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Kootenay National Park
Monday, May 26th, 2008 by GetawayBC.com
Evidence shows that Kootenay National Park (KNP) has long been an east-west travel route.
It is believed that the area encompassed by the park (1,406 sq. km) was travelled on a seasonal basis by First Nations.
The Ktunaxa regularly crossed the Rockies via Whiteman Pass (south of the boundary), Simpson Pass and Vermilion Pass to hunt buffalo on the plains.
Archaeologists believe that people have lived in this area for 10,000 years or more.
Long before Europeans arrived, Aboriginal people bathed in the Radium Hot Springs.
The Paint Pots is another site respected as a sacred place by First Nations. Groups from both the east and west sides of the Rockies would visit the site for ceremony and to extract ochre dye used in traditional rituals, for decoration and trade.
The first recorded visit was by Sir George Simpson in 1841. Hard on Simpson’s heels was James Sinclair who came over Whiteman Pass leading a cavalcade of Red River settlers enroute to Walla Walla, Washington.
In 1858, geologist James Hector, led a branch of the Palliser Expedition into the north end of the Kootenay Valley.
By the early 1900s, local businessmen were lobbying for a road linking Windermere to Banff. Eventually the road was completed by the federal government in exchange for title to a strip of land on either side of the route. In 1920, this land was set aside as Kootenay National Park.
Characterized by overturned folds of sedimentary rock, serrated ridges and rounded crests, the Western Ranges are geologically complex structures found in the southwestern section of the park.
The Eastern and Western Main Ranges are represented in the northern sections of the park.
KNP is also the only national park that represents the Rocky Mountain Trench.
The trench, visible from space as a long linear valley stretching from the U.S. border to the B.C./Yukon border, is a major break in the earth’s crust.
The soothing waters of Radium Hot Springs, in a spectacular canyon setting, have long been a natural draw, from the first pool scooped out of the gravel by Aboriginal people to today’s extensively developed pools’ facility.
The hot springs, and their associated features of Sinclair Canyon and the Redwall Fault, are significant geological features.
The range in elevation (900m to 3,400m) and associated range in climate within KNP result in a variety of ecological zones, each characterized by flora and fauna typical of the western Rocky Mountains.
The southwestern corner of the park contains the only example of dry Douglas fir/ponderosa pine/wheatgrass vegetation in Canada’s national parks. This semi-arid area, where prickly pear cactus also grows, provides important winter range for wildlife, especially bighorn sheep.
Wildlife are a highlight of the Rocky Mountains. Characteristic species found within KNP include: grizzly and black bear, wolf, coyote, cougar, lynx, wolverine, marten, marmot, white-tailed and mule deer, elk, moose, mountain goat and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. The mountain goat is the park’s wildlife symbol.
A large population of goats inhabit the slopes of Mount Wardle year-round.
The park has numerous key features, including: Kootenay Parkway; Sinclair Canyon/Redwall fault; Olive Lake; Numa Falls; Kootenay Valley viewpoint; Simpson Monument; Paint Pots; Marble Canyon; Continental Divide; Crook’s Meadows; Valley View Trail; Fireweed Trail.
For more information about Kootenay National Park go to: http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/bc/kootenay/index_E.asp or stop into the Visitor Centre in Radium Hot Springs.;