By Maryanna Gabriel
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| Hoodoo Campground In Yoho |
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| Takkakaw Falls |
Being in Yoho has been on my list for a long time. I have always had Too-Much-Of-A-Hurryitis when I am travelling in the Rockies. This beautiful national park backs up onto Banff, Jasper and the Kootenay, part of a magnificent quartet of national parks, that I was now making my goal as a birthday present to myself. As I pitched my tent in the Hoodoo Campground I noticed all of the bear signs. Suddenly I remembered I was terrified of bears. Earlier scary memories of being being in archaeology camps came to mind. Years of sleeping in campers has made me soft. Gritting my teeth I slept two inches from the car and awoke at 2:00 a.m. I anxiously peer out. Nothing but stars. Finally at the first crack of light and with a sense of reprieve, I crawl out of my bag, eager to be moving. Gratefully I turned on the car heat and headed into Takakkaw Falls which is a 254 meter high waterfall in the Yoho, one of the highest in Canada. My car nosed up switchbacks until I stopped at the roaring confluence of the Yoho and Kicking Horse Rivers, the air a crisp, cool, blast of wonderful sound. The Yoho is creamy in appearance, carrying glacier sediment, and the Kicking Horse is clear, and as I watched the waters join in tumultuous milky glory, the sun started to glisten on the glaciers and the mountains towered over me like a most wonderful cathedral. I continued upward past other waterfalls and came to the Takakkaw Falls.
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| The Water Travelled Down The Valley |
A sign tell me this means "It is magnificent" in Cree. An old log cabin greeted me, a testament to the 1900's when people came up on mules and horses to have high tea. I shiver in the sharp mountain air and find a scarf. The air is pungent with the smell of the Christmas tree forest I find myself in. I see I am at the tree line. I look up. The falls are a stunning cacophony of glorious sound. They are glacial fed, the glaciers themselves fed by the Waputi Icefields beyond.
I slowly and reverently make my way to the base both startled and grateful to find myself alone. I am able to reach out with all senses. The formation of the boulders catch my eye seemingly placed there by some divinely inspired gardener, the water pooling and rivulets streaming around me in mossy insistence. It is as if a crystalline purity is here, a diamond magnificence, almost a presence. I had the sense of the Yoho being a beautiful princess to the monarchy that is Jasper and Banf. I felt sure the Cree would have stories about this place. I stop in my tracks and gasp at the view of the falls as the water travelled down into the valley, the sun continuing to rise and reflect on the rushing river. Later I pull over by the side of the Yoho River and listening to the sonorous sound, I fall into a deep, deep, sleep.
