How to Reach
Glacier National Park is approximately 1 hour 30 minutes
drive from Yoho National Park.
Mount Revelstoke National Park is approximately 30 minutes
drive from Glacier National Park.
Entrance Fees
If you already have Discovery Pass you can go ahead and
explore the park else you can buy a day pass from visitor center and explore
the area. If you are found without a valid pass may pay a hefty fine.
How to Explore Glacier
National Park?
US Glacier National Parks dwarfs its Canadian sibling in
popularity, so if you google Glacier National park, it will show the USA one by
default, though, if you continue to dig deeper you will find the one in British
Columbia, Canada.
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| (View of the mountains in Glacier National Park) |
Glacier National
Park is one of seven national parks
in British Columbia, and is part of a system of 43 parks and park reserves
across Canada. The park is more famous for skiing as mountains are covered
with snow most of the time in a year. In summers its known for hiking, most
hikes will take you close to glaciers.
While planning our trip this park was not a part of the
itinerary. As we were heading towards Revelstoke National Park, we had to cross
the Glacier National Park. To gather some information about the biggest
highlights of the park and what we can explore in the given time, we took a
quick stop at the Visitors Center.
 |
| (Falling in the love with the beauty of the Park) |
We continued our drive and as we were crossing the park, I
was awestruck with the beauty of the mountains and decided to make some quick
stops at viewpoints. Due to time constraint we could not do justice to this
beautiful park.
We still managed to do a
few small trails:
Glacier House: The
Glacier House hotel was established by the Canadian Pacific Railway. When the railway was re-routed through the
9-kilometer-long Connaught Tunnel in 1917, visitors to Glacier House
dramatically decreased and the resort was closed and eventually dismantled. Today
we can see the remains of the resort near the Illecillewaet Campground. Its an
easy walk of 10 minutes from the parking lot. There are interpretive displays
explaining the importance of the destination during early 1900s.
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| (Walking on the Path and trying to figure out the remains) |
Meeting of the
Waters: It is 20-minute walk from the parking and 15 minutes from glacier
house. Its an easy walk. It’s a beautiful view of cascading waters from two
glaciers meeting and forming a river. We spend some time relaxing by the water
and then headed back to continue our journey to Revelstoke.
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| (A beautiful and difficult serene to capture) |
There are multiple other hikes which open up to beautiful
view of the glaciers.
Areas to Explore in
Mount Revelstoke National Park
It’s a small 260 square km national park located adjacent to
Revelstoke town. The park is known for its spectacular subalpine wildflower
meadows and rugged peaks. Mount Revelstoke offers visitors plenty of
opportunities to experience nature at its finest.
If you enter the park through Glacier National Park and you
already hold a pass head towards Giant Cedar trail.
Our first stop was Giant
Cedars Nature Trail: It’s a half kilometer easy boardwalk with few stairs in the
rainforest. Its the perfect trail to start exploring the national park and
stretch your legs. As you will start walking on the wooden boardwalk you will
find yourself surrounded by giant cedars trees, few are as old as 500 years
ago. As we headed in the evening, we were able to skip the crowd. As we headed
inside, we were completely lost in admiring the huge trees and experience the
silence. We were lost in the nature for some time just enjoying ourselves. There
are some benches to relax in the forest.
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| (Walking in the forest of Cedar Trees) |
Our second stop was
Skunk Cabbage Boardwalk: It’s a 5-minute drive from giant cedar trail. it is a 1.3 km
easy walk boardwalk in the forest. As you will enter the creek you will find
yourself surrounded with the forest and as you continue your walk ahead you can
see some unique vegetation of skunk cabbage. Truly speaking I was not amazed by
the experience. My husband wanted to complete the trail, but I was bit exhausted
and did not found the trail interesting enough so we returned halfway.
It was already late in the evening so we decided to end our
day by visiting the town and have some good food.
Revelstoke Town
It’s a small beautiful town and is known mainly for the Revelstoke
National Park. There is a small visitor center in the town, and they suggested
exploring the ongoing music festival happening in the town. We ordered some
food for pick-up, and went to the square to enjoy the music festival. My
husband wanted to have some local beer, and we found a craft brewery called Mt.
Begbie Brewing Co. Some Indian food and craft beer, there couldn’t be a better
way to end this long day in Revelstoke.
Meadows in the sky Parkway:
Meadows in the Sky Parkway Entrance Station hours of
operation are as follows:
May 20 – June 15: 9am to 5pm
June 16 – September 7: 8am to 5pm (entrance gate closes at 5.30pm in summers but you can stay up till 8pm)
September 8 to October 11: 9am to 5pm
It’s a 26km stretch of adventurous road with turns and
switchbacks that leads to the sweeping views at the top. We started our day by
heading to the Meadows in the sky Parkway, and we were praying for clear skies.
Unfortunately, the sky was still smoky, though it didn’t tame our spirits.
As we crossed the gate and headed towards the winding road, we
found ourselves surrounded by forests of cedar and hemlock, and renowned subalpine
wildflower meadows. On the way there are various viewpoints where you can pull
up your car and get great views of the town and mountains. We made a couple of pull
overs, though we could only see the smoke. So, we decided to head straight up
to the Summit and see whether we will be able to get a better view.
The road ended at the Balsam Lake parking lot, which has a small
picnic area and a short trail to see the lake area but it was not enticing
enough. We decided to head towards the summit. Either you can opt for a 2 km
long trail to Summit area or free shuttle which runs every 15 minutes and takes
you to the summit. There were Canada Parks Camp people from where you can
gather information about the hikes. It was time for us to decide how to
explore. We decided to take the shuttle and it took approximately 10 minutes to
reach the Summit area.
At the summit, there are several trails to explore the area ranging
from leisurely walks to more challenging day long hikes. The easiest hike from
the summit is of Firetower trail. It’s a 5-minute walk from the shuttle drop
point. No doubt its only a 5-minute walk but you do not get a paved stretch. I
struggled a bit but managed to reach the top. Even though the summit is 6360 ft
high from the sea level, I was still feeling of some accomplishment after
reaching that height even though in reality it was mostly just a drive. I was amazed
to see the Firetower that was well maintained despite being so old. You can not
go inside the tower but from the platform you get amazing views to Columbia
River Valley and the Monashee and Selkirk mountain.
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| (Lookout of the Fire Tower) |
It was time to head back, but we found ourselves a bit lost coming
down due to numerous trails but somehow managed to reach the point where
shuttle left us. We decided to walk back to the parking lot rather than taking
the shuttle down. The trail was fun and may be faster than shuttle as the
shuttles have wait times. After reaching the parking lot it was time to say goodbye
to Revelstoke and hit the road towards Kelowna.
Notes:
- There is no food service available on Meadows in the sky parkway so pack your food before you head.
- During summers horseflies and mosquitoes can be
issue. Carry mosquito spray and cover yourself with full sleeves.
- It’s typical mountain weather that can change
quickly. It can be anything from hot and sunny, to chilly or sudden rain can occur.
- Bring layers of clothing to take off or put on
as needed. Wear sturdy footwear for the trails.
- This national park is more famous among skiers
during the winters.
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