Yoho National Park Guide

November 29, 2023December 4, 2025 / Maria / 1 Comment

In the land of National Parks, Yoho is Banff’s equally stunning, but less popular cousin. It’s been growing a lot in popularity to be sure, and there are specific parts of the park that are very popular, but overall it is overshadowed by Banff and Jasper. I’ve only been exposed to a small part of what this park has to offer, but here’s what I learned in my limited time there.

Getting There

Yoho National Park is characterized by Highway 1 (aka the Trans Canada Highway), which runs through the entirety of the park, connecting it to both Banff and Calgary, and Golden and the rest of BC. There’s the small town of Field located in the center of the park and the rest is pretty much wilderness. If you’re coming from Calgary, the obvious option is to drive Highway 1 through Banff and on to Yoho. If you’re coming from BC, it’s a 45 minute drive from Golden to Field. No matter how you get there, there’s so much to see in the park!

Where to Stay

Where to stay depends on what kind of sleeping experience you’re looking for. If you’d like to stay in a hotel, you can choose from Field, Lake Louise, Golden, or even Banff. Field is the obvious choice since it’s already located in the park, but there are very limited options in Field, so you’d definitely want to book in advance. If you have a large budget, you could even check out the Fairmont lodge at Emerald Lake, which is incredibly beautiful (and high end). Another nearby option is Lake Louise, which is a 20 minute drive and also has limited hotel options, so I’d personally recommend Golden. It’s 45 minutes away, but there are lots of budget options available and more restaurant selection (and it’s cheaper than Banff).

If you’d like to camp, there will be a lot more options available and you may be able to stay directly in the park. But if you want to be assured a campsite, then you need to be prepared to book sites when they release around March because all of the National Parks are popular and they book up fast. See the next sections for more information on your camping options.

Frontcountry Camping

If you’re new to camping, then frontcountry camping is what you’re looking for. These are drive in sites, so you can store lots of things in your car and they’re much easier to get to than backcountry sites. There are 3 full frontcountry sites and 1 partial frontcountry site – however, only 1 of these sites can be booked through the Parks Canada reservation site, the rest are first-come, first-serve, which can be risky. Check early in the year for the date that sites will be released.

Kicking Horse Campground – This is the largest campground in the park, but it still only has 88 sites, which is small compared to Banff, Jasper, and Kootenay. It’s located near Field and is usually open from late May to early October. This is the only campground with reservable sites.

Monarch Campground – This campground is also located near Field and has 44 first-come, first-serve sites. It is usually open from May to September.

Hoodoo Creek Campground – This campground is located on the edge of the park near Golden, so it is a bit further from the main attractions. It has 30 first-come, first-serve sites and it is usually open from July to September.

Takkakaw Falls Campground – This campground is only partially frontcountry. This means you can’t drive right into your campsite. It’s ~1km walk to get to the sites, so you can still haul in more gear, especially if you want to take a wagon, but you need to practice bear safety because you can’t put all your food and smellies in your car. It has 35 sites and it is usually open from mid June to early October.

Lake Louise Campground – While not in Yoho Park, Lake Louise is a great alternative because it’s only 20 minutes from Field and it has 206 tenting sites and 189 RV sites! So it’s your best bet at securing a reservable site (I got one 2 weeks before my trip) and it has a full shower house.

Backcountry Camping

Backcountry camping is my preferred method of camping, but it is a whole different beast than frontcountry. It revolves around hiking and you have to carry everything you need on your back, so you should only attempt backcountry if you’re aiming to complete a hike.

There’s a few options for backcountry sites in Yoho, these are all reservable online when the sites release around march every year:

Laughing Falls – this campsite is probably the most easily accessible on the list. It’s located 5km from the Takkakaw Falls trailhead and travels along the Yoho River on mostly flat terrain. It’s located next to the Falls with 5 campsites and can be hiked on its own or as part of a circuit on the Iceline Trail or a stopping point on the way to Twin Falls.

Twin Falls – this campsite is located 9km from the Takkakaw Falls trailhead, or 4km from Laughing Falls. It has 5 campsites and from Twin Falls you can either explore the Iceline Trail or continue up to the Wapta Glacier on the Bow Yoho Traverse (advanced hikers only).

Yoho Lake – this campsite also involves ~5km of hiking, but it’s in much steeper terrain than Laughing Falls, so be prepared for more of a challenge. There are 5 sites located on Yoho Lake and it’s a great stopping point from which to explore parts of the Iceline Trail or to complete as a circuit.

Little Yoho Valley – this campsite is located at the midpoint of the Iceline Trail loop, so it’s approximately 10km coming from either side of the loop. It’s at the back of the valley below the Iceline Trail and is the most ideal campsite if you’re doing the full 20km loop.

McArthur Creek – this campsite is located 16km from the highway on the Great Divide Trail. I believe it’s most commonly used by thru hikers on the trail, but you could use it to connect to Helmet Falls and the Rockwall Trail in Kootenay National Park as well.

Lake O’Hara – by far the most popular campsite in the park. There are 30 sites located 1km from iconic Lake O’Hara and the booking includes a ride on the Parks Canada bus into and out of the park. It’s very hard to get bookings for Lake O’Hara, so be prepared as soon as the sites release. See my post on Lake O’Hara for more details on booking.

Backcountry Huts

In addition to the campgrounds, there are several backcountry huts located in the park that can be booked through the ACC. Two of these huts require glacier travel and are for advanced hikers/skiers, so I have not included them. The other two are more easily accessible!

Elizabeth Parker Hut – located near Lake O’Hara, this hut is just as popular as the campground and is one of the ACC’s most accessible huts. It’s only a 500 metre walk from the bus stop, but I’m not sure if your booking includes a seat on the bus, so you may need to book the bus separately or plan to hike 11km up along the road.

Stanley Mitchell Hut – located at the midpoint of the Iceline Trail loop, near Little Yoho Valley campsite. This is a large hut located in the meadows under the Iceline Trail. It can be accessed from 2 directions, both of which are ~10km.

Hiking

There is a lot of hiking available in Yoho National Park and my knowledge on all of these hikes remains limited. I’ve included a brief overview of some of the trails as a starting point, but recommend doing your own research.

Lake O’Hara Alpine Circuit – a 12km breathtaking trail that wraps around Lake O’Hara through the alpine. If you are lucky enough to get a pass on the bus, you can start from the official trailhead, otherwise you will need to hike an additional 11km each way on the road.

Lake McArthur – another trail that starts from Lake O’Hara and requires a bus pass. From the bus stop, it’s an 8km round trip hike up to this gorgeous alpine lake. There are lots of branches on this trail, so it is possible to turn it into a loop trail. Add 11km each way for the road if you don’t have a bus pass.

Linda Lake – a 10km trail that runs from the Lake O’Hara campground. It was recommended to me as an alternative hike to the alpine circuit on a rainy day, so I’m assuming it’s mostly forested. Add 11km each way for the road if you don’t have a bus pass.

Odaray Highline – only 4 groups per day are permitted on this trail to protect the wildlife corridor, which is managed through a self-registration system at the trailhead. It’s approximately 8km from the Lake O’Hara bus stop. Add 11km each way for the road if you don’t have a bus pass.

Iceline Trail – a 20km loop trail that leaves from Takkakaw Falls and climbs up to the alpine. Hike alongside glaciers for 6km at the top of the trail before descending down to the meadows in Yoho Valley and then continuing through the forest along the river back to the parking lot.

Twin Falls Trail – the trail varies between 16km and 20km depending on your route. Leave from the Takkakaw Falls parking lot and go directly to the falls or do a loop through the campground. Be prepared for a steep climb up to the Falls.

Emerald Basin – a customizable hike up to 9km in length and mostly flat. It leaves from the Emerald Lake parking lot. Just hike around the lake for a shorter hike or add the basin at the back of the lake to do the full loop.

Hamilton Lake – an 11km round trip hike that also leaves from Emerald Lake and hikes up a steep forested trail past Hamilton Falls and up to the lake.

Mount Stephen (Burgess Shale) – this 8km hike can only be completed on a guided tour as it travels to the protected Burgess Shale fossil quarry. It’s extremely steep, but highly recommended!

Walcott Quarry (Burgess Shale) – this 20km hike can only be completed on a guided tour as it travels to the protected Burgess Shale fossil quarry. It’s a longer hike than Mount Stephen, but a much more gentle incline.

Sherbrooke Lake – a 6km round trip hike up to Sherbrooke Lake that leaves from the parking lot at Wapta Lake. The hike starts with an uphill climb and flattens out along the lake.

Paget Lookout – a 7km round trip hike that branches off the Sherbrooke Lake trail to hike up to a viewpoint. While not a long hike, it is very steep.

Hoodoo Creek – a 5km round trip hike located near the Hoodoo campground. A short but steep hike to view the hoodoos.

Mount Hunter – this trail can be customized to either 7km or 12km round trip. It’s located just before Hoodoo Creek and is completing uphill. Stop at the first lookout for a shorter hike, or continue all the way to the top.

National Park Pass

Before visiting, make sure to get your park pass online or by stopping into the visitor centre in Field. Your other options are to pick it up at the kiosk when you enter Banff, or stop in Rogers Pass when you drive through Glacier National Park. You will need it to park everywhere inside the park. It’s $10 per person, per day, or you can get the family pass for the whole year for $145, which is applicable to all National Parks in Canada.

Hiking the Iceline Trail

November 24, 2023July 11, 2024 / Maria / 1 Comment

We’d already hiked both the Rockwall Trail and Lake O’Hara, but we still had time for one more adventure before leaving the Rockies. The first half of the trip was centered around Kootenay National Park and the second half was centered around Yoho National Park, so I wanted to do another iconic hike in Yoho. The other hike everyone seems to mention is the Iceline Trail. It’s fairly popular, but I’d never heard about it until this year, so I was happy to check it out.

It’s a 20km trail, so it’s a full day commitment. There are several camping options along the trail, so you can turn it into a multi day trip, but we hadn’t booked any sites in advance and by this point, we’d had enough camping. So we decided to tackle the entire trail as a day hike.

We got up early in Golden to a very foggy morning. The rain was finally gone from the forecast and we were hoping for sun later in the day, but early on we couldn’t really see anything through the fog. We decided to go anyways and drove back through the park to get to the trailhead. It was pretty empty when we arrived and Takakkaw Falls (which is where the trail starts) was pretty must lost in the fog. But it was definitely thinning and we could see the sun starting to shine through.

We started hiking around 9am. The nice thing about the Iceline Trail is that, even though it’s long, it’s a loop trail, so you don’t have to repeat any terrain. We decided to start with the big climb up to the alpine. As we climbed up through the trees, the fog continued to thin until eventually we got above the clouds and could see the surrounding mountains, glaciers, and Takakkaw Falls. It’s pretty easy to guess where the Iceline Trail takes it’s name from because you’re basically hiking along all the facets of the Emerald Glacier for several hours.

You start with about 550m of elevation gain over 4km, but it doesn’t take long to get above the treeline and once you hit the alpine, there’s ~8km of exposed trail with gorgeous views. I think this would be a tough hike on a really hot day because there’s absolutely no shade anywhere, but it was September and still really cool, so we didn’t have any problems with the heat and wore long sleeves and pants all day.

After we got up to the alpine, we took a short break and Brandon eyed up the glaciers while I had a snack. You can’t actually touch any of the glaciers on the hike and he was really keen to hike closer to them. We debated the merits of this and what approach to take for a while. I’m pretty risk adverse and my gut reaction is always to decline any risky kind of exploration. But I couldn’t deny that I wanted to get closer to them as well. The problem is that there’s no trail up to the glaciers and the terrain is a bit challenging.

From afar, the terrain looks like a series of giant steps. You can tell that up close it’s likely a lot more varied than it looks from a far, so we debated how to tackle the problem. I agreed to make an attempt at it and we gave ourselves an hour to mess around before continuing the hike (it’s a 20km trail, so we didn’t want to run out of daylight later). We decided to approach the glaciers from the left side because the terrain looked less steep that way. Brandon wanted to hike up closer, than hike along the edge of the glaciers and then exit back to the trail on the other side. I know there’s no frame of reference for those who haven’t been there, so I’ve included my GPS track from this section.

Once we hit the large rock steps, we did find a series of cairns, so we decided to follow them up the rock. There are a few sections where you need to use your hands to climb, but there was only one spot where I was like “this isn’t going to be fun on the way down” (pictured above). Eventually, we made it to the top of the stone steps. We still weren’t close enough to touch the glaciers, but this isn’t advised anyways because they are on steep terrain and the ice can calve at any point. So we had a bit of a photoshoot before deciding what to do next.

Like I said, Brandon wanted to continue along the top of the stone steps and approach the glacier further down, but I was really unsure what the terrain would look like from there (there might be more steep areas where we couldn’t get down). So I decided I’d pushed my comfort level enough for one day and insisted we go back the way we’d come. We followed the cairns back through the worst section, and then cut across the alpine to get back to the trail.

We didn’t see very many people on the way up, but it was around noon at this point and the trail was definitely getting busier. More day hikers were coming up and we also passed a bunch of backpackers on their way out. The alpine is absolutely beautiful and we took our time hiking along the rocks and exploring the different viewpoints and lakes.

After awhile I got a bit nervous because some mean looking clouds were starting to move in. I learned a valuable lesson about rain pants at Lake O’Hara and it was quite cold, so I was keen to avoid getting wet in the exposed alpine. There are some shale fields up there and Brandon wanted to look around for fossils, but I hurried him through the rest of the alpine. We took another break at the last alpine lake before you start to head down. It never did rain, but better safe than sorry I guess.

We hit the edge of the alpine around the 11km mark. Since we’d done a bit of a detour to the glacier, we figured we were still only at the half point of the hike. But the second half of the hike is all downhill or flat, so it’s much easier than the alpine section. We hiked down to little Yoho Valley until we reached the meadows. There’s another ACC hut on this trail called the Stanley Mitchell Hut. You have to have a booking to go in, so we just stopped at some of the picnic tables to have a snack and rest our feet. My plantar fasciitis injury was doing surprisingly well, but Brandon was having a bit of trouble with his ankle.

From the ACC hut, you can hike 1km further through the valley to a Parks Canada site called Little Yoho Valley, but we opted to skip it and continued the hike down the valley. It’s all in the trees from this point along the Little Yoho River. It looks like there were a few avalanches in the winter, so we had to detour through some blowdown.

At 18km, we came to the Laughing Falls Campground. From there, it’s only 5km back to the parking lot, so I think it would make for a great beginner backpacking trip. The falls are nice and there’s some lovely campsites along the river. The reservations were all sold out when we visited, but the campground was still mostly empty.

From there, it’s 5km of mostly flat walking back to the trailhead. 1km before the parking lot, you reach the Takakkaw Falls Campground. It’s a really interesting site because it’s not really frontcountry or backcountry. It’s a large campground and you can’t drive into it. But it’s only a 1km walk along a dirt road, so people still bring a fair amount of gear it. It’s where we had wanted to stay after O’Hara, but it was so cold and there’s no showers, so I don’t regret our decision to stay in a hotel. But it’s a really nice site and I think it would be lovely in warmer weather.

By the end of the hike, it was 5:30pm and we’d clocked 23km, so it was a pretty big day. Even so, I would highly recommend this trail! I know Lake O’Hara would have been a completely different experience for me on a nicer day and that I might have liked it better in different weather, but of the two experiences, I actually enjoyed the Iceline Trail a lot more than O’Hara. It’s a gorgeous trail and if you extend it over 1-2 nights, you could really take your time through the alpine. I would love to go back and do it as a backpacking trip. The campsites are still popular, but I’m guessing they’re easier to get then permits to O’Hara. Plus, it’s a much more doable day hike even if you don’t get permits. So if you’re looking for something a little bit different to do in Yoho, check out this trail instead!

We finished the trip with one more night out in Golden before heading back to Vancouver the next day. We briefly stopped in Glacier National Park to explore the visitor center at Roger’s Pass. Then we stopped again for ice cream at Dutchman Dairy outside Sicamous. It was a little surreal driving through Shuswap because some sections along the highway had completely burned down through the summer. We had lunch in Kelowna and then went straight home. We returned on a Friday, so I had a nice weekend to recover with Seth before heading back to work after a very epic trip!

Lake O’Hara Backpacking Trip Part II

November 15, 2023July 11, 2024 / Maria / 1 Comment

Click here to start with Part 1.

The rain held off all night and it wasn’t looking too bad when we got up on Day 2, so we decided to make a go at visiting Lake McArthur, which is the the second big hike in the area after the Alpine Circuit. We had breakfast and packed up our bags. But just as we were getting ready to start hiking, it started raining. It was pretty light at first, so we started walking up towards the junction to the Lake McArthur trail, but the rain got heavier as we went, so we decided to stop in Le Relais, which is a Parks Canada owned hut just before the lake (right at the junction to the Lake McArthur trail).

Le Relais is pretty cool. It’s a log cabin and they have some information on the history of the park and run a small cafe out of it during the day. It’s well known for its carrot cake, which is legendary inside and outside of the park. They notoriously sell out of the carrot cake every day, so we decided to see if we could score a piece and wait out the rain. We managed to get the very last slice! So we split it between the two of us and bought some hot chocolates.

Le Relais was pretty busy because of the rain, but it has a woodstove inside, so it’s toasty warm and has a really nice atmosphere. We decided to wait for the rain to let up, but we ended up killing 2-3 hours there with no reprieve! We made friends with some of the other people trying to wait out the rain and ate our lunch while trying to decide what to do.

The weather forecast was supposed to be better the next day, so we decided to hold off on Lake McArthur. I didn’t have any rain pants with me and I wanted to avoid getting totally soaked when the temperature was very low (around 3 degrees) and we still had another night at the campground. But we also didn’t want to just sit around all day, so we decided to do the hour long walk around Lake O’Hara instead to see Seven Veils Falls.

The rain never really stopped, but it didn’t lighten up a lot, so we had a fairly nice walk around the lake. Even in the rain, the area is still incredibly beautiful and we could see a fresh layer of snow sitting on the peaks of the Alpine Circuit. The water still looks like kool-aid, even on a rainy day, and we made the best of the rain. We stopped at Seven Veils Fall, which had a pretty steady flow coming down, before continuing around the lake. We returned to Le Relais just before it really started pouring again and killed another few hours warming up and drinking a second round of hot chocolate.

When we got a break in the rain again, we ran back to the campground to hang out for the rest of the evening. I love meeting people at the campground and I’m a busybody. I noticed one guy was wearing a knitted hat with the Labrador flag on it (and I happened to be wearing my NL home hat), so I quickly befriended him. He and his wife are from Ontario and met in Labrador when they were both working at Voisey’s Bay, so I had a great chat with them. They later broke out a crib game (which I also love), and I was joined by another camper named Lynn to play doubles against them. Not to brag, but we totally fleeced them! We won the first game and then Lynn pegged an incredible 3 triples in a row in the second game and we skunked them. So that was great fun!

We got a few more reprieves from the rain throughout the evening, and even saw a sliver of sun poking through the clouds. So we congregated outside at the campfire for awhile, but eventually the rain returned and sent us to bed early. We decided that we were going to make a try at Lake McArthur the next day (rain or shine) because even if we got soaked, at least we were going home after that.

Unfortunately things still didn’t work out as planned. It wasn’t raining too hard when we packed up our tent and gear in the morning. There’s a storage room at the campground, so we left everything we didn’t need in there and starting hiking back towards Le Relais. It was raining pretty hard and my pants were already soaked by the time we got to the turn-off. We continued on a little further to see the Elizabeth Parker hut, and then hiked as far as Shaffer Lake, which is the halfway point to Lake McArthur. When we hit Shaffer Lake, it started wet snowing on us and we had to re-assess. I was definitely not having a good time without rain pants and I was already soaked all the way to my underwear. I had a dry pair of pants in my bag, but they’re not really much use to you if they’re just going to get wet again. I think Brandon would have been okay to keep going since he had rain pants, but I had to do a bit of risk management.

It was below zero and we still had several more kilometres of uphill to get to the lake, so it just didn’t seem like a good idea to keep hiking. I was already cold and if I had to stop for any reason, I would freeze in wet pants and sub-zero temperatures. Plus I wasn’t having any fun, so we made the smart decision and turned around to go back.

There was still carrot cake at Le Relais and we stopped in for a slice each and some hot chocolate while I stood by the wood stove to dry off. We checked the bus schedule and decided to catch the next bus out. The weather might improve later in the day, but we still didn’t have anywhere to stay that night, so we decided to come back another year for McArthur.

We walked back to the campsite and changed into dry clothes to wait for the bus. It was definitely not the ideal trip to Lake O’Hara, between the smoke and the rain, but we still got to cram in most of the alpine circuit. Now we just have an excuse to come back again another time. It’s so exclusive, I’ll probably just try for permits every year until I get lucky again.

Our plan for the night had originally been to get one of the first-come, first-serve campsites at Takakkaw Falls in Yoho Park, but we really needed a hotel to warm up. We called around to every accommodation in Field town that could offer us two beds, but they were all booked, so instead we drove a half hour back to Golden where there were lots of budget options. We showered and then hit the hot tub, sauna, and pool at the hotel to relax before getting a celebratory dinner of more elk burgers (3rd of the trip) at the local pub.