Banff & Jasper National Parks

Emily woke us up at 6:30 AM and was ready to go so we were on the road by 7:00am. The clouds were low as we got onto the Transcanadian Highway and headed west over the famous Kicking Horse Pass and the Continental Divide and into Yoho National Park (we had been in Banff National Park since Friday morning). We descended Kicking Horse Pass and then headed up Yoho Valley Road. The road needed a very tight switch back to get through a portion of the valley. We saw an RV have to back up the switch back and noticed the signs said they had to do this, After seeing the curve at the top, backing the switch back was the RVs only chance.

It was pretty cold and lightly snowing when we got to the parking lot for Takkakaw Falls / Twin Falls and about 8:15am. We did the short hike up to Takkakaw Falls (second highest in Canada I think) and everyone admitted it was cold very cold to us! The Canada National Park system put red lounging chairs at scenic points in the parks and we found a pair a the over look for Takkakaw Falls!

We warmed up in the car for about 20 minutes before officially starting up the Yoho Valley Trail at 9:25 AM. Those hand warmers Scott convinced us to buy were a life saver for our hands and feet even with gloves! About 2 km (and 30 min) in, we arrived at the Angels Staircase Falls Overlook, but the falls were dry this late in the year. We then did the short trail up to Point Lace Falls which were very pretty. Here at Point Lace Falls, it started snowing harder and it made the whole forest pretty. We considered turning back for fear of the snow increasing even more, but continued on. We arrived at Laughing Falls at about 11:00 AM and the weather had been improving for a while. The sun even started to peak out from this point on.

We arrived at Twin Falls Chalet at about 12:25 which was closed for the year. A sign outside of it said they couldn’t feed hikers anymore anyway and the chalet was just for hikers with reservations (Twin Falls Chalet was privately owned I think and not park owned like the tea houses). The chalet was already winterized so we looked around for a bit and did the loop up to the Twin Falls over look. Twin Falls was actually only one fall since it was so late in the year and the water flow was low, but still very tall and pretty. We started back down to the car at 1:10 and had a nice uneventful hike back. The clouds had mostly lifted and we got to see all of the peaks of Yoho Valley.

We got back to the car at about at about 3:30. Our drive out down Yoho Valley Road provided even more views! We stopped at the upper spiral tunnel view point and got to watch a Canadian Pacific train climbing the pass exit the upper portal of the upper tunnel of the famous twin spiral tunnels on Kicking Horse Pass. However, there were many trees in the way of a great view. We then stopped at the lower spiral tunnel view point off of the highway itself. Right when we were about to leave, we saw a double stack train drift down in front of us and enter the upper portal of the lower spiral tunnel. We stood and got to watch it exit the lower portal and continue all the way down the mountain. The stop lasted longer than we had planned. We headed back to the hotel and got cleaned up. We again tried to go eat at the bar in the Fairmont Lake Louise, but they were again only accepting hotel guests. We went back to our hotel, the Lake Louise Inn, and ate at the pizza place there. Not bad pizza, but nothing special either.

Twin Falls Hike / Yoho Valley Trail - 9.8 Miles round trip; 990 ft elevation gain

Safe Travels,
B&E

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