GeoHistory Inc.

Burgess Shale Course - The Walcott Quarry

GeoHistory Inc. runs a two and a half day, two night (with lodging at the Emerald Lake Lodge) field course to the Walcott Quarry Burgess Shale Fossil Beds in Yoho National Park. The hike to the Quarry is facilitated by the Burgess shale Geoscience Foundation or Parks Canada.

Located above Emerald Lake, north of Field, British Columbia, the Walcott Quarry lies within a restricted UNESCO World Heritage Site in Yoho National Park. Designed for groups of 11 to 22, this field course is highlighted by an exclusive group hike to the Walcott Quarry. On route, participants are versed on the natural history of the area including the structural geology, glacial geology and stratigraphy of the Alberta foothills, front ranges and main ranges of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The cultural history of the Rockies and Alberta foothills is included in this discussion. On site, participants will view hundreds of fossils representative of the Cambrian Burgess Shale, fossils that date back approximately 530 million years - making them some of the oldest fossils on Earth!

This special program begins after lunch on day one at the Emerald Lake Lodge in Yoho National Park. After an afternoon of instruction, followed by an awesome dinner, participants can relax in the Old Lodge, go for a walk on the lakeshore or hit the hot tubs before retiring for the evening. The hike to the Walcott Quarry begins the next morning.

Recent GeoHistory sponsored research into the adjacent Field Lanslide - discovered by GeoHistory's founder in the 1990's - is rewriting both the Cambrian and structural history of the area, challenging the widely accepted, published Burgess depositional models, including those of the Walcott Quarry and Main Range structural models. The first published article summarizing the forthcoming technical papers from this research is available for viewing via this link: Geology of the Mount Stephen Trilobite Beds and Adjacent Strata.

The hike to the Walcott Quary is 12.5 km with an elevation gain of approximately 1045 metres. (Mt. Stephen is 3.5 km with an elevation gain slightly less than 800 metres). Hike participants will encounter three steeper sections of trail to the Walcott Quarry. The downward trek is a 9+ km hike with a comparable elevation loss back to Emerald Lake Lodge. This hike is not recommended for individuals who have a significant fear of heights, joint issues or any other medical problems that may affect their well being, or for children under the age of twelve. If you have any of these or other conditions, you may not make it to the Quarry. If you have done Mt. Stephen in the past, this is an easier hike (slightly more elevation gain but in three times the distance) – but a much longer (ten hour) day. The downward leg is comparable in steepness to the mid and lower sections of Mt. Stephen.