Yoho, Yoho, a camper's life for me!

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Geo: 51.2947, -116.963

After packing up our tents and bidding farewell to lovely Jasper, we drove into Yoho National Park, a vast area of hiking trails, waterfalls, rivers and mountains. We passed the spiral tunnels, an ingenious engineering device that allows the train to descend the steep slope known in the area as "Big Hill" - before the tunnel was created, there were times when the front of the train would have been 5 metres below the back as it traversed the tracks, and this caused many fatal accidents. We saw one train looping back on itself as it passed through the tunnels, like a giant snake coiling around on itself.

We stopped off at falls, one of the tallest in Canada, where the water thundered down from a great height over seven levels. A wander in the opposite direction took in a huge glacier in the distance, not a welcome break from the drive. Our main stop on the journey was at Emerald Lake - another breathtaking beauty. With the sun out, the lake was absolutely stunning. We took the 6km walk around its edges, starting with incredible views, the surface of the lake dotted with bright red kayaks which provided the perfect contract to the dazzling blue of the water itself.

Our trail took us behind the lodge on the lake, up through incredible pine forest trails, the muddy floor making us concentrate more than we had done on previous walks, but which meant that when the trees parted and allowed us a view of the turquoise lake, it was perfect. We managed to get some incredible photos of the lake, with no canoes at this end and therefore pristinely still, reflecting the glacier behind it. We continued on the trail, although the second half was not as beautiful as e first, it still far surpassed many of the lakes I have seen on my travels. At the end of our walk, and after a few days of 16-24km days, we decided to take it easy for the last hour and chill out in the lodge, before we drove down to our campsite, through more spectacular scenery, and then set up camp.

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