The Town of Field and the Kicking Horse Pass – Entering Yoho National Park
Driving through the rocky mountains is always an memorable experience, one evoking primitive instincts of worship, as if those ancient peaks were themselves pagan gods of old. Serving as background noise was my friend Tyson’s strange, yet wonderful, taste in indie music in this case the song “One Great City” by the Weakerthans a satirical song about the Canadian city of Winnipeg – a relaxing, odd and yet funny song about a man who hates (yet loves) the city. I thought to myself that this was an interesting song to be playing as the mountainous landscape we were driving through was the total opposite landscape as of what you would find in Manitoba.
This post is a stub of the larger Yoho National Park post, for more information on the surrounding area click here.
Table of Contents
Kicking Horse Pass
This high mountain pass, located at an elevation of 1627 meter (5339 feet, lies within both Yoho and Banff National arks. Home to the Kicking Horse River, one of my favorite names for a watercourse, the pass is one of the best known in the Rocky Mountains. The name of the pass is rather literal, coming into being when James Hector (a member of the Palliser Expedition) was kicked by his pack-horse while exploring the river of the same name. The river flows past Yoho, towards the city of Golden and is littered with beautiful falls such as Wapta. Its importance was cemented with the completion of the transcontinental railway in 1871. Since the 1960’s it has been the home of the Trans-Canadia Highway.
Spiral Tunnels Viewpoint
The previously mentioned pass is home to a fantastic feat of engineering, unfortunately housed mostly underground, out of view from the unsuspecting public. These are the spiral tunnels and engineering marvel that sought to improve the original routing of the track through the pass. This improvement was required due the the former’s steep slope, particularly the section at Big Hill, Grade the cause of many railway derailments. Today, you can pull over to the side of the road to admire the view showcasing the solution to this problem. In 1909 a series of spiral tunnels winding their way into the mountain were completed, helping to bring the trains down the pass as a lesser slope. Twenty-fiver to thirty trains pass through the Spiral Tunnels daily, so settle in and try to catch one as it emerges from its hiding hole.
The Town of Field
Lying at the foot of Kicking Horse Pass in the Kicking Horse Valley, where locomotives once rested before or after their journey, Field is a true rocky mountain town. The town occupies a strategic location was was founded as a tent city in the 1880’s where men young and old come to to bask in the new frontier opened up by the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
The glacial mountain flow of the river fill the valley and offer a short glimpse of the natural beauty offered by the surrounding mountains.
Admire the view for what it is, a glimpse but do stay a while. The town has developed as a hub for hiking and ecotourism and although small has a few businesses to bless with your patronage. Who needs big city vibes when you have a view like this!
