Yoho National Park is a national park of Canada. It is located within the Rocky Mountains along the western slope of the Continental Divide of the Americas in southeastern British Columbia, bordered by Kootenay National Park to the south and Banff National Park to the east in Alberta. The word Yoho is a Cree expression of amazement or awe, and it is an apt description for the park's spectacular landscape of massive ice fields and mountain peaks, which rank among the highest in the Canadian Rockies. Yoho covers an area of 1,313 km2, the smallest of the region's four contiguous national parks, which also include Jasper, Kootenay, and Banff National Parks, as well as three British Columbia provincial parks—Hamber Provincial Park, Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park, and Mount Robson Provincial Park. Together, these parks form the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site. Yoho's administrative and visitor centre is in Field, British Columbia, beside the Trans-Canada Highway.

History

Yoho National Park is in the traditional territories of the Secwepemc and Ktunaxa First Nations. Before the establishment of the park, the Ktunaxa primarily used the area—specifically, Kicking Horse Pass—to cross the Rockies in order to access bison hunting grounds on the eastern side of the mountains. The park was created following a trip by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald and his wife Agnes through the Rockies on the newly completed Canadian Pacific Railway, Canada's first transcontinental. After his return to Ottawa, Yoho National Park was created on October 10, 1886. Glacier National Park was created on the same day, making Yoho and Glacier the second and third national parks in the country, after Rocky Mountains Park (now named Banff National Park). The contiguous national parks of Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, and Yoho, as well as the Mount Robson, Mount Assiniboine, and Hamber provincial parks, were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.

Fauna

Common species of animals that roam in this park are the timber wolf, coyote, badger, moose, elk, mule deer, mountain goat, golden-mantled ground squirrel, rufous hummingbird, hoary marmot, wolverine, cougar, pika, lynx, grizzly bear, and black bear.

Climate

The weather in the park is localized and changeable. Located on the western side of the continental divide, it receives more precipitation than areas east of the divide. Precipitation in the park increases with elevation. In winter, average temperatures are between 5 and -15 C from the months November to April although temperatures can range between 10 and -35 C. The coldest weather usually occurs in the months December to February. In summer, mean temperatures average 12.5 C with an average high of 20 C and an average low of 5 C. Snowfall and freezing temperatures can occur during the summertime at altitudes above 1500 m.

Geology

The Kicking Horse River, a Canadian Heritage River, originates in the Wapta and Waputik icefields in the park. This river has created a natural bridge through solid rock. This formation is located 3 km west of Field, accessible from the road to Emerald Lake. The Canadian Rockies consist of sedimentary rock, with numerous fossil deposits. In particular, the Burgess Shale, in Yoho National Park, has among the world's richest deposits of rare fossils. The Burgess Shale was discovered in 1909 by Charles Doolittle Walcott. In the southeastern corner of the park is an igneous intrusion known as the Ice River Complex containing deposits of sodalite, an ornamental stone.

Mountains

Waterfalls