2016/08 Newf'land trip - Yoho |
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Monday September 12th
We had a bright sunny morning, just at freezing point, and we headed off early. I’d hoped to get a view of the mountains with fresh snow but a thick bank of cloud blotted out the whole western horizon. We had glimpses of snowy peaks through the murk, and patches of blue sky as we passed Lake Louise and went down the hill towards Yoho. As we passed Field, still mostly in shade, we were still only at freezing point.
Our plan had been to hike out to Wapta Falls and then camp in Yoho but the forecast was for 18F or -8C overnight 
which would do some serious damage to the camper’s plumbing as it wasn’t winterized. It was much warmer in the sunshine at the parking area for Wapta so we did the hike anyway. The walk took us through the forest to the falls overlook, and then we had a scramble down the cliff to the bed of the Kicking Horse River. With the sunshine and absolutely no wind the valley had warmed up and it was now tee-shirt weather.
The falls are unique and complex and it’s difficult to understand what’s going on. The first picture was taken from the 
overlook, so it’s looking down on the top of the falls, and there is a large ridge to the right. Instead of eroding steadily backwards the entire face of the waterfall crashes down at once, making this long ridge with a triangular cross section. It’s happened at least twice and the most recent ridge is right at the base of the current falls, sending spray over the whole riverbed and diverting the main river flow to the other bank.
The second picture was taken partway down the cliff and shows a normal large waterfall. The third picture shows the view from the riverbed, almost dry on this side, so we were able to walk to the base of the ridge. I climbed up to the ridgetop and from there I was gazing into the middle of the waterfall – an awesome experience but a pretty useless wet photo!
Rather than camp in Yoho we continued on, getting into some warmer weather. It was 75F in Hope that day.