After returning from a backcountry ski trip to the Selkirk Mountains last year, I was conducting some research on the geology of the region when I stumbled across the The Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation, the educators and protectors of a very special place that is a Unesco World Heritage Site and home to 500 million-year-old fossils.
There are few places on the planet that have helped humans understand so well the origins of animals and the development of organs, tissues, and the precursor for a spinal cord. Located in the beautiful mountains of Yoho National Park, it was certainly an experience that I wanted to find time to do. Fast forward to the dog days of Summer 2025, and my path ran north from Seattle to British Columbia and Alberta for some exploration.
I opted for the Mount Stephen Trilobite Beds hike, which is a heady and hardy hike going from steep to steeper to steeperest. Guides are required to enter the area. Not only do they, and a system of sophisticated cameras, keep the fossils protected, but they also offer a great deal of geological and biological information to keep the hike interesting. Once you are at the top, it really is hard for the human mind to grasp the fact that this ancient shale bed was once at the bottom of a shallow ocean. Trilobites abound as do the appendages of the Cambrian predator Anomalocaris. Conditions had to be just right for a mud slide to bury these extraordinary creatures alive, and preserve their Dr Seuss bodies without oxygen or other harmful bacteria that would have otherwise deconstructed their cells. Millions of years of compaction and uplift unveil their fortuitous demise.
You’ll spend about an hour appreciating the significance of the place, as well as the beautiful views, before descending back down the steep trail that winds down a medial moraine.
The Burgess Shale experience kicked off several days of exploring a total of 5 national parks in BC and Alberta (Banff, Glacier, Kootenay, Revelstoke and Yoho), each of which were stunning in their own right.
The visit to Athabasca Glacier was the most humbling. Signs along the trail indicate where the glacier lay at intervals through the 1900s. To walk past the year 1992, when I was a junior in high school, and see just how far the glacier has retreated was alarming. Observing the giant 6-wheeled monster trucks carrying streams of tourists to its flanks (toe), and recognizing that I had arrived in my own diesel powered craft, didn’t assuage my outlook for the future. I know the Earth has experienced many cycles of heating and cooling, but it just sucks that this time it is human caused. Counting on clean technology to continue to advance.
Ever thought the Pasqueflower looks a lot like the Lorax trees? Me too…
