Elevation gain
825 m (2,710 ft)
Distance
22 km (14 mi) round trip
Approx. 11 hrs
Difficulty
Hard (due to length)
Pricing
$137/person – Ages 8 – 75. A 10% discount is applied to bookings of 6 hikers or more.
$115/person – For educational or not-for-profit groups on a private trip.
Private group pricing: The price per person including a 10% discount OR $685/group; whichever is greater. Group size is 1 – 12 people. Private tours are available any day of the week during our hiking season with some restrictions. Please contact us via email or phone to book.
All prices are in Canadian dollars (CAD). An additional 5% GST is charged on the sales price.
We can guide a maximum of 12 hikers per group, and two groups per day. So, we can guide up to 24 hikers per day to the Walcott Quarry.
Site information, Walcott Quarry hike
Charles Doolittle Walcott first discovered the Burgess Shale fossils in 1909, at the Walcott Quarry site. Scientist’s interpretation of these exquisitely preserved 508 million year old fossils has influenced the scientific view of the evolution of life on Earth. Visit this UNESCO World Heritage site and learn about our three themes: History of Life, Mountain Building and Glaciation, and Climate change in the Canadian Rockies.
In 1989 Stephen Jay Gould published a Wonderful Life and raised public awareness about the Burgess Shale fossils. In 2014 Dr. Jean-Bernard (J.B.) Caron announced the discovery of a new Burgess Shale site, Marble Canyon in Kootenay NP. A few years later Dr. Caron announced the discovery of more sites in Kootenay. Dr. Caron’s press releases have led to increased interest in visiting the Walcott Quarry. Due to the high demand, the dates for this hike fill quickly. Please also consider visiting the Mount Stephen Trilobite Fossil Beds, where Burgess Shale-type biota were first recognized in 1886. Visit our FAQs page if you are looking for the differences between the two hikes.
Is this hike right for you?
Hikers must be between the ages of 8 and 75. Youth from 8-18 must be accompanied by an adult.
You should not undertake this hike if you have any respiratory, circulatory or joint problems. If unsure, check with your physician.
Parks Canada is responsible for trail maintenance. The trail is not always well-maintained. Portions of the trail may be snow-covered until mid-July. The trail is steep and uneven in some sections and becomes slippery in wet weather. Hikers may find the descent is hard on the knees or that uneven surfaces are a test of ankle stability. In the event of injury helicopter rescue is available if the weather is good. If the weather is poor there may be no easy way out and one must be prepared to hike out with minimal assistance.
The hike begins at 1,510 meters (5,000 ft) above sea level. At this elevation there is considerably less oxygen than at sea level. If you are used to training at lower elevations the fatigue of climbing and descending will be be noticeable. Although our guides pause for breaks along the way, you will not enjoy the trip unless you are fit and acclimatised to the altitude.
A plan view topographic map and elevation profile of the hike are available here. If you click on the link, you will be directed to a third party website called AllTrails. We are not affiliated with this organization and we do not control the content on their site. However, we do periodically check to make sure that the topo map and elevation profile are correct.
Logistics the morning of the hike
Your invoice or booking receipt indicates the start time of your hike. The hike is typically scheduled for 8:00 am MDT but not always.
We meet in the parking lot of the Yoho National Park Visitor Centre at the time indicated on your invoice. After gathering there we will all drive our own vehicles in a car convoy along the Yoho Valley Road to the trail-head at Takakkaw Falls. Please note that the Yoho Valley Road is unsuitable for larger motor homes.
Please consult the local road conditions at DriveBC and Alberta 511. There may be closures or infrastructure projects that can cause long delays on the highway.
Why are the Burgess Shale Fossils Significant
The Burgess Shale organisms lived 508 million years ago in a time period that Geologists call the Cambrian, which began at 541 Ma (million years ago) and ended by 485.4 Ma. The first fossil occurence of most animal lineages (at the phylum and class levels) occur in the Cambrian. As a result of this fact, and because the fossils are well preserved, Paleontologists studying the Burgess Shale fossils can deduce a great deal about the ancestory of animal lineages.
Paleontolgists can use a technique called Molecular Clocks to deduce the last time that two disparate organisms had a common ancestor; or in other words the last time that two living creatures, that do not look alike, shared great-great…great-great…(add in a few hundred ‘great-great’)…grandparents. Sometimes molecular clocks indicate that two disparate organisms last shared a common ancestor in the Cambrian. Paleontologists can then look at Cambrian fossils, like the Burgess Shale fossils, and can try to find that last common ancestor! Typically they look for an ancestor that has a combination of the traits (physical characteristics) from both of the current living organisms. In summary the Burgess Shale fossils have helped humanity to understand how all living animals are interelated and with a precision that was lacking prior to the the discovery of the fossils.
Why are the Burgess Shale Fossils so well preserved?
The Burgess Shale fossils are some of the best preserved animal fossils on the planet. The animal fossil record mostly consists of the hard parts of organisms (biomineralized structures or mineralized tissues), such as teeth, bones, exoskeltons, and shells; while soft (labile) tissues are rarely preserved long enough to become a fossil. This is because these hard tissues are more resistant to decay and erosion; are more chemically and physically stable; and are less likely to be consumed, then the soft tissues. Most of us would way-rather eat the inside of a lobster than its shell – this is true for most animals.
Usually after an organism dies, animal scavengers consume its soft tissues and then bacteria and other microbes decompose whatever remains; However, scientist have interpreted the Burgess Shale fossils to be relatively free of microbial decay. This is likely due to the ocean and mud having an unusual geochemistry at the time – or in slightly simpler language, the mud and water in the ocean had a different chemistry during the Cambrian.
Where were the Burgess Shale Fossils when they Died (Depositional Environment)?
The Burgess Shale critters were buried in fine mud on the ocean floor and then a layer of calcium carbonate (limestone) was deposited (layed down) on top of the mud. It is possible that in a matter of weeks the calcium carbonate became hard enough that scavengers could not penetrate through. Perhaps more importantly, the calcium carbonate acted as a cap blocking the difussion of elements into the mud below. As a result, the microbes that were buried in the mud did not receive the elements required to keep them alive. In other words, the Burgess Shale organisms ended up entombed in an environment that was inhospitable to microbes and the microbes died off before they could destroy the soft tissues of the organisms.