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Yoho Lake Campground in Yoho National Park

Campground · Yoho National Park

Yoho Lake Campground

Backcountry camping beside Yoho Lake, reached by a steep hike.

Photo: Flickr
Type
Campground
Nearest trail
2.4 km
Audio stories
4 nearby
  • Restrooms
  • Picnic tables
DirectionsMap

Hear the audio tour

Iceline and Yoho Lake: Choose Your Hiking Day

Overview

About Yoho Lake Campground

Why stop

  • A lakeshore camp with tent pads, dry toilets and food storage.

Heads up

  • The steep approach is 4.9 km each way from the parking lot.

Map

Where it is

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Full map
CampgroundYoho Lake Campground51.47467, -116.48634
Keep this map with you offline in the Parkwolf app

Plan your stop

Before you go

5 active Yoho alerts

  • ClosureYoho Valley Road closed for avalanche seasonYoho Valley Road is closed to vehicles from mid-October to mid-June because of avalanche risk. - Parks Canada’s current trail report lists no vehicle access to trails in the Yoho Valley.Official details
  • CautionWatercraft and angling prohibited in YohoWatercraft use and angling are prohibited on all waterbodies in Yoho National Park until March 31, 2027, to reduce the spread of aquatic invasive species, including whirling disease.Official details
See all 5 alerts
A park ranger sits on a dash-mounted phone, talking, as Parkwolf’s Tour Guide plays “Army Cutworm Moths: A Grizzly Bear Buffet” on Grand Loop Road below Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone
Parkwolf Tour GuideThe highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.

Yoho Tour Guide

Your drive to Yoho Lake Campground, narrated.

Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Yoho National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.

See the Yoho audio tour

Recorded for this area

Iceline and Yoho Lake: Choose Your Hiking Day
0:00 / 0:25
“You're coming up on the Iceline and Yoho Lake trail access, where the hikes start with a steep forest climb.”

Plays on the road 1.2 km from Yoho Lake Campground in the Parkwolf Yoho Tour Guide.

More stories near here in the app

  • The Songbird Under the Water
  • Takakkaw Falls: A Short Walk to the Spray
  • The Workers Held at Camp Otter
  • Why Yoho Gets Wetter Toward the Divide
  • 35 audio storiesacross Yoho’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
  • Wildlife heatmapsfor Grizzly Bear, Mountain Goat, Black Bear, and 13 more
  • Works offlinemaps, 54 trails, 58 places, and audio download before you lose signal
  • CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
★★★★★
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
JMJamesApp Store review
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4.7 from 8,600+ ratings

Guide

More about Yoho Lake Campground

A backcountry camp by Yoho LakeYoho Lake Campground is a designated backcountry campsite beside Yoho Lake in Yoho Valley.

Yoho Lake Campground is a designated backcountry campsite beside Yoho Lake in Yoho Valley. It is reached on foot from Takakkaw Falls parking lot, so plan for a steep hike with your overnight gear. This is a good choice if you want to spend the night beside a mountain lake; it is not a drive-up campground.

Plan for the hike inThe Yoho Lake trail is 4.9 km one way.

The Yoho Lake trail is 4.9 km one way. Parks Canada lists a three-hour return-hike estimate, with 435 m of climbing and 130 m of descent; allow extra time and energy for a backpack and camp setup. The trailhead is at the end of Yoho Valley Road, which is seasonally open from mid-June to mid-October. Trailers are not permitted, and vehicles longer than 7 m must reverse around the tight switchbacks. Check the road's current status before you go.

What the campground providesEach site has a tent pad, dry toilet, communal picnic tables and food-storage cables or lockers.

Each site has a tent pad, dry toilet, communal picnic tables and food-storage cables or lockers. An overnight backcountry permit is mandatory, and advance reservations are needed at most locations in July, August and September. Bring a stove and fuel because campfires are prohibited, and carry a way to treat surface water before drinking it.

campingbackcountrylakehiking

Wildlife

Wildlife in Yoho

All Yoho wildlife maps
Grizzly Bear21 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapMountain Goat55 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapBlack Bear61 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapElk66 sightingsElkMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapMoose26 sightingsMooseMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapBald Eagle10 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 7 AMSighting map

Sighting maps show where each species has been reported across Yoho. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.

Keep exploring

Near Yoho Lake Campground

See it all on the map

Trails nearby

ChallengingIceline Trail Out-and-Back14.4 km · 6 hr · 2.4 km awayClimb past three lakes to glacier views over Takakkaw Falls.ChallengingIceline via Little Yoho20.3 km · 8 hr · 2.5 km awayGlacier views and tarns reward a full-day climb.ChallengingIceline via Celeste Lake Loop17.4 km · 7 hr · 2.5 km awaySteep climb, glacier views, and a Celeste Lake descent.ChallengingWhaleback Circuit20.5 km · 7.5 hr · 2.5 km awayTwin Falls, an alpine ridge, and a full day on foot.ModerateTwin Falls Trail16.8 km · 5.5 hr · 2.5 km awayA long valley walk to Yoho's twin cascades and historic tea house.ChallengingYoho Valley Circuit28.5 km · 10.5 hr · 2.5 km awayA full day linking Twin Falls, Whaleback and the IcelineModerateLaughing Falls Trail9 km · 3 hr · 2.5 km awayA riverside walk to Laughing Falls with two optional waterfall detours.EasyPoint Lace Falls and Angels Staircase Falls Trail5.5 km · 1.8 hr · 2.5 km awayAn easy valley walk branches to two waterfall viewpoints.

More stops nearby

Sight · 0.1 km awayYoho LakeRed chairs and a Wapta reflection reward the uphill hike.Lodging · 1.8 km awayHI Yoho National Park, Whiskey Jack Wilderness HostelA rustic hostel base for Takakkaw Falls and the Iceline Trail.Campground · 2.5 km awayTakakkaw Falls CampgroundA walk-in tent camp beneath the roar of Takakkaw Falls.Sight · 3 km awayTakakkaw FallsGet close enough for glacier-fed spray to change the temperature.Sight · 4.2 km awayWalcott QuarryA full-day guided hike to fossils older than half a billion years.Sight · 4.7 km awayPoint Lace FallsA short spur reaches a lacy, 45-foot cascade.Sight · 4.7 km awayAngel’s Staircase Falls ViewpointA stepped cascade worth the valley walk while snowmelt still feeds it.Lodging · 5.3 km awayEmerald Lake LodgeLakeside lodge with a Yukon saloon bar and TV-free rooms.

Parkwolf’s Yoho ranking

Top sights in Yoho

All 58 places
  1. 1Emerald LakeSight
  2. 2Takakkaw FallsSight
  3. 3Natural BridgeSight
  4. 4Lake O’HaraSight
  5. 5Lower Spiral Tunnel ViewpointSight
  6. 6Wapta FallsSight

Take Parkwolf to Yoho.

The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.

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