We spent 3 nights in Revelstoke as we wanted to spend time in Mount Revelstoke National Park. This is a couple of hours drive west of Banff National Park and receives many fewer visitors.
The MEADOWS IN THE SKY PARKWAY gets very positive coverage in all the guide books and is on everyone’s tick list. It is a narrow mountain road which climbs up through 16 switchbacks to above the tree line. The road is closed when the first snows come and is progressively opened as the snows melt. We visited mid June and the top of the road was still shut, so we never got to see the meadows. It is often Mid July before the road to the top is open, and some years it never opens completely.
There are one or two good views over the valley from pull offs along the road, but otherwise it is like driving on a typical BC road except it is bendier and steeper than normal. If paying specially for entrance check how far it is open and if not to the top save your money – it's not really worth it.
SKUNK CABBAGE TRAIL This is a 20 minute drive east of Revelstoke in the bottom of the valley. There is a short boardwalk trail across the valley bottom swamp. This is a delightful walk across open pools and dense bright green vegetation. We could see the huge green eaves of the skunk cabbage although the bright yellow flower heads had yet to appear. There were plenty of white orchids.
GIANT CEDARS TRAIL This is on the opposite side of the road and is a short boardwalk trail with steps which takes you up among old growth forest with 800year old cedars. There are information boards explaining the ecology of the forest. There was a dense undergrowth including Devil’s Club with its vicious thorns.
Both of these were excellent walks and rewarding to do.
Parks Canada website: www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/bc/revelstoke/index.aspx
We visited during a five week trip to Canada. There is an overall report of the trip here.
I have written a series of detailed reports for some of the places visited for Silver Travel.
