be here a lot more often. 

A Wonderful Cheese Board

Drew opted for Kaffir Lime creme brulee, a delightful dish with the strong flavour of kaffir lime being balanced with the sweetness of the brulee. Drew says it was perfect for him.

Creme Brulee

We each had an Espresso and left at 9.30pm, a more generous time over a meal than is common in North America. We walked back the 1.2 miles to the hotel, through the delightful little town and were in bed by 10.15pm (11.15pm by our waking time zone.)