Parks

The East Kootenay parks system is an important component of the regional economy, preserving spectacular scenery and environment for public enjoyment.

There is presently one NATIONAL Park within the Region, Kootenay National Park, consisting of 140,000 hectares. Resource management in this park is the responsibility of Parks Canada acting under the National Parks Act and Regulations.

This diversity is easily seen by driving through the 100 km long parkway, accessed at Radium Hot Springs in the south and from Banff at the Castle Mountain Junction turn-off on the TransCanada Highway (No.1). The following are some highlights of the park:

 
• Sinclair Canyon: 1.5 km from Radium, offers a stunning entrance to the park (or the Columbia Valley, depending on which way you're travelling). The iron-rich walls of th e Redwall Fault just east of the hot pools are a splendour of colour. Keep an eye out for bighorn sheep.
 
• Valley View Interpretive Trail: 2 km from Radium, starts near the entrance to Redstreak Campground, providing views of the Columbia Valley on the 2.8 km trail
 
• Radium Hot Springs Pools: 3 km from the village of Radium Hot Springs, is a 40 degree Celsius soaking pool sure to ease sore muscles and relax the mind, body and spirit. Locker rooms, showers, bathing suits, towels and massages and a cafeteria are available. There is also a cooler pool, at 29 degrees C, for swimming. Watch for posters detailing special events and guided interpretive walks throughout the summer or check the Web for updated information at www.rhs.bc.ca
 
• Olive Lake: 13 km from Radium, is a little, clear green spring-fed lake with a wheelchair accessible boardwalk trail featuring interpretive panels around it. Picnic tables offer a place to lunch or snack.
 
• The Koot enay National Park Information Centre: 3 km from Radium at the Radium Hot Springs Pools, offers park information, maps, brochures, passes, permits and a gift shop. Wheelchair accessible.
 
• Kootenay Valley Viewpoint: 16 km from Radium, is a must for stretching the legs. The peaks of the Mitchell and Vermilion mountain ranges, as well as the Kootenay River Valley, make for spectacular scenery and great backdrops for snapshots.
 
• Settler's Road: 20 km from the village, this road leads to the Kootenay River Road and is an access point to numerous Rocky Mountain backcountry sites, including the Cross, Albert and Palliser River drainages. Be wary of heavy industrial traffic on this road.
 
• Kootenay River pullout: 21 km from Radium this site features a riverside picnic area and seasonal bathrooms.
 
• Crook's Meadow: 35 km from Radium, is now a group campsite but it used to be the homestead of a valley pioneer, Charles Crook, who raised his fam ily there from 1935 to 1956. Reservations are required to camp there.
 
• Kootenay Crossing: 43.3 km from Radium, features (on the east side of the road) a display dedicated to the construction of Highway 93 (the Banff-Windermere Highway), completed in 1923. On the west side is a warden station.
 
• Mount Wardle: 48 km from Radium, is home to a large population of mountain goats. Adults and their newborn kids can sometimes be seen licking the minerals along the road in spring and early summer.
 
• Sir George Simpson monument: 56.8 km from the village, this monument bears a plaque dedicated to the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, the first white man to visit the area in 1841. At the time he was attempting to go around the world in record time so he didn't hang around for long.
 
• Vermilion Crossing: 63 km from Radium/41.3 km from the TransCanada Highway. This site has an excellent visitors' information centre. Kootenay Park Lodge is also there. Picnic tables are across the highway, beside the Vermilion River. It's open from Easter to Thanksgiving.
 
• Numa Falls: 68.4 km from Radium and 24.6 km from the TransCanada Highway, is a lovely place to stop and have lunch. The falls, formed by the Vermilion River, are a short walk from the parking lot, where there are picnic tables. Look for a rustic bridge which offers the best view of the falls and Vermilion Canyon below.
 
• Floe Lake and Hawk Creek: hiking access areas 71.5 km from Radium.
 
• Paint Pots: 19.9 km from the TransCanada Highway/73.1 km from Radium, are ochre-coloured mineral springs historically used by Indians and miners and are a sight to behold. The ochre beds, lower down, are wheelchair accessible.
 
• Marble Canyon: 17.3 km from the Trans Canada Highway/75.7 km from Radium, leads to a powerful waterfall, from the .8 km interpretive trail that traverses a deep gorge. Along the way, take in the scenery that includes stunning cliffs.

 
• Stanley Glacier: 13.6 km from the Trans-Canada /79.4 km from Radium, is named after Lord Stanley, whose name is also on Canada's most famous trophy, hockey's Stanley Cup. A good view of the glacier can be reached via a 4.8 km hike up a trail often surrounded by fabulous wild flowers and always spectacular scenery. It offers a fine example of forest regrowth following a fire.
 
• The Continental Divide and Fireweed Trail: 10.4 km from the TransCanada/82.6 km from Radium, is the summit of the Vermilion Pass, dividing Kootenay and Banff National Parks, B.C. and Alberta and, of course, the Pacific and Atlantic watersheds. Observe the re-growth that has occurred since the wildfire of 1968. Fireweed trail takes one inside a young forest on a .8 km interpretive loop.

Links:
Kootenay National Park