Whaleback trail from Twin Falls

Whaleback trail from Twin Falls

Whaleback Trail from Twin Falls in Yoho National ParkThe Whaleback trail is a fantastic hike that will take you up above the amazing Twin Falls in Yoho National Park. You can then walk up high along a ridge with views of the surrounding Rocky Mountains. This starts from the Twin Falls Campground, but you could hike in from Takakkaw Falls and do this as a long day hike too (you’d just need to turn back to the car park at Laughing Falls.)

We hiked this on a cloudy day, so I imagine it would be even more impressive under blue skies!

The Whaleback trail from Twin Falls – the basics

Distance: 10.5 km (19.6 km if you do the whole thing in a day hike from Takakkaw Falls)
Cumulative Elevation gain
: 711m (1150m if you do it as a day hike)
Highest Point: 2200m
Time: 4.5-5 hours
What to bring:
The 10 Essentials
Hiking poles were useful, especially during the descent
Bear spray
Facilities:
There are loos Twin Falls Campground and a chalet/tea house and a loo close to the falls.
The campground has bear hangs and picnic benches.
Dogs: Yes (on a leash)
How hard is it? Hard if you do it as a day hike. Intermediate if you start from the Twin Falls campsite.

Start at the Twin Falls Campground

We started this hike after 3pm, so we made sure our tent was all set up before we set off. We only really planned to hike up to the top of the Whaleback to see the views…just be aware, it is sooo pretty up high, that it might make you get out the map to find more adventurous routes back!

If you’d like to see more information and photos about the gorgeous hike to Twin Falls (via Laughing Falls) please take a peek at my previous post. The Whaleback trail was an extra bonus walk for us because there was still plenty of daylight.

First we took a short side trail over a pretty red bridge towards Marpole Lake.

Views from the Twin Falls Bridge

I loved the views into Twin Falls Creek from the bridge behind the chalet. You can see over the trees to the gorgeous mountains and glaciers on this side of Yoho National Park.

Marpole Lake

We hiked down to see Marpole Lake. It’s a pretty, green lake nestled in the trees not far from the waterfalls. However we actually passed this lake again later on our return journey, so next time I probably wouldn’t hike down to it twice!

Twin Falls

Once we’d taken in the views at the lake, we came back to see the amaaaazing Twin Falls.

I mentioned this in my previous post, but you can get pretty close to the base of the falls to see them up close and get covered in spray. If you look carefully to the top of the waterfalls, there are little gaps in the cliff face. That is where we were planning to go next. You can peer down through that gap above each waterfall.

Whaleback Trail

Next you follow switchbacks through the trees onto the real Whaleback trail. You’ll gain 240m in elevation over less than 2km. It feels like you are climbing fast, but it is not *too* steep.

I love that every time you turn on another switchback, the views look better and better.

Pika time!

As well as looking out at the views, look out for critters! We saw an incredibly cute, almost-white pika. This floofy-lady had some strong options, so stood by her hole and shouted at us for a while. Can you see her in the first photo? I zoomed in a bit to make it easier to see her swear at us. We also saw an incredibly chubby mouse-like dude as well as a relaxed marmot.

After about an hour hiking up, you’ll find yourself above Twin Falls on the shoulder of Whaleback Mountain. (I’m not sure if whales have shoulders, but it feels like you are high whatever part of the whale you’re on!) You can see Twin Falls Creek continues on further up with several extra bonus waterfalls in the distance.

View above Twin Falls

This may not look impressive in photos, but I loved being able to stand behind Twin Falls and peek through the gap as water spurts though this fantastic viewpoint. I got up close peeking down into the valley, until it stressed Marc out. Later I found out there are sometimes accidents with tourists falling from here, so I guess he was right to be worried.

Beyond Twin Falls

There is a bridge just above the falls, so you can cross the surging river easily. After that you hike up higher along the Whaleback Trail. At first there is a large boulder field (where you may see pikas and marmots). But soon you’ll find yourself in flower-filled high alpine meadows.

You just keep climbing up, with Whaleback Mountain looming over you on one side, and expansive view on the other side.

Whaleback Views

The highest part of the trail is the end of the ridge for Whaleback Mountain. I flipping LOVED the views here, but it was very windy and cold.

The mountain on the left is the Vice President, then the President is hiding behind it (to the right, in the clouds.) These all look amazing from Emerald Lake, which is in the valley behind them. My photo (below, right) shows the knobbly Mount Kerr.

Heading down the Whaleback trail switchbacks

By this point rain was starting to spit on us, so we figured we should rush down the switchbacks towards Little Yoho Valley.

This is the part of the walk that could be tough on your knees as you drop over 300m in 2km. We did our running trick as we find jogging down this kind of trail puts less pressure on our knees. It’s also good for a bit of extra speed to return to our campsite before dark!

We made it down into the valley in no time at all, and then had a big decision; Should we drop down to Laughing Falls and hike back to our tent at the bottom of the valley, or should we take the Marpole Lake Connector trail (half way up the mountain) back via the twin falls chalet? We went with the Marpole Lake Connector as we wanted to see more new views.

Marpole Lake Connector

This trail hugs the mountain just below the cliffs of Whaleback Mountain. Most of the trail goes through a bolder field, but there is a really well built path, so it is easy to follow. There are a couple of places where rock slides seemed to have obliterated the path. When that happens, follow the little cairns for find your way.

As you can imagine we were very happy to see Marpole Lake again! I didn’t take any photos from here back down to our tent, as we were both tired and hungry. It seemed more important to run down the mountain to where we had hung up our dinner!

Twin falls Campsite

Once we made it back, we retrieved our dry bag from the bear hang. You can’t keep any food (or anything with a smell, like lip balms, deodorant etc.) in your tent in case it attracts bears. However all the campsites in Yoho national park have either bear hangs (poles with ropes that can lift your grub up high) or food lockers.

We had brought camping meals, so all we needed to do was boil some water, pour it over our chili and wait a few minutes for it to hydrate into a tasty dinner.

Once we’d eaten, we had planned to stay out and watch the stars, but it was really cloudy aaaand we were cream-crackered (I mean knackered.) In the end we went to sleep pretty early cozily snuggled up in our tent.

The only problem is there are a lot of signs posts that you need to be wary of grizzlies, and some of the other campers cut short their hike up to the Whaleback because they heard a cougar whistle several times(!) This meant when I needed to go for a pee in the middle of the night, I was so worried about being eaten by a grizzly or a cougar. The loo is around 100m away from our tent, which sounds close, until you need to walk that far in the middle of the night while your heart pumps madly!

In the end, I didn’t get eaten (phew!) so we were off on more adventures the following morning!

Panoramas from the Whaleback Trail

You can’t really get a feel of how open and epic the scenery is in Yoho National Park, but hopefully this at least will give you an idea about the kind of views you will get along this walk.

Apart from the worry that I might be eaten on my way to the loo, I LOVED camping at Twin Falls and hiking along the Whaleback trail. If you’d like a rewarding adventure in the Rockies that is not particularly busy, this is a great option!

You can click on the pins to save them for later.

Whaleback Trail from Twin Falls in Yoho National Park Whaleback Trail in Yoho National Park - view from near Twin Falls Whaleback Trail views towars Litttle Yoho Valley on the way back to Twin Falls

34 thoughts on “Whaleback trail from Twin Falls

  1. Now you have to go back and do the Iceline to complete the trails in that area 🙂 Yeah, 100 m feels a really long way in the dark in grizzly country!

    1. We really wanted to do the iceline the next day, but the weather had other ideas. Lisa told me about her hikes in Yoho…so now i am even more keep to go back again. The iceline and the other walks from Yoho Lake all sound fantastic!

      1. Yes, save the Iceline for a good day! I want to go back to extend the hike up to Kiwetinok Pass at the head of the Little Yoho valley… The Burgess Shale hike starts in the Yoho valley too, going up past Yoho Lake and around to Wapta Mountain.

  2. This looks STUNNING! I can’t believe you had that much energy at the top! (unless you were just really cold and trying to warm up 😊)

    1. Thanks Diane! Lol I always seem to have enough energy for a jump shot at the top! I get soooo excited to see the views!

  3. Beautiful photos and loved reading about your adventure. Where would you suggest to pitch tent if I plan to backpack it and want to catch sunrise? Hope cougars and grizzlies prefer to stay down, I will rather dehydrate than to get out of the tent in night.

    1. I am not sure for the sunrise – I don’t think you can pitch a tent away from the campsites, but you could get up early and hike up for sunrise photos – on clear days that would be amaaazing.

  4. What a breath-taking hike! I’d really love to explore more of Canada…the landscapes look unreal! The mountain views look incredible! Thanks for the wonderful guide, I hope I’m able to try it out first-hand one day!

    1. I know what you mean. Before we moved here I saw some of my friends photos, I honestly thought he’d done some VFX magic as the scenery is so unreal – The crazy thing is, it looks even better in real life. Photos never quite do the Rockies justice!

  5. I love hiking and camping, but I do get nervous in bear country. We live in Black bear country now which I am less afraid of than grizzlies! Being 5 foot a mountain lion could have me as a snack. But the views are worth it!

    1. Yeah, we are getting a bit more used to black bears, but grizzlies are always a bit of a worry. Luckily I have only seen them from afar. I am pretty sure they don’t want to run into humans so we’re just always loud on the trail so we don’t meet them.

  6. Your Yoho posts are making me want to return to this great park. It’s just unbelievably beautiful, isn’t it! When camping, I purposely try not to drink too much at dinner so I don’t need to leave my tent in the night! Sadly this isn’t always possible…but so far, so good. Glad you made it OK too!

  7. Wow, some of your photos look like paintings – unbelievably gorgeous! I can totally understand that you love to hike here. For me, however, I rather read your stories than hike in bear country.

    1. Thanks Rudy – it is a bit mad how beautiful the Rockies can be.

      It’s all good though, if you don’t like the idea of hiking, there are still loooads of amazing viewpoints/ places you can visit without getting your hiking boots out in bear country. 😉

  8. This looks like an incredible trail! Thanks for including so many great photos and details of your hike. My favorite is to hike directly into camp after a long day and then get super cozy in my tent. What a great adventure!

  9. That’s a very long hike, but it looks like it was totally worth it for the photos. The longest hike I ever did was 7 hours, and that was plenty haha

  10. The photos are stunning for this hike. I love how the Twin Falls splits–so unique. I’m glad you didn’t get eaten by a bear or a coyote. And didn’t fall of the waterfall. All good.

  11. I really want to go explore Yoho National Park. What an amazing trail to see the Twin Falls. That river and the falls looks amazing! Even Darcee wouldn’t mind hiking the Whaleback trail and she doesnt love hiking as much as I do! This looks like the best trip for anyone who wants to spend time in beautiful nature!

  12. We just did the Iceline trail via Lake Celeste – this looks like another really good option in this area.

    1. Oooh you lucky thing. We wanted to do the Iceline the following day, but it was just too misty and gross. Do you have a post about it? I’d love to read it.

  13. Wow this looks like and incredible hike! I’ve done some hiking around Banff but have yet to make it to Yoho. Pinning this for when I finally do. Oh and I’d be nervous about grizzlies and cougars too. Hearing those whistles makes me super uneasy!!

  14. Oh gosh, I’d be afraid to go to the toilet in the middle of the night too! Cougars particularly scare me cuz they’re so quiet! This and the Twin Falls are incredibly beautiful – and I love the color of the water. I think I need to come explore Yoho 🙂

  15. My wife and I and our two Dalmatian dogs hiked this trail a way back in the early 70’s. In order for us to cross the bridge at the top of Twin Falls, if you could call it that in those days, we had to somehow coax our dogs to cross that so-called bridge. It just consisted of four steel cables, one on either side to hold on to and the other two had wooden cross members to walk on with plenty of space between the boards so you could easily see the rushing water beneath you. This really spooked our dogs so we were not sure whether to attempt a crossing. Being young and foolish we decided to give it a try, almost choking our leashed dogs in the process. Once making it across we repeated our stupid ways and unleashed our furry pets to roam on their own. Little did we know in those days that if they made contact with a bear that they would lead it back to us. The dogs could easily outrun the bear so we would become it’s meal. Oh the good ole days when ignorance was bliss.

    Both of us are now well into our 70’s and can only reminisce about experiences like this from our past. We didn’ even own a camera in those days so it’s wonderful that you posted all those beautiful photos to bring back some great memories. Thanks so much!

    1. Wow your dogs were so brave! We were saying even with the newer bridge, I don’t think people that are afraid of heights would like it. I am so impressed you got the dogs over that!

      I guess trails like this were a little less busy in the 70s!? The Whaleback was the only area where we didn’t see any other hikers, but down in the valleys all of the campgrounds were full. I wonder if there were more bears there when you visited…

      Anyway, thank you so much for your lovely comment! you have made my day. My parents are a similar age to you (and they love dogs and walking too) so I started this blog to show them what we’re up to. It’s even better if it can cheer up other people too.

      1. Josy: Thank you for your speedy response. In our days of hiking in the Rockies we used to see the odd sign up warning about bears on some trails. I will always remember one warning about grizzlies in the Tonkin valley. We avoided hikes posted with these warning signs but being silly at that age we would go on other hikes letting the dogs run off leash.

        I just wanted to let you know that we could be your adopted parents because we love dogs too. And also we love walking, especially in the forests around us, too bad no mountains though, (we live near Toronto now but both of us grew up in the wilds of Sask) it keeps us in touch with nature.

        In fact today we will soon be taking our 11 year old Dalmatian (our sixth one!) for his daily walk and swim in a local swim hole in one of the creeks near us. He is a rescue we adopted 4 years ago. He hated going near water when he came to us but last year it was soooo hot we decided he needed some cooling off so we were determined to teach him something new, and that was to swim. He is now a master at it and really enjoys it. So we no longer believe that baloney that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. We are a sucker for this breed- with all their energy they seem to keep us active and young at heart.

        1. Yeees! You really can teach old dogs new tricks when it involves water! My mum taught my sister’s lab “how to dog” as he used to be really scared of swimming too.

          My folks live in Cambridge in the UK (so no forests or mountains!) we are sooo lucky to be in Canada with the incredible walking and swimming spots!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.