Yoho National Park (Parks Canada) Guide ; National Parks Navigator

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Yoho National Park

What to visit?

Yoho is directly West of Banff Nationl Park and was created soon after the completion of the transcontinental railroad that goes through it. In fact it lies just over the Continental Divide and you enter through Kicking Horse Pass . The Pass is named after an actual event when an early explorer was kicked by his horse coming through this one of few passess through the Rocky Mountains. The Canadian Pacific Railway chose this pass for its railway route uniting Canada by rail since it was the shortest way. It is also the Route of the Trans Canada Highway (Route 1). The views from the top of the pass are incredible. The special railway engineering that took place to build a safe passage for trains is extraordinary. Spiral Tunnels , modeled after a system used in Switzerland, were built to keep the grade accessible for trains. In action trains disappear into one Rocky Mountain tunnel and emerge from another at a different elevation on the steep slopes. The railway history here is significant since the Park was first created by the railroad for tourism. The Park's only Village (population 200) is Field. This old railway constuction base and station is also home to the Park Visitor's Center. Yoho means awe and wonder from the native Cree language. There is plenty of awe here with 28 Mountain Peaks each above 3000 metres and one of the highest waterfalls in Canada: Takakkaw Falls (384 metres or 1260 feet). The Park also contains some of the world's oldest fossil beds found on a ridge between Mount Field and Wapta Mountain. 505 million year old shale contains soft bodied fossils of ancient sea creatures from the Cambrian Seas. Hiking adventures abound in this wilderness.

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How to get to the Park?

Access by car via Trans-Canada Highway Route 1. Yoho is accessible via Greyhound bus . By Air travel to Calgary and rent a car (Enterprise Rent-a car) to access the Park. Rail to Yoho is by Rocky Mountaineer .

Where to stay?

Accomodations: Camping: Yoho National Park has 4 campgrounds in season.

Hotels: Suggested in Yoho: Emerald Lake Lodge and in nearby Field: The Great Divide Lodge .

Yoho Campgrounds

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