The Wandering Koi

After finishing the last part of the drive into Yoho, we went to Emerald Lake, named for the color of the water. We thought that Johnson Canyon was crowded (probably because we had expected the other Banff attractions to have the crowds).

We ended up not seeing Emerald Lake. If you really want to go, your target should probably be arrival within a few hours of sunrise.

Yet, we were not sad. This trip isn’t about a checklist of attractions. It’s about the living that happens along the way. Plus, did I mention there were going to be more waterfall pictures?

We drove to our campground at Takakkaw Falls. There is a day use area with multiple trailheads. At one corner of the parking lot, there was a row of wheelbarrows. We stacked our gear into the cart and started down the path. You could hear the waterfall through the trees. About 1/2 mile later, we found our campsite (yeah! Another burn ban). After setting up camp, we followed the sound of the water.

Takakkaw Falls comes from glacial melt off the Daly icefield. Reportedly, “Takakkaw” is from a Cree word meaning “it is beautiful”. I couldn’t have described it better. The main drop is 833 ft with total height of 373 meters (1224 feet, give or take). The entire area within a few hundred meters of the falls was cooler, citrusy-scented from the conifers, and damp with spray from the falls. We found a trail to the water and a nice place to watch the sun drop toward the mountains, till twilight and dropping temperatures goaded us to start back toward the tent.

This was our final night of tent camping, and everyone agreed it was chilly at a couple of degrees above freezing. But hearing the sound of the waterfall as you were falling asleep and on awakening was worth it!

We broke camp, and after one more attempt at Emerald Lake (nope, still too crowded), we started back down the Icefields Parkway to Jasper.

This time we had sunny weather and clear skies, leading to better views of the mountains and glaciers than on the drive in.

Banff was beautiful, and Takakkaw Falls were stunning… but I’d be lying if I said that we weren’t all looking forward to a shower and a warm room to sleep in back in Jasper. And a trip to Maligne Lake the next day! More to follow…