Mount Revelstoke National Park

Mount Revelstoke National Park is a place of contrasts. Take a drive along the Meadows in the Sky parkway through a variety of geographical zones. From dense old-growth rainforest of giant cedar and pine, travel up through subalpine forest, and finally alpine meadows and tundra. Marvel at the spectacular view of the ice-clad peaks of the Monashee Mountains and, to the east, the Selkirk Mountains. The Giant Cedars hiking trail takes you through a stand of ancient Western Red Cedars, and the Skunk Cabbage trail introduces you to jungle-like wetland, a birder's paradise. Mount Revelstoke National Park is located adjacent to the city of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada. The park is relatively small for a national park, covering 260 km2 (100 sq mi). It is located in the Selkirk Mountains and was founded in 1914. Approximately 600,000 visitors enter Mount Revelstoke and nearby Glacier National Park each year. The park contains part of the world's only temperate inland rain forest. Steep, rugged mountains can be found in a warm, moist climate. A variety of plant and animal life is typical with stands of old-growth Western Redcedar and Western Hemlock, a forest type which is rapidly declining outside of protected areas. The park's inland rainforest also has an isolated population of banana slugs which marks the eastern boundary of their distribution in North America. The Meadows-in-the-Sky Parkway is a paved mountain road open during the snow free months. The parkway begins in the rainforests of the park’s southwest corner, winds upward through the sub-alpine forests and ends in the rolling sub-alpine wildflower meadows. The Monashee Mountains rise to the west, with the Selkirk range to the east. Giant Cedars Boardwalk is a 500 m. (0.3 mi.) interpretive trail that twists through a stand of old-growth western red cedar and hemlock trees, some more than 800 years old. Exhibits along the way explore the secrets of this inland rainforest. Skunk Cabbage Boardwalk is a 1.2 km. (0.75 mi.) interpretive trail that leads through valley bottom rainforest and fragile wetlands inhabited by muskrats, beavers, bears and the strange skunk cabbage plant. Exhibits also help to identify the many birds that migrate from South and Central America to the Skunk Cabbage area each year.