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About 3km south of Vermilion Pass, the small, well-defined Stanley Glacier Trail (4.2km; 365m ascent; 1hr 30min) strikes off up Stanley Creek from a parking area on the eastern side of the highway. In its first 2km the trail provides you with a hike through the Vermilion Pass Burn , but more to the point pushes into the beautiful hanging valley below Stanley Peak. Here you can enjoy close-up views of the Stanley Glacier and its surrounding recently glaciated landscapes. The area is also known for its fossils, and for the chance to see marmots, pikas and white-tailed ptarmigan. Marble Canyon , 8km south of Vermilion Pass, the site of a park-run campsite , has an easy trail (800m) that's probably the most heavily trafficked of Kootenay's shorter hikes. The track crosses a series of log bridges over Tokumm Creek, which has carved through a fault in the limestone over the last 8000 years, to produce a 600-metre-long and 37-metre-deep gorge. In cold weather this is a fantastic medley of ice and snow, but in summer the climax is the viewpoint from the top of the path onto a thundering waterfall as the creek pounds its way through the narrowest section of the gorge. The rock here was once mistakenly identified as marble - hence the canyon's name; the white marble-like rock is actually dolomite limestone. One of the park's better longer hikes also starts from the Marble Canyon car park - the Kaufmann Lake Trail (15km one-way; 570m ascent; 4-6hr), which follows Tokumm Creek towards the head of the valley at Kaufmann Lake . The first few kilometres of the trail - easy valley and meadow walking - make an appealing hour or so's stroll.
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