Kootenay National Park

Infobox_protected_area | name = Kootenay National Park
iucn_category = II

---

caption = Location of "Kootenay" National Park
locator_x = 51
locator_y = 174
location = British Columbia, Canada
nearest_city =
lat_degrees = 50
lat_minutes = 52
lat_seconds = 59
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 116
long_minutes = 02
long_seconds = 57
long_direction = W
area = 1,406 km²
established = 1920
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
governing_body = Parks Canada
world_heritage_site = [http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/304 304]

Kootenay National Park is located in southeastern British Columbia Canada covering 1,406 km² (543 mi²) in the Canadian Rockies and forms part of a World Heritage Site. The park ranges in elevation from 918 metres (3,011') at the south-west park entrance to 3,424 metres (11,235') at Deltaform Mountain. Kootenay forms one of the four contiguous mountain parks in the Canadian Rockies; the other three being Banff National Park directly to the east, Yoho National Park directly to the north and Jasper National Park which does not share a boundary with Kootenay National Park. Initially called "Kootenay Dominion Park", the park was created in 1920 as part of an agreement between the province of British Columbia and the Canadian federal government to build a highway in exchange for title (property) to a strip of land on either side of the route. A strip of land 8 km. wide on each side of the newly constructed 94 km. Banff-Windermere Highway was set aside as a national park.

While the park is open all year, the major tourist season lasts from June to September. Most campgrounds are open from early May to late September while limited winter camping is available only at the Dolly Varden campground.

The park takes its name from the Kootenay River, one of the two major rivers which flow through the park, the other being the Vermillion River. While the Vermillion River is completely contained within the park, the Kootenay River has its headwaters just outside of the park boundary, flows through the park into the Rocky Mountain Trench, eventually joining the Columbia River. The Banff-Windermere Highway, #93 follows the path of both rivers through the park.

Attractions

The park's main attractions include the Hot Springs, Olive Lake, Marble Canyon, Sinclair Canyon and the Paint Pots. The hot springs offer a hot springs pool ranging from 35°C to 47°C (95°F to 117 °F). The Paint Pots are a group of iron-rich cold mineral springs which bubble up through several small pools and stain the earth a dark red-orange colour. The Paint Pots were a major source of the Ochre paint pigment for a number of First Nations groups prior to the 20th century. Because of the relatively small width of the park (five miles on each side of the highway), many of the park's attractions are situated near the road and are wheelchair accessible. A number of recent forest fires in the northern half of the park in the Simpson River, Vermillion Pass, and Floe Creek areas in 2003 and 2004 have left significant burn areas readily visible from the highway.

Just outside the park's south-western entrance is the town of Radium Hot Springs. The town is named for the odourless hot springs located just inside the park boundary. The name originated at the turn of the 20th century when the promoters tried to sell the hot springs as a therapeutic cure and used the springs very slight radioactivity as a selling point. The area around the hot springs is also home to the Rubber Boa snake [http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/bc/kootenay/natcul/natcul4_E.asp] . The park's north-eastern entrance, connects to Castle Junction in Banff National Park and the Trans-Canada Highway via Vermillion Pass, a mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta/British Columbia border, at an elevation of 1,651 metres (5,416').

Geology

The geology of the park is dominated by mountains made up of exposed faulted sedimentary rock and valleys containing glacial till deposited in the Pleistocene. Just outside the north-eastern corner of the park, there is an igneous intrusion known as the Ice River Complex containing deposits of Sodalite, an ornamental stone. The hills immediately around the hot springs are composed mainly of Tufa, a calcium carbonate deposit that forms by precipitation of supersaturated hot spring water when it reaches cooler surface water.The rocks in south-western corner of the park are part of the older Purcell Mountains range while the eastern park mountains are part of the younger Rocky Mountains range.

World Heritage Site

This park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, together with the other national and provincial parks that form the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, for the mountain landscapes containing mountain peaks, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls, canyons and limestone caves as well as fossils found here.

ee also

*National Parks of Canada
*List of National Parks of Canada

External links

* [http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/bc/kootenay/index_e.asp Parks Canada web site for Kootenay NP]
* [http://www.mountainnature.com/Ecology/DefineTheRockies.htm Geology of the Rocky mountains including Kootenay area]
* [http://www.pc.gc.ca/docs/v-g/pm-mp/guidem-mguide/index_e.asp Parks Canada - Official National Parks and Mountain Guide]
* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0004369 An article on Kootenay National Park from "The Canadian Encyclopedia"]