Yoho National Park is a Canadian national park located in British Columbia, covering an area of approximately 507 square miles. It is known for its notable mountains, including Mount Burgess and Mount Stephen, as well as Takakkaw and Wapta waterfalls. Yoho National Park shares a border with three other national parks in the Canadian Rockies and is open year-round for various activities such as camping, hiking, and skiing.
Yoho National Park is a Canadian national park located in British Columbia which is the westernmost province of Canada. Covering an area of approximately 507 square miles (1,313 square km), it was established in 1886 and became a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site nearly a century later in 1984. Yoho National Park is also known as one of four contiguous national parks in the Canadian Rockies.
Because it is located in the Canadian Rockies, which is part of the Rocky Mountain range that spans the western region of the North American continent, Yoho National Park has its share of notable mountains. The most popular is Mount Burgess. It is here that in 1909, American invertebrate paleontologist Charles Doolittle Walcott discovered the Burgess Shale, a unit of black rock celebrated as one of the world’s richest fossil beds.
The tallest mountain in Yoho National Park, however, is Mount Stephen, with an elevation of 10,496 feet (3,889 m). Mount Stephen also has a portion of the Burgess Shale. Other Yoho Mountains include Mount Balfour, Mount Goodsir, The President and The Vice President.
Also present in Yoho National Park, Takakkaw and Wapta waterfalls. Takakkaw Falls, roughly named after the phrase meaning “it’s magnificent” in the Native American Cree language, is officially known as the second tallest waterfall in Western Canada, peaking at 1,260 feet (384m). Wapta Falls, named after the Nakota Native American word for river, is the largest waterfall on the Kicking Horse River, standing approximately 98 feet (30 m) high and 490 feet (150 m) wide.
Yoho National Park shares a common border with, or is near, three other national parks in the Canadian Rockies. To the north is Jasper National Park, which is the largest of the four. Banff National Park, Canada’s oldest national park, borders Yoho from the east. Kootenay National Park, named after one of the two rivers that flow into it, lies to the south. Yoho National Park is known for being the smallest of the four national parks.
Most people like to visit Yoho during summer. The park is open all year round, however, and there are quite a sizable number of visitors during the spring and fall seasons as well. Common summer activities include camping, climbing and mountaineering, hiking, fishing, horseback riding, and wildlife viewing. Cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, ski touring, and ice climbing are suitable and unique winter season activities that can be performed at Yoho.
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