Is Kootenay National Park worth a stop?

Yes, especially in transit. Marble Canyon and the Paint Pots are short walks right off the highway, and Radium Hot Springs at the south end is worth the drive on its own.

How long does it take to drive through Kootenay?

About 90 minutes without stopping, and half a day if you take the three or four short walks along the way.

Do you need a park pass to drive Highway 93 through Kootenay?

If you stop and use park facilities, yes. Simply transiting without stopping does not require one, but any pullout or trailhead does.

What is the best hike in Kootenay?

Stanley Glacier, roughly 10 kilometres return, through fire-regenerated forest into a hanging valley with fossil beds at the top.

National parks

Kootenay National Park: the drive-through park worth stopping in

Where: Southeastern British Columbia
Best months: June to September
Time needed: One day, or a half day in transit
Nearest airports: Calgary

Highway winding through a forested mountain valley in Kootenay National Park — Highway 93 South, which is the park as most people experience it. Photo: The Cosmonaut / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5 ca

Kootenay is a long narrow park either side of Highway 93 South, running from the continental divide down to the Columbia Valley. It is the least visited of the four contiguous mountain parks and the easiest to fold into a drive between Banff and the interior of British Columbia.

Stops along the highway, north to south

Marble Canyon: a short interpretive walk over a deep, narrow limestone gorge with meltwater roaring through it.
Paint Pots: iron-rich ochre springs that stain the ground orange. Indigenous peoples collected pigment here for centuries and the site remains culturally significant.
Numa Falls: a five minute stop and a good one.
Sinclair Canyon: the highway squeezes through a red rock gap at the southern gate, which is a dramatic way to exit a park.
Radium Hot Springs: Canada's largest hot spring pool, odourless, at the south entrance, and the correct end to any day in the mountains.

Kootenay National Park Open the full map

Fire history you can read from the road

Large sections of Kootenay burned in 2003 and again since, and the standing grey trunks alongside young growth are visible for kilometres. It is a genuinely instructive drive: the lodgepole pine here needs fire to open its cones, so what looks like devastation is the forest's own reproduction cycle.

Hiking

Stanley Glacier is the standout day hike, roughly 10 kilometres return through burnt forest into a hanging valley, with fossils in the rubble at the top. Kindersley Pass is a much harder full-day loop with a ridge walk and near-guaranteed solitude.

Book it and check it

Common questions

Is Kootenay National Park worth a stop?: Yes, especially in transit. Marble Canyon and the Paint Pots are short walks right off the highway, and Radium Hot Springs at the south end is worth the drive on its own.
How long does it take to drive through Kootenay?: About 90 minutes without stopping, and half a day if you take the three or four short walks along the way.
Do you need a park pass to drive Highway 93 through Kootenay?: If you stop and use park facilities, yes. Simply transiting without stopping does not require one, but any pullout or trailhead does.
What is the best hike in Kootenay?: Stanley Glacier, roughly 10 kilometres return, through fire-regenerated forest into a hanging valley with fossil beds at the top.

Tip

Radium at the south gate is a good overnight if you are heading toward the Okanagan, and it is markedly cheaper than anywhere inside Banff.