Hiking the Alta Via 1: Coldai to Belluno

January 31, 2026January 30, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

After 6 days of hiking the Alta Via 1, we still had 1.5 days to go, but it definitely started to feel like the trip was winding down. We had 6 days of incredible sunny weather, but it was due to shift and there was a rainstorm moving in on Day 7. This caused me and Kristine to have to re-assess how we wanted to finish the trail.

At this point, it was late September and the rifugios were starting to shut down for the season. Our biggest issue on Day 7 was related to poor planning on behalf of the third party, Mac’s Adventure, which we used to book our hike. They didn’t realize that some of the rifugios would be closing earlier than expected that season and our planned stay at Rifugio Vazzoler was cancelled. In order to save the trip, we decided to combine the distance we’d do in two days into one and continue on to Rifugio San Sebastiano, which meant we had a 21km day with over 1300m of elevation gain (and 2000m of loss). We knew it would be a big day and the incoming rain storm put a dampener on our plans.

Most of the Alta Via 1 trail is located in the alpine, hence why the trail is known as the “high route”. Because it receives so many visitors every year, the trail along exposed rock is very eroded, meaning that it becomes very slick when wet. We were concerned about potentially dangerous wet conditions while having to cover so much ground, so we opted to take another alternate route to get to the next rifugio. (note: because of the rain, I don’t have a lot of photos from the last 2 days on trail, so enjoy some more photos of Lago Coldai first).

Instead of trekking 21km through the alpine, we opted to take a 5km detour down to the town of Pecol. This meant that we had to backtrack along the switchbacks from the previous day, and then take an alternate route through a ski resort to get to town. It wasn’t raining yet, but it was very cloudy and ominous, so I was glad we’d taken the opportunity to visit Lago Coldai the previous evening. After an uneventful hike down to the village, we treated ourselves to hot drinks and a sweet treat at a cafe while waiting for a bus.

Fortunately, Rifugio San Sebastiano is located right off the road, so we had to navigate two highways in order to get there. The first road was passable by bus, which saved us 8km of road-walking. But the second road didn’t have any transit options, so we were prepared to hike the remaining 8km and hope for a hitch along the way. We figured 8km of road walking in the rain was preferable to 21km of slippery trail walking.

It turns out that we’d be saved the entire road-walk. As we were waiting for the bus, two hikers saw us and asked where we were headed. Turns out, we were all headed to the same place. They were two parents hiking the trail with their adult children. The woman had injured herself the previous day and they had come to the same conclusion as us about bypassing the trail (though their children were still hiking it). They had already paid for a taxi all the way to San Sebastiano and generously offered for us to join them! So instead of spending all day road-walking, we ended up with a pretty easy drop off to the rifugio before noon. (a few more photos of Coldai below)

It was too early for us to check in, so we decided to head out for a little walk to see a bit of what we’d missed. It’s approximately 2.5km between Rifugio San Sebastiano and Rifugio Bruto Carestiano, which was also closed for the season. We had a pretty leisurely walk along the trail to the Refugio, which took about 2 hours, but of course, it started raining right when we got to the rifugio and continued for most of the hike back to San Sebastiano. Kristine had a few last moments with the cows in the area and then we had a late lunch while we waited to get into our room.

San Sebastiano had a different vibe than the other rifugios since it was located right on the road, but it was a nice place and we at least had spacious rooms and free showers. Kristine had a nap and I headed down to the bar to journal and enjoy an aperol spritz. There was one other hiker in our room and she joined me and we had a great chat for a few hours. She was visiting from Australia on her own and doing the entire trail, so we swapped stories about our travels and our experiences in our home countries.

We had a nice last night on the trail, but a very chaotic final hike out. The trail actually continues for another 35km to Belluno, which most hikers do over 2 more nights. But our plan had always been to do a shortened version of the trail, so our itinerary had us hiking out to the town of Agordo and then taking a bus to Belluno for the night. The challenge was that hikers that go to Agordo generally hike out via either Rifugio Vazzoler or Bruto Carestiano. In retrospect, the best way out for us would have been to hike the 2.5km back to Bruto Carestiano and go from there. But Mac’s didn’t provide us with any directions for this part of the hike my GPS showed a route further down the highway that looked like the shortest option, so we did that.

This was the first of two mistakes. I thought we were in for 1km of road walking to get to the trail, but when we arrived at the trail, it looked like it had been logged in previous years and we couldn’t find the trail. It looked like there was another junction further down, so we did another 3km of road walking to the village of Casen, where my GPS showed another shortcut to Agordo. This was where we made the second mistake, which wasn’t really a mistake, but caused us a lot of anxiety due to a very creepy dude on the trail.

In order to get down to the trail, we had to cross through a farm and then down through a narrow wooded trail before popping out on an old forestry road. This road was pretty wide and fairly easy walking, but before we got to that road, we passed an Italian guy in the woods. He passed by me and didn’t say anything, but then when he got to Kristine, he tried to explain to her in broken english that he would take her to Agordo in his car and then got fairly aggressive trying to turn her around to go with him (he lied to her and said he’d already talked to me and that I was following). She called out to me through the forest and I quickly backtracked and explained to the man that we were fine. He kept insisting that we didn’t want to hike the trail and I tried to clarify if the trail wasn’t passable. He said the trail was passable but too hard for us (wow, dude). He was giving off really bad vibes, so we managed to ditch him, but we were both feeling a bit shaken once we got to the forestry road.

Neither of us wanted to backtrack, but nor did we really want to keep going. I was really nervous about the condition of the trail further on. It was all downhill, so I didn’t want to have to backtrack again later. The trail ended up being totally fine, it was wide and a gentle downhill for 90% of it. It definitely saved us time from walking the winding road to Agordo, but I think the road would have been better for our sanity. It was like we were both waiting for this guy to pop back out of the woods and abduct us. I was seriously concerned that he knew where we were headed and I was worried he might be waiting for us at the end of the trail (the joys of being a woman).

We didn’t encounter a single other person on the trail, so it appeared to not be in frequent use, but it also had a ton of signs on it advertising the direction of a trail race that had occurred at some point in the past, so it’s clearly used for something. The trail did get narrower (and creepier) towards the end, the closer we got to town, but we eventually popped out of the woods onto one of Agordo’s town roads and immediately felt 100% better. So terrain-wise, the trail wasn’t a bad idea, it wasn’t hard (especially in comparison to the rest of the Alta Via 1), and it saved us time, but it wasn’t a nice way to end an 8 day trek, to which I’d really like to tell that man, F-you for ruining our final kilometres.

We walked into town and had the most delicious cheap gas station style pizza I’ve ever had, before walking to the bus station to catch a ride to Belluno. Things got a bit hilarious at this point because we didn’t realize we’d be taking the bus at the same time as approximately 500 high school kids. When the bus finally showed up, they all rushed it and Kristine and I were left feeling very overwhelmed. We did manage to get on the bus, but it was a long and crowded ride with our backpacks. The whole thing felt surreal and we had a good laugh that after escaping a potential abduction, we were going to die in a stampede of sweaty teenagers.

And that pretty much concluded our trek on the Alta Via 1! We had a nice hotel room in Belluno and treated ourselves to more pizza for dinner. I must profusely thank Kristine for inviting me to join her on this hike because I honestly loved the experience. I’m a bit of a sucker for punishment and love roughing it on a good wilderness hike, but I could definitely get on board with the hut to hut European experience every now and then! The trail was incredibly scenic and varied and overall, the huts were phenomenal. I feel like every experience on the Alta Via is different. In total, we hiked 100km of trail, with ~80km of AV1 trail and ~60km of the traditional route. It was such a cool experience and I would definitely do it again to add on some of the original route that I missed and to tag the last section of trail to Belluno. In conclusion, it was a 5-star experience for me and I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity!

Hiking the Alta Via 1: Averau to Coldai

January 24, 2026January 30, 2026 / Maria / 1 Comment

After a fun night at Averau, we decided to start Day 5 with a hike up to Rifugio Nuvolau, which is the oldest rifugio on the Alta Via 1. You can see Nuvolau from Averau, so it’s only an extra 1km of hiking, though it does add an extra 175m of elevation gain. We left our packs at Averau and hiked up to the top to enjoy the view and a sweet treat. Nuvolau doesn’t have any road access, so while the other huts can get their supplies delivered by car, Nuvolau uses a cable system to haul supplies up and down the mountain. As a result, it’s a much smaller hut, so I didn’t mind that we stayed at Averau.

Since it was early morning, it wasn’t crowded at Nuvolau, but it was a weekend, so the rest of the trail was very busy. The main attraction in this area is Cinque Torri, which is a small collection of 5 peaks that seem to be popular among both day hikers and climbers. We were a little bit surprised by Cinque Torri, which we could see from the top of Nuvolau. It’s a cool collection of rock features, but it’s so small in comparison to Tre Cime, that it kind of failed to impress us. Which goes to show how quickly you can get used to the stunning scenery. Less than a week in the Dolomites, and we were already minimalizing the views!

As we hiked back down to Averau to pick up our bags, there were quite a few day hikers starting their hike. From Averau, you hike downhill for approximately 1.5km to get to Rifugio Scoiattoli. This rifugio is serviced by a gondola that goes back to the main highway, so this is how most of the day hikers were accessing the area. It’s a pretty concentrated area for attractions – in addition to Rifugio Scoiattoli, Averau, and Nuvolau, there’s also Rifugio Cinque Torri, which is located right underneath Cinque Torri (less than 1km from Scoiattoli). Combined with the nice weekend weather, the area was very crowded.

We opted not to spend very much time at Cinque Torri, instead we just watched some of the climbers for a bit before continuing on. The crowds almost immediately dissipated as we continued our hike towards our next rifugio: Rifugio Croda da Lago. At the time, I didn’t realize that we were actually diverging from the traditional Alta Via 1 trail at this point (as well as on the previous day). While we had accessed Averau through Passo Falzarego, the traditional trail actually continued through Forcella col dei Bos on the north side of the highway, eventually crossing back over and passing through Cinque Torri on the way to Averau. From Averau, the traditional trail then continued south through Passo Giau on onwards.

Rifugio Croda da Lago wasn’t on the traditional trail route, so it would have added distance for us to go through Passo Giau, so I don’t mind that we took a more direct route to get there. Over the years, the trail has developed lots of alternative sections. From what I understand – these trails are still considered the Alta Via 1, they’re just not the original route. All the trails in the region are beautiful, so I wouldn’t worry too much about following the traditional route.

One of the benefits of our route for Day 5 was that we finally got to do a bit of forest walking. It was another hot and sunny day, so it was nice to have a bit of shade for a change. Once we left Cinque Torri, the trail hikes east down to highway SP638. There weren’t a lot of people on the trail down to the highway, but there was a lot of cars parked on the road and more hikers on the trail towards Croda da Lago, so that seemed to be a popular trail for day hiking as well.

The trail is mostly through the woods – it’s a gentle uphill along the river for the first section, but then it gets steeper as you ascend to a viewpoint that looks out towards Cortina. We stopped for a few breaks along the way and I had a set back when I realized I had lost the mouthpiece to my water bladder somewhere along the trail. I backtracked one section of the trail to look for it, but I didn’t have any luck, so I had to switch to using a water bottle for the rest of the trip.

It was a hot climb up to the viewpoint, but then we had a nice meandering walk through a larch forest to get to Croda da Lago, which is located on Lago Federa. It’s a really pretty lake, surrounded by steep mountains on the west side, with the rifugio at the far south end. It was incredibly busy with day hikers when we arrived at the lake. Terrain-wise, it was a pretty reasonable day on the trail, as we’d only hiked 12km and 600m of elevation, so we arrived early in the afternoon.

Kristine was really keen to just get to the rifugio, but I wanted to go for a swim, so she continued on while I looked for somewhere to get in the water. The problem is that the lake is a bit swampy along the edges and it was really hard to find anywhere that looked appealing to walk in (even though the water itself looked very inviting). Eventually, I was able to bushwack down to a big rock that I could jump off, but I had to swim quickly because I was losing the sun behind the mountains and it cools off a lot once the sun goes down. I managed to slip in for a dip just before losing the light, but like many of the other lakes, it wasn’t the nicest swim as it had a very mucky bottom.

Croda da Lago was definitely not our favourite rifugio. In fact, the accommodations definitely went downhill after leaving Averau and we learned how spoiled we’d really been earlier in the trip. It was still much nicer than the camping I do in Canada, but apparently we’d quickly gotten used to the amenities and we were a bit bummed to lose them. We were in a 6 person dorm for the evening, but there ended up only being 3 of us for the night. It could have been great, but this was the first time we had an un-friendly dormmate and we were annoyed to discover that there were no chargers inside the bedrooms, nor were there free showers.

There was however, a sauna! I signed up for a spot before suppertime and enjoyed some relaxation time in the heat. I was a little bit unsure about the norms for sauna in Italy though. Most of my sauna experience was in Finland, which definitely loves sauna. I’d only done wet sauna in Finland and everyone at this sauna was doing dry sauna, which I didn’t really like. I’m not sure if this is standard for the area or if it was user error, as everyone in there was a tourist. There was a cold plunge pool outside as well, so I went back and forth between both.

Dinner was nice, but overall we noted that the owners of this rifugio just didn’t seem to care about the little details as much as the other rifugios. For example, in addition to not having chargers in the room or free showers, they skipped out on other amenities, like a boot room and drying racks, which meant if you have any wet gear, it’s going to stay wet (and smelly). Overall, the little things add up to detract from the overall experience, so it wasn’t our favourite hut, but I do feel a bit silly to be complaining about it.

Day 6 was a bit of a mixed bag. It was the last day of nice weather, but we had one of our longer days on the trail, needing to cover 17km and 800m of elevation. Like I mentioned in my last post, I was really feeling great on this hike and I was still enjoying the terrain, but I think Kristine started to hit a wall on Day 6. She did fine with the trail, but overall seemed ready to be done with the hike, which I can get when you’re 6 days in. We started with a hike up Forcella Ambrizzola, which was about 2km of uphill from the lake, but fortunately, not too steep. After that, we had a lot of downhill to get to Rifugio Citta di Fiume and Rifugio Staulanza, which is located at Passo Staulanza along the highway.

I really loved this section of trail. We were back in the alpine and wandered along wide trail through the mountains before heading back into the trees to get to Citta di Fiume. Kristine continued on ahead of me through this section, while I took a lot of photos along the way. We decided to skip Citta di Fiume and instead, continued hiking another few kilometres to get down to the highway. The big attraction along this part of the trail is Mount Pelmo, which is a huge monolith of a mountain that dominates the skyline. There’s a really cool section of the trail after Citta di Fiume where you hike across the base of Mount Pelmo, but we could also see all the way back to where we’d started the trail earlier that morning. It’s neat to be able to look back on how far you’ve come!

Passo Staulanza is really more of a roadside stop, so I’m glad we didn’t stay at that rifugio. I’d read somewhere online that Staulanza had the best hot chocolate, but I have no idea where I read it or how old the information was, because it didn’t seem to be a thing. It was the main reason we’d pushed through to Staulanza, so we decided to stop for lunch instead. We’d knocked out 10.5km of our 17km day, so we were feeling pretty good, although apprehensive about a big climb in the afternoon.

The first section of trail after Staulanza really sucks because you have to hike along the road for 1km and there’s no trail and very little shoulder, so make sure you hike on the opposite side of the road and exercise caution. Eventually you hit a junction and have to hike along an old dirt road to a cafe before you can meet up with the trail again. This is where the trail starts to go uphill again and there’s a lot of elevation gain before we arrived at our final destination at Refugio Coldai.

The hike up from the cafe is particularly steep, though it was the first section of trail where I was reminded that Fall would soon be here. Some of the trees and shrubs were starting to change colour and there was a beautiful view back toward Mount Pelmo. Eventually you crest the first hill and you have a small bit of downhill before the final push to Coldai. There’s a small lake next to the refugio, Lago di Coldai, that also seemed to be a popular day hiking destination, so there were a lot of people along the trail.

The last push to Coldai is pretty rough. It’s very steep, although it is possible to switchback up the mountain. Europeans really are built differently because even though the trail provided a rare opportunity to switchback (making the ascent easier), there was still so much erosion where people have created shortcuts to bypass the switchbacks and hike directly up the mountain. We didn’t take any of the shortcuts, as the switchbacks were still steep enough in my opinion!

The other thing that surprised me is the seeming lack of any kind of trail etiquette on crowded trails. At home, it’s pretty well accepted that when passing on narrow trails, you always give the right of way to the person hiking uphill, and when on flat terrain, you always give the right of way to the person with the bigger pack. Given that we were backpacking uphill, we should have always had the right of way, but I’m not exaggerating when I say that I don’t think a single one of the hundreds of day hikers I passed (who were coming down the trail) gave me the right of way. When you’re already struggling uphill, it gets really annoying when there’s a constant stream of people pushing their way past you. I’m not sure if this is just a cultural difference and I needed to get over it… I could overlook it on most sections of the trail, but it really bothered me at this point.

Eventually we made it to the top and discovered that Coldai had a similar approach to management as Croda da Lago, but I was more accepting of it because Coldai was a very remote hut. Similar to Nuvolau, it didn’t have any roads and was only serviced by a small cable trolley, so I was understand that it would be more challenging to provide services. We were again assigned to a 6-person dorm with only 3 people, but our dormmate was much more friendly. He was visiting from Germany to hike the via ferrata’s and we had a nice chat about our respective trips and the differences between hiking in Europe and Canada.

Suppertime was a bit later at Coldai and the weather was supposed to change the following day, so we decided to hike the 500m up to Lago di Coldai before dinner. It was such a great decision because the conditions at the lake were phenomenal! It was around 6pm, so almost all of the day hikers had left and the lake was pretty empty. You could tell the weather was starting to change for the first time in 6 days because the clouds started to roll in, which made for the most dramatic formations around the mountain peaks. The lake was really beautiful and it ended up being one of my favourite views of the entire trip, so of course, I had to go for one last swim!

We returned to the Rifugio feeling pretty satisfied with the views and the weather over the past week. We enjoyed dinner before heading to bed early before our last full day on the trail. We’d have to make some difficult decisions the following day about what to do about an incoming rainstorm, but more on that in my final post next week!

Rockwall Trail Backpacking Guide

January 17, 2026December 17, 2025 / Maria / Leave a comment

In the spirit of helping more people get hiking on some of western Canada’s most iconic trails, I decided to create a backpacking guide for the Rockwall Trail in Kootenay National Park. I hiked this trail over 3 nights in 2023 and had a fantastic time. I attribute most of the fun to my phenomenal hiking partners, but the beautiful scenery on the trail also made the experience unforgettable. I’ve already published a 2-part trail report, which you can read starting here, as well as a guide to Kootenay National Park. I’ve consolidated all of my Rockwall-specific knowledge here for those planning to hike the trail. Reservations for the 2026 season release at 7am PST on January 26, 2026 (8am MST).

The Trail

The Rockwall Trail is a 54km thru-hike located in Kootenay National Park in BC. You can hike the trail in either direction and there are several exit points that connect to the highway if you want to shorten your hike. The two main trailheads are located off Highway 93 at the Floe Lake and Paint Pots Trailheads. There are 5 campgrounds on the trail, with the most popular campsite at Floe Lake. Most people hike the trail over 3-5 days, depending on fitness level.

At 54km in length, the Rockwall Trail is not the longest trail in the Rockies, but there is a significant amount of elevation gain, so don’t underestimate it. The hike starts in the forest on both ends of the trail, climbing up towards the alpine, which runs between Helmet Falls and Floe Lake with 3 steep passes along the way. While Floe Lake is very popular, the trail takes its namesake from the large rock wall that runs between Helmet Falls and Tumbling Creek, which in my opinion, is the real highlight!

If you don’t like backpacking, you can visit Floe Lake as a day hike, but it is a 22km round trip hike, with 750m of elevation, so it’s a big day. I don’t recommend day hikes from any of the other trail entrances – unless you’re a trail runner – but the alternative trail entrances from Numa Creek and Tumbling Creek Trails offer the opportunity to shorten your backpacking trip.

Time of Year

The best time of year to hike the Rockwall Trail is in the Summer or early Fall. If you go in late-June or early-July, be aware that there may still be snow on some of the trails. If you go later in the summer, it’s more likely that your trip might be impacted by wildfires. While most people prefer to backpack in the summer, late September is also popular due to the colourful larch trees near Floe Lake. However, you should be prepared for snow and cold conditions at this time of year. I hiked the trail at the very end of August and had great conditions.

Getting There

Unfortunately, this park is not accessible by public transit. Similar to other popular Canadian parks, the easiest way to access is by driving. The park is located on Highway 93, which is a 50 minute drive to the Floe Lake Trailhead from either Banff or Radium. The added challenge with the Rockwall Trail is that, because it’s a thru-hike, you will either need 2 cars, 1 at each trailhead, or plan to hitchhike between the two parking lots. I parked a car at each trailhead, which is the easiest option, but hitchhiking is not uncommon along this route and is relatively safe. I recommend making friends along the trail and looking for a ride from another hiker.

There is a large parking lot at the Paint Pots trailhead, but the Floe Lake trailhead is much smaller, so you may have to wait for a parking space to open up. I’ve also heard that break-ins are not uncommon at the Floe Lake trailhead, so make sure not to leave valuables in your vehicle.

Permits

Like most popular hikes in the Rockies, securing your camping permits will likely be the hardest part of your trip. This is a popular trail and it attracts crowds every year. If you’re doing a day hike, you don’t need a permit for the trail, just the National Park Pass (discussed below). But if you want to try and get camping permits, then it’s important to mark your calendar with the permit release date.

The permit release date for 2026 is January 26, 2026 at 7am PST. Permits are $10 per person, per night (plus a booking fee) and they will disappear fast, so you need to be ready to book right when they release. I will try and update the release dates for permits every year, but they are usually announced by Parks Canada in late November or early December for the following year – so keep an eye on their page of release dates in future years. To make your bookings, visit https://reservation.pc.gc.ca/.

Once booking opens, select “backcountry” in the tabs along the top of the booking page, and then select “backcountry zone”. Next, select “Banff, Kootenay, and Yoho Backcountry” as your park and select your start date and access point. There are 3 options for access points along the Rockwall Trail: Floe Lake, Numa Falls, and Paint Pots. Numa Falls is only used if you’re doing a shorter version of the trail. If you want to hike south, select Paint Pots; if you want to hike north, select Floe Lake. If you have trouble getting your preferred itinerary, you can always try reversing direction or using different start dates.

Once you start your search, you will be forced to build your itinerary day by day. At the top of the page, you’ll see a dropdown menu where you can select your campsite and “add to stay”. Instead of building your itinerary this way, you can scroll down to the map and click on the “calendar” tab in the left sidebar to see a list of all available campsites per night. This is an easier way to see what’s available and build your itinerary. If you don’t see what you want, try refreshing or reversing your itinerary by updating your access point. People are constantly adding and changing dates and campsites in a rush to get their preferred itinerary, so the trick is to frequently refresh. Just because you don’t see a site available right away, doesn’t mean it won’t show up later if you keep refreshing.

My recommendation is to take what you can get and make changes later. If Floe Lake is not available, book Numa Creek and move on to the next day before those dates book up too. Once you have secured a booking for each of the dates in your itinerary, go back and look for cancellations. Keep refreshing until you see one, and then make a change to your booking to add it. This does cost more as you have to pay a small change fee, but it offers more flexibility in ensuring you at least get something. I wasn’t able to book Floe Lake when I made my original booking, but I was able to get a cancellation for it afterwards. You can track cancellations on Schnerp, which will notify you when a site opens up.

Here’s a few tips for getting your camping permits:

Get on the booking website 15 minutes early using as many devices as possible (computers, phones, ipads, etc). At release time, everyone on the website is entered into a random generator that assigns you a position in the queue. All of your devices will be assigned a place in line, then proceed to book your permits on whatever device has the shortest queue.
Once you get access, be flexible with both your starting date and itinerary. Use the “calendar” option to see available dates at each campsite. Consider shortening your itinerary by exiting on the Numa Creek or Tumbling Falls Trails.
If you don’t see any availability, keep refreshing for at least 15 minutes. With so many people trying to book campsites, dates are always disappearing and then becoming available again, so if you don’t see anything, keep refreshing.
Be prepared that you might not get what you want. Book alternative sites and sign up for cancellation notifications on Schnerp.

National Park Pass

In addition to backpacking permits, which are specific to your campsite, you must also have a National Park Pass. These are much easier to obtain – there is no booking period and the number of passes are not restricted. The most common option is to purchase the discovery pass, which is available for $150 for a family, or $75 per person. It’s essentially an annual pass that covers everyone in your car. You leave it hanging in the car while you’re on the trail and it acts as a parking pass. If you have two cars, then you would need two passes. Alternatively, you can buy single adult day passes for everyone, which are $11 per person, per day. However, in 2025 and 2026, Canadians can obtain the Canada Strong Pass for free, which includes a free discovery pass and 25% off bookings! You can purchase passes online, in advance, or in person at the Kootenay and Banff park entrances.

Campsites

There are 5 backcountry campsites located along the trail, so there are multiple options for where to stay, which provides some flexibility when planning your itinerary and securing bookings. The campsites are pretty equally spaced along the trail, so it is easy to plan for a more relaxed itinerary, or you can plan your sites further apart if your itinerary is more aggressive. I’ll discuss itineraries below, but here’s an overview of the campsites running from north to south. They all include outhouses and bear lockers, and require valid permits for overnight use.

Helmet-Ochre Junction – This is the most accessible campground on the trail, located 6km from the Paint Pots trailhead. It’s located along the river at a trail junction and has 6 tent sites. It’s a nice enough campground, but it’s often overlooked in favour of the more popular/scenic campsites. If you can’t get permits for Helmet Falls, this is a good alternative. It’s also a great option if you’re starting late in the day and don’t want to hike too far.

Helmet Falls – This is a beautiful campground located at the base of Helmet Falls, which cascades down the valley from Helmet Mountain. There are 18 tent sites and you can enjoy the view from the picnic area at the back of the campground. This is a great option to camp before or after you’ve hiked along the Rockwall.

Tumbling Creek – This campground is located at the bottom of the valley between Rockwall Pass and Tumbling Pass. There’s 18 tent sites and easy access to the river with nice views. This is a great option to camp before or after you’ve hiked along the Rockwall. You can also come direct to the campground along the Tumbling Creek Trail, which starts at the Paint Pots trailhead.

Numa Creek – This is the lowest elevation campground on the trail and is located between Tumbling Pass and Numa Pass. There’s 18 tent sites and easy river access. This is a great place to camp on your way to or from Floe Lake. You can also come direct to the campgound along the Numa Creek Trail, which starts at the Numa Falls trailhead.

Floe Lake – This is the most popular campground on the trail. If you can score a permit for this campground, do not hesitate to book it. The entire trail is very scenic, but Floe Lake is definitely the most scenic campground. It has 18 tent sites and is located 11km from the Floe Lake trailhead.

Itineraries

Planning this trail is pretty straight forward because it is a linear thru-hike. Your main decisions will be what direction to hike and over how many days. Here are a few recommendations based on how many nights you plan to spend on the trail. And here’s a useful trail graphic from Parks Canada, noting the distance between each campsite.

1-Night: Your best option if you only have 1 night is to camp at Floe Lake, hiking in and out from that trailhead. Add on 2km each way to hike up to the top of the nearby pass for a fantastic birds-eye view of Floe Lake. Alternatively, if you really want to see the Rockwall, you could spend 1 night at Helmet Falls and hike out via the Rockwall and Tumbling Creek Trail. You just have to be prepared for a big 20km day on day 2.

2-Night: 2 nights is probably the most awkward itinerary, because you can hike most of the trail, but it’s ambitious to do the whole thing. If you want to do the whole trail, I’d recommend camping at Helmet Falls and Numa Creek, which requires you to hike two 20km days back to back. If you don’t want to do the whole trail, hike north, camping at Floe Lake, followed by Tumbling Creek, and exit on the Tumbling Creek Trail. Or hike south, camping at Helmet Falls, followed by Numa Creek, and exit on the Numa Creek Trail. Hiking north allows you to visit Floe Lake, while hiking south allows you to hike the Rockwall. If you want to hit both, you have to do the whole trail.

3-Night: I did the trail in 3-nights, which I thought was a good length. Plan for your first and third nights at either Floe Lake or Helmet Falls (doesn’t matter which direction you go), and then your second night at either Tumbling Creek or Numa Creek. You will have one long day with this itinerary, but you can plan it around whether you’d like to have extra time at Floe Lake or on the Rockwall. I hiked south and camped at Numa Creek, meaning I had lots of time to relax at Floe Lake on my last night.

4-Night: This is the most relaxed itinerary. Do the trail in either direction and camp at Floe Lake, Numa Creek, Tumbling Creek, and Helmet Falls. You’ll have lots of time to enjoy Floe Lake, the Rockwall, and Helmet Falls.