Emerald Lake: one lake, one loop, little parking
The lakeshore trail is for everyone. The parking lot is for early birds.
Emerald Lake lies in Yoho National Park in British Columbia, 10 km (6.2 mi) west of the village of Field via the Trans-Canada Highway and Emerald Lake Road. A 5.2 km (3.2 mi) gravel trail loops along the shore around the whole lake, with mountain and glacier views and almost no climbing; Parks Canada allows 2 hours.
According to Parks Canada, the parking areas at Emerald Lake and Takakkaw Falls are extremely popular and fill up early in summer and on weekends. The park advises arriving with a backup plan.
The trails to Emerald Basin and Hamilton Lake and the big Emerald Triangle loop over Yoho Pass and Burgess Pass start from the same parking lot.
In numbers
- Lakeshore trail
- 5.2 km (3.2 mi) loop
- Lakeshore walking time
- about 2 hours
- From Field
- 10 km (6.2 mi)
- Field – Lake Louise
- 30 km (19 mi)
- Field – Banff
- 85 km (53 mi)
- Field – Golden
- 58 km (36 mi)
- Park entry, adults
- 12.25 CAD per day
- Emerald Basin
- 4.8 km, +305 m (1,001 ft)
- Hamilton Lake
- 5.1 km, +915 m (3,002 ft)
- Emerald Triangle
- 18.8 km, +1,285 m (4,216 ft)
