Kootenay National Park

城市概覽

Kootenay National Park covers an area of 1,406 km² (543 sq mi), which is almost the size of Greater London. While the park is open all year, the major tourist season lasts from June to September. Most campgrounds are open from early May to late September, while limited winter camping is available only at the Dolly Varden campground.

History Archaeological evidence suggests humans have been either travelling through, or temporarily residing in, the area for about 10,000 years. Pictographs found in the hot spring caves indicate that it was the Ktunaxa people who first made more permanent use of the area, particularly the hot springs, several hundred years ago. European fur traders and trappers passed through, as did George Simpson in 1841, through what would later be named Simpson Pass, during his circumnavigation of the world. Likewise, James Sinclair led Red River colonists westward and Pierre-Jean De Smet traveled eastward, through the area. The Palliser expedition used the Vermilion Pass in 1858 and reported to British government its potential as a transportation route. On the Columbia River side, an early homesteader included the hot spring that would later become Radium Hot Springs in his land claim in the 1880s, but it was Roland Stuart and his business partner H.A. Pearse who were successful in acquiring the 160 acres around the springs in 1890 as a provincial crown grant. While they intended on bottling the spring water, its remote location prevented such development and Stuart offered to sell the property in 1909 to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company for $3000. Though the offer was not accepted, railway engineer Robert Randolph Bruce recognized the potential for a road through the area and advocated for it in 1910 with CPR president Thomas Shaughnessy and Premier Richard McBride, as a commercial link for the province to Calgary and eastern Canada. The federal government agreed to build a road from Banff to the park boundary at the provincial border

如何抵達

Highway 93 South runs through the centre of Kootenay National Park and is the only major route into the park. It’s accessible via Highway 1, the Trans-Canada, from Banff, Alberta approximately 40 kilometres to the east, or via Highway 95 at Radium Hot Springs, B.C. Full amenities are available in the village of Radium Hot Springs, just outside the park’s west entrance.

By car Highway 93 South (also called the Banff-Windermere Highway) runs 94 km through the centre of the park. It is the only major route and can be accessed from Banff National Park to the east and Radium Hot Springs to the west. Vehicle rentals are available in Invermere, B.C. as well as in Banff and Lake Louise, Alberta.

By bus Vancouver and Calgary have regular bus service to the nearby towns of Golden, BC and Banff, AB. There is no public transportation in Kootenay National Park. Most people travel in a personal vehicle inside the park.

By air Calgary and Vancouver are the closest airports serviced by major national and international carriers. Connections may be made to Cranbrook, 145 km south of Radium Hot Springs, B.C. Airport shuttles from Calgary, Alberta are available to Lake Louise and Banff near the park's east entrance.

當地交通

Highway 93 is the main road in Kootenay, going from Lake Louise at the north end of Kootenay National Park to the Village of Radium Hot Springs at the south end.

必看景點

The park's main attractions include Radium Hot Springs, the Paint Pots, Sinclair Canyon, Marble Canyon, and Olive Lake. The hot springs offer a hot springs pool ranging from 35 to 47 °C (95 to 117 °F). Just outside the park's southwestern entrance is the town of Radium Hot Springs. The town is named for the odourless hot springs located just inside the park boundary. The park's northeastern entrance, connects to Castle Junction in Banff National Park and the Trans-Canada Highway via Vermillion Pass, a mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta/British Columbia border, at an elevation of 1,651 metres (5,416'). Because of the relatively small width of the park (8 km on each side of the highway), many of the park's attractions are situated near the road. Numa Falls is a short drive south of Marble Canyon and is accessible directly by Highway 93 which cuts through the park.

1 Sinclair Canyon 2 Olive Lake 3 Kootenay Valley Viewpoint Kootenay Park Lodge (hotel), see Sleep section below. 4 Marble Canyon 5 Continental Divide

6 Paint Pots. The Paint Pots are an acidic, cold water, mineral spring system from which ochre is deposited at spring outlets. The minerals are principally iron oxide which produces the water and mud's reddish colour but other similar minerals can also be present and vary the colours to include various shades of yellow, red and brown. The acidic, metal-rich water has limited capacity to support living species, but at least 14 species of algae, one liverwort and one moss species, as well as some extremophilic bacteria, have been identified living in those waters. The ochre was collected by the Ktunaxa people for use as pigments and the iron oxide was commercially mined for use in paint manufacturing for nearly two decades until the park was established in 1920. (updated Apr 2023)

體驗活動

Hot springs 1 Radium Hot Springs, 5420 Hwy 93 (just north of Radium in Sinclair Canyon at the entrance of Kootenay National Park), ☏ +1 250-347-9485. Development of the hot springs began in earnest after a British medical journal suggested, and a 1914 chemical analysis by McGill University confirmed, the presence of radium within the water. (updated Apr 2023)

Hiking and camping

The Rockwall trail is a multi-day hike along the limestone cliff eastern escarpment of the Vermilion Range that continues into the Yoho National Park. There are several connections to the trail from the highway, including the 10.7-km Floe Creek trail to Floe Lake campground and the 6-km Numa Creek trail to the Numa Falls campground. There is another trailhead at the Paint Pots that follows Ochre Creek with forks to the 7-km Tumbling Creek trail and the 9-km Helmet Creek trail, both of which have campgrounds. Beyond Helmut Falls the Rockwall trail continues through Goodsir Pass into the Yoho National Park. Other multi-day backcountry hikes include the Tokumun Creek trail to Fay Hut and Neil Colgan Hut, the Simpson River trail into the Mount Assiniboine Park, the Hawk Creek trail through Ball Pass into the Banff National Park, the Verdant trail from the Vermillion crossing to Banff National Park via the Honeymoon Pass and the Redearth Pass. Day hikes with nearby campgrounds include trails on Redstreak Mountain and along Redstreak Creek, the Dog Lake trail from the McLeod Meadows campground, and the Marble Canyon to Paint Pots trail from the Marble Canyon campground. Other day hikes, of various difficulty levels, include trails to Olive Lake, to Cobb Lake, the Kindersley/Sinclair loop, the Tokumun Creek trail from Marble Canyon to Kaufmann Lake,