Located in British Columbia, south of Yoho, 543.7 square mile Kootenay National Park encompasses two river valleys, the Kootenay and Vermilion, amidst a stunning environment of the west side of the Rocky Mountains.
The word 'Kootenay' is the name the local natives applied to themselves and means 'river people.'
The crest of Vermilion Pass (5380 feet) marks
the continental divide and the boundary between Banff National Park, Alberta, and Kootenay National Park, BC. From the pass, waters flow east to Hudson's Bay and the Atlantic Ocean via Bow, Saskatchewan, and Nelson river systems; and west to the Pacific Ocean via the Vermilion, Kootenay, and Columbia rivers.In terms of its recent forest fire history, Vermilion Pass is an oddity in the Canadian Rockies. Much of it has burned twice in just 35 years. The first fire was started on July 8, 1968, by July 18 the fire was finally out with the help of many firefighers. The summer of 2003 was a scorcher in western Canada - the third driest in the
in the Rockies on a record that goes back more than
a century. That summer saw more forest fires in the
Rocky Mountain National Parks than in any other
year since 1936. The two fires, fulled by some areas of forest that hadn't burned in 500 years, and fanned by high winds and high temperatures combines to burn 12.6 percent if the park's area.
At Marble Canyon (photo's right) 4 miles west of the continental divide, the glacially-fed waters of Tokumn Creek are eroding through the lip of a hanging valley to create a spectacular canyon in the dolomite bedrock. From the photo's you can see the area that was burned in 2003. There is a quarter of a mile pathway that criss-crosses the narrow gorge on bridges, providing excellent viewpoints of the canyon
As we followed the Kootenay Parkway southeast along the Vermilion River, we came upon another short walk to Numa Falls
. Here the brilliantly turquoise Vermilion River has carved a picturesque limestone canyon.The turquoise color of the water here if fantastic! Each park was so beautiful and each had so many different vistas to view, I almost hate to leave this area as there still is so much to see... however, all good things must come to an end! Tomorrow we pack up and head back to the States. I hope that we will be able to return to this area again in the near future. What a beautiful place!!!!
Tomorrow we head for Great Falls, Montana. More from there..
Candy and Johnny
