Hoodoos in Yoho National Park
One of the hikes I spotted before driving to Yoho National Park was the Hoodoos hike. I had never heard the word hoodoo before. I kept repeating it to Jelger until it drove him slightly crazy. 😉 Of course I wanted to do this hike and see them in person!
While passing the entrance I noticed the campground nearby was still closed. Uh-oh. Luckily the tourist centre in Field (it’s gorgeous there too! I’ll share some photos) told us the hike was already accessible. So back we went and when we arrived, we had the entire road to ourselves. Turns out we were the only visitors for the remainder of the day. Just the way we like it. 😉
Things got interesting… I read in an online blog to look for a little bridge (more like a couple of wooden beams) across the river. Except we couldn’t find it anywhere! And the river, that looked surprisingly small and cute from a distance ( even in my photo!), was actually rather wild and gushing. Not exactly wadeable.
Luckily we found a fallen tree that created a natural bridge down the stream. We braced ourselves and carefully shuffled across the trunk. A good adrenaline kick later, we started the hike on the other side. As if the river crossing experience wasn’t exciting enough, we made our way through an eerie forest of charred matchstick trees. Creaking noises surrounded us with every blow of wind.
Once the burned tree line cleared the hiking trail continued up the mountain and gave a beautiful outlook over the surrounding valleys. At one point, we thought we’d been hiking an awful long time for just 1.6 km, which was the length according to the park signs. We started to wonder if we’d taken a wrong turn, but consulting the blog’s detailed directions, we were almost next to the Hoodoos. And indeed, a few steps onward the trail curved and presented us the hoodoos in all their glory. Funny detail, on our way back we noticed that we weren’t the only hikers who felt the distance was awfully long. Someone had corrected the official park sign with spray paint: it read “1.6 km mil”. We’d totally missed that on our way up.
Anyways, once we’d reached the end point, I was in awe of the scenic views. My photos honestly don’t do this place any justice. The hoodoos are soooo big and totally different from their immediate environment. While I took photos, Jelger decided to make a little inuksuk in the perfect spot where future hikers would be greeted by it. I think he did a great job! 😉
We took a long break at the foot of the mighty hoodoos and talked about life. Next we followed the hiking trail to the top of the rock towers. Finally we headed back to our car and luckily our tree bridge was still solidly in place. Otherwise we would’ve had another interesting story to tell you. 😛
If you’re ever passing through Yoho National Park in British Columbia, definitely take the time to check out this hike! 🙂 I highly recommend it!!
