Takakkaw Falls and Yoho Lake in the Rain

On our last day parked at Lake Louise Campground, we are going to drive the 30 miles to explore more of Yoho National Park. It's a good thing that the motor home is safely parked in its camp site, because it wouldn't be allowed on the road into this section of Yoho. But our little car is less than 7 meters, and it will do nicely on the steep switchbacks that are illustrated on the sign at the entrance.

No trailers or vehicles over 21 feet are allowed because the hair-pin curves are steep and unforgiving.

But the reward at the top is our first view of one of Canada's tallest waterfalls. 

When we first caught sight of the thundering Takakkaw Falls, we were amazed at its power. At a drop of 384 meters (that's 1,260 feet), it is a roaring waterfall in the summer. With our raincoats on, we tried to get closer but we were getting drenched. You can barely see Mark at the very bottom of the picture below, feeling like he was in the shower.

The views from the bottom are great, but we could only see two of the four sections of this massive waterfall. It's huge! From the side angle, we can see that the water hits the rocks at the midpoint with such power that it sprays like fireworks in all directions.

We also found more of those red chairs that show up in some of the picturesque spots in Canada's national parks.

It's a cloudy day, but we'd like to take a hike here at Yoho National Park. We picked a steep 3.9 kilometer trail up the mountain to Yoho Lake, and gained some elevation in a hurry. We were about a half-mile into our hike when the rain started. So we found a dry spot under a big tree on the side of that mountain and waited . . .

and waited . . . as the rain came down in sheets. We watched as drenched hikers hurried down past us on the trail that was beginning to look like a river. But we stayed dry and comfortable, wearing a sweat shirt and rain coat while sitting in our little nook. After 30 minutes the rain stopped and we decided to continue our climb towards the lake.

Because the rain had cleared everyone off the trails, this deer was grazing right beside us. He seemed to be laughing that we would be going on a long hike on a rainy day.

We found that our decision to continue to the top was a great one. When we got our first view of Lake Yoho, we saw that we had it all to ourselves.

All the other hikers left in the rain, and so this usually busy lake was like a ghost town this afternoon. We could take pictures across its green waters towards Denisa and the red adirondack chairs without other people in it. 

After drying off those chairs, we sat down for a snack and didn't have to give them up for other people waiting to take a picture. A sign on the chairs read, "Congratulations! You have ascended nearly 300 meters from the falls--that's like climbing the Eiffel Tower!" It also mentioned that there are fewer oxygen molecules at this elevation, so that was another reason this view was breath taking.

A campground adjacent to the lake was completely empty. It would be a chore to hike a tent and camping supplies up that steep trail. We wonder about campgrounds in bear country that require you to hang your food supplies up on racks with pulleys, but allow the campers to sleep in flimsy tents. We'd rather they eat our food supplies than us!

We tried to hike around the lake, but soon ran out of the trail. That doesn't deter Mark, who will bushwhack his own trail (and then expects Denisa to follow him).

We lingered at the lake for an hour, so blessed to have such pretty views of the mountain, and the reflections of the clouds in the teal green water all to ourselves.

Such lingering leads to taking way too many pictures.

We decided to hike the long way home, hoping for new views on the loop trail. We were certainly rewarded for another good decision when our new trail led us toward the Iceline trail. We caught our first aerial view of Takakkaw Falls in the distance.

Soon we were right across from one of Canada's tallest waterfalls, seeing it from a whole new perspective.

The sign we had read earlier said that there were actually four falls, but only two could be seen from ground level. Now from our perch on the mountain, we could see the other two higher falls as well.

The sign also mentioned that this roaring flow was being fed from the summer melt of Daly Glacier on the right . . .

and the Waputik Icefield on the left. From our birds eye view we can see both. Cool! 

We could also see just how big this waterfall really is. When we walked to the base of the waterfall and got wet from the spray, we thought we were quite close. Now that we can see the whole picture, we see that the walkway we were on is quite far away from the real power of the waterfall.

Takakkaw means, "It is magnificent" in Cree. We would have to agree. Our trail circled back to the same long set of switchbacks that brought us to this elevation. The rain started again when we were almost at the very same spot on that trail. So we took refuge in another dry spot, and made ourselves comfortable until another storm passed.

It was a good day at Yoho National Park, and we made the drive back to Lake Louise in time to pick up the electrical part that Mark had ordered to fix the electrical transfer switch on our motor home more than a week ago. We had paid extra for express shipping, making the cost of getting it to Canada almost as much as the part. We found that there is a delay getting things shipped, as it had to go through customs after crossing the border. Mark wasn't excited when he opened the box and saw that the "new" board looked used. The plastic mounting post was cut in two, and it even had a burned spot on the circuit board. So he wasn't very hopeful as he made the new installation.

Sure enough, where our old board was working part of the time, this new part didn't work at all. Aaaargh! Mark reinstalled our old circuit board, and Tiffin will be shipping us another part . . . which will take another 8 days . . . so we hope that Mark's fix will continue to hold AGAIN.

We have had a great week camped at Lake Louise. We've shared our side-by-side spot with three different neighbors.

We still have our own picnic spot, but the mosquitoes are insisting that we stay inside for our meals.

We're a little disappointed to say that we haven't seen any grizzlies wandering through the campground. We'll miss that potential, but we won't miss the trains that insist on blowing their horns at all hours of the day and night. It's been a fun week, but it's time to head further north tomorrow!