The park comprises 54,170 hectares (133,900 acres)[2] in East Kootenay on the western side of the Continental Divide, which in this region forms the border between British Columbia and Alberta.

[3] The park lies east of Invermere; the closest communities are Elkford to the south and Canal Flats and Radium Hot Springs to the west.

[2][3] The park is at one end of the Southern Rocky Mountain Management Plan, aimed at coordinating ecosystem preservation and providing wildlife corridors, in particular for grizzly bears.

However, construction of logging roads and clearcutting became so extensive in the Southern Canadian Rockies that by 1986, the area that is now the park had become the last major refuge for wildlife in the region.

[2][3][17] It was part of the Kootenays regional plan, which created 16 new provincial parks and sought to protect both logging jobs and wilderness areas.