One Day in YohoYoho has so much to offer, and only planning of one day of exploring limited our options of what we could see. We also found that Yoho was busier than Jasper, which we had previously been. There are parts of Yoho that are less crowded, so making time for those areas if you don't have a lot of time would benefit you. There is a great pull off and photo opp right before you turn into onto Yoho Valley Road. It is where the Continental Divide is and separates Yoho from Kootenay National Parks. We missed it the first time we drove by, and thought we would backtrack, but never did. We spent most of our time in the Yoho Valley area with our time in the park. It was a less crowded area, and the drive alone is worth it. Our destination was Takakkaw Falls, but we did stop along the way to see some of the other sights. If you are not interested in hiking, the views in the valley are stunning, and worth the drive. There is a pretty significant switchback at one point of the road, so trailers or larger vehicles will not be able to make it back to some of the waterfalls. We stopped at the Convergence of Waters, which was very cool to see the mixing of the different waters. There is not a clear path down to the river, so have good hiking shoes on and be ready to scramble. One of the coolest things we saw was Takakkaw Falls. This powerful waterfall emerges around a corner on the drive and calls you to it. There is a decent size parking lot, but it was almost full by the time we got there. There is also a campsite nearby, so if you are looking to camp, this would be an amazing spot to listen to the waterfall all night. The hike back to the falls is partially paved, level, and an easy 1 mile hike out-and-back. The hike offers multiple views of the falls, and the closer you get, the more spray from the falls you feel. If you are feeling super adventurous, you can climb up part of the waterfall cliffs. My husband took our two bigger kids up the side of the falls, and they said it was top two coolest things they did on the trip. Being that close to the water and feeling the power was a highlight for sure. After leaving the Yoho Valley, we headed to Field, and then to the Emerald Lake area. We stopped in to the visitor center to check in with the rangers on what we should see while we had the afternoon. Field has more development, lodging, and stores available for those staying in the area. We were staying south of Golden, so were just passing through Yoho for the day. The ranger sent us towards Emerald Lake, Hamilton Falls, and Natural Bridge. We stopped at Natural Bridge, which was truly like nothing I had seen before. The water had ground away the rocks and created a tunnel for it to pour through to the other side. It looks to have created the beginning of an arch, it is just very early in the water carving this rock out. After that, we headed to Emerald Lake. It was BUSY! We knew it would, however we had seen so many beautiful lakes at this point in our trip, and the crowds deterred us from spending more time here. This also meant that we would not be hiking Hamilton Falls. This was a short hike (less than a mile) to a small waterfall across the parking lot from Emerald Lake. We decided that our time would best be spent heading to our lodging and exploring a less crowded part of British Columbia. We started heading towards Golden, which is a smaller town, but stunning in its own right! We highly recommend the Bridge Walk in Golden, if you have the time for it. Golden is known for its skiing in the area, so wither would be a fabulous time to explore here. The drive from Yoho to Golden was also equally stunning and terrifying. The construction and rock slides prove that caution is needed here.
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