By Michael Lanza
The hike begins with a short walk to the base of Takakkaw Falls, which plummets thunderously more than 1,100 feet (350m) over a cliff, raining mist on hikers below. Fed by the Daly Glacier and Waputik Icefield, the waterfall takes its name from the Cree word meaning “it is magnificent.” You won’t contest the claim. Beyond, you begin a long, steady ascent, first through forest, but soon with expansive views of the Yoho Valley in the Canadian Rockies, where sprawling icefields cap the mountains. A bit over two miles from the trailhead, traversing an ice-ravaged, open landscape of rock, dirt, and a few tiny but hardy plants and wildflowers, you get your first view of the thick, severely cracked Emerald Glacier, pouring off of 10,000-foot peaks in the President Range.
The eight-mile, out-and-back dayhike of the Iceline Trail to Iceline Summit (the trail’s high point at 7,316 feet/2,230m) is no secret to Canadians; it’s popular with dayhikers and backpackers. But in Yoho you don’t see the crowds of neighboring Banff National Park—and Yoho has scenery easily as good as any of the Canadian Rockies parks, as you can see in the photo gallery below from my family’s dayhike on the Iceline Trail.
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The hike ascends 2,250 feet/685m to the Iceline’s high point, but you can turn around before that and still enjoy basically the same views of the mountains and glaciers flanking the Yoho Valley. For much of the hike, Takakkaw Falls is visible and audible far below you, glowing like a ray of sunlight in the valley bottom. And for the upper half of the hike, you’re looking straight ahead at the thick tongue of the Emerald Glacier, eventually coming nearly to the toe of two of its lobes.
My family dayhiked the Iceline after a four-day backpacking trip on the Rockwall Trail in nearby Kootenay National Park. If you’re looking for an introduction to Yoho or have one day to hike here, the Iceline is hard to beat.
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THIS TRIP IS GOOD FOR anyone, including beginners and children, capable of hiking at least five to six miles round-trip, and close to 2,000 vertical feet up and down, on a trail that’s well constructed and well marked, but nonetheless rocky at times.
Michael — In addition to the hikes you noted, I would highly recommend, as a day hike, the Paradise Valley Trail to Lake Annette from the the Moraine Lake area. You can find some pictures of that trail based on the couple of times we have done it at https://blog.aniljohn.com/2014/07/relaxing-recharging-hiking-banff-national-park-canada.html
Thanks Anil, based on your recommendation, I’m adding it to my list of hikes to do!