Sunday, September 04, 2005
Emerald Lake and the Vice Presidents, Yoho National Park
As our Canadian Rockies trip wound down, we decided to check out Yoho National Park, which is just west of Banff National Park. For our next trip to this part of the world, we plan to a) schedule a ride on the bus to Lake O'Hara (the only way to get there) and hike around there and b) sign up for a hike to the Burgess Shale quarries visible from Emerald Lake. Our first stop 100 yards into the hike was to eat lunch and look at the barely visible quarries way up high on the ridge. Apparently Charles Wolcott found some fossils in float and it took him a few years to find the Shale in outcrop, and looking at the location of the quarries I could see why. Anyway, back to the hike. We first traversed around one side of Emerald Lake (past the sign saying that a black bear was hanging out in the area) and headed up to the Vice Presidents. Sara and I had many loud discussions on the way up, mostly about old Simpsons episodes, as we had no desire to encounter a bear. The trail ends in an amphitheater of sorts with a hanging glacier, streams, and rocks all around. Yet another nice hike (although not as nice as most of the other hikes we took in Banff) in the Canadian Rockies, and no bears!
Length:
Vertical Gain:
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 50s
Dog Rating: I hate you guys (stuck at kennel)
