Next door
to Banff National Park is Yoho National Park. Within the
boundaries of Yoho is Takakaw Falls. This waterfall is the
highest in all of British Columbia at 850 ft. The tree in the
foreground was about 3 ft. This is my favorite photograph from
this trip.
The Canadian Rockies are really four separate parks, Banff and
Jasper set on the Alberta side of the Divide, and Yoho and Kootenay
on the British Columbia side. The eastern parks are much larger than
their western counterparts, and on this trip Dave and I were in
three of the four, but we only got to see Banff. You would need at
least a full week in each park to really see much of it (don’t even
think all unless you have a few years to spend).
Late that morning, when most others were just leaving the bathroom,
Dave and I entered Yoho National Park and headed to Takakkaw Falls.
Bird Woman Falls in Glacier had been great, but we never got closer
than a mile from it, but still at 492 feet, it was impressive.
Takakkaw Falls is fed by the Waputik Icefield and we walked up and
stood in the spray at the base of the 254 meter fall. That is about
825 feet! I mean holy shit! The side of the valley where the falls
were was just a flat cliff in both directions, with this huge
waterfall in the middle. It’s a little bit of an effort to get to
it, but make the effort.
We stayed there for about an hour or so. There isn’t really anything
else to do or see, we were just so dumb struck by the magnificent
waterfall that we just sat at the little viewing area (virtually
alone) and stared in wonder. When we shock ourselves out of it we
headed back to Banff to catch the Icefield Parkway and see the
northern half of the park.
There is a nice little stopping point at the actual place where the
continental divide is. A big arch and a little get out and look
around place. If you don’t know, the divide is where the water
splits from running east to running west, and they have a little
creek to show you just that. And a bathroom. If you go to Dave’s web
site (iamdave.com) the picture of him that is on the opening page, I
took at that little pull off.
We also saw a group that elected to see the park a different way.
There are groups that you can ride a bike through the park with,
they follow in a van with your gear and to be there in case of
emergency (like if a grizzly grabs you off your bike, they will
recover and wash it for the next customer). We saw some solo cyclers,
carrying all their gear with them, and looking like the were killing
themselves on the hills, but the effort is why you do it. They’re
just backpackers with wheels.
