There are a lot of amazing hiking trails in the Rocky Mountains. Over the past few years, I’ve been lucky enough to visit a handful of the big trails – Assiniboine, Rockwall, Lake O’Hara – but this year, the real hot spot to hike in the Rockies was definitely the Berg Lake Trail. 

The Berg Lake Trail is located in Mount Robson Provincial Park in BC. Mount Robson is the tallest peak in both the Canadian Rockies and the province of BC, so this has always been a popular trail. However, in 2021, there were massive floods in the park, which resulted in helicopter evacuations of park users and a subsequent 3 year closure of the park for trail repairs. BC Parks completed upgrades to the trails and campgrounds earlier this year and the entire trail re-opened to the public at the start of the summer. As a result, it seemed like everyone was desperate to visit this magical place.

Since BC Parks had been teasing the re-opening of the park, I was really determined to visit this year. I try to do one big multi-day hike a year, and I passed on obtaining permits for any of the other major hiking trails when they were released. When BC Parks finally announced the re-opening in early April, I was ready! 

If you’ve ever done a popular Canadian trail that requires permits, you’re probably familiar with how challenging they are to obtain. Hiking and backpacking have become increasingly popular, among both the locals and tourists (domestic and international). The popular hikes in the Rockies usually release permits for the entire season in the Spring, and it is always a battle to obtain permits. This experience was no different and I spent the better part of an hour fighting for permits. 

If you’re looking to visit, permits can be obtained from camping.bcparks.ca. Traditionally BC Parks releases their sites 4 months in advance of your visit (so it’s a rolling window), but on this occasion they released the entire season at once due to the late announcement about the re-opening of the park. I’m not sure what they will do in the future. The challenge with this hike is that you have to go in and out on the same trail, so people are booking campsites in both directions. In addition, you have to build your itinerary day by day, so you have to essentially refresh the page after you add each day. If you are unable to get what you want for a certain day, you can’t continue the booking to the following day because you can’t leave a gap in your itinerary. Due to the scarcity of sites, most parties will have multiple people online at the same time trying to book sites, which results in campsites appearing full, but later showing vacancies as groups eventually release sites. This creates more opportunities for website bugs and overcrowding to wreak havoc on your cart.

The Berg Lake Trail is a 21km trail that runs from the trailhead on Highway 16, to Robson Pass. There are 7 campgrounds, shown below, but the most popular is, of course, the Berg Lake Campground. As a result, everyone is trying to get permits to Berg Lake, usually with a campsite somewhere along the trail midpoint on the way in and out (or sometimes just on the way in). It’s really hard to get permits at Berg Lake, so my advice is not to waste your time refreshing if you can’t get Berg Lake. There are several other campsites in close proximity to Berg Lake, book one of those instead so that you can at least secure an itinerary. You can look for cancellations at Berg Lake later. There is a $6 change fee to change campsites, so it does cost a little more, but in my opinion, it’s better to secure a booking to another site quickly, rather than risk getting no permits.

The first couple hours after the permits release is chaos because people are constantly adding and releasing sites from their cart. So if you’re struggling to get what you want, keep refreshing for at least a half hour because there’s a lot of changeover of campsites. My preferred itinerary was to stay at Kinney Lake on the way in, 3 nights at Berg, and then Whitehorn on the way out. I wasn’t able to get any of those sites, except Kinney Lake, so I booked sites at Marmot and Robson Pass instead. With all the turnover, I was able to change my site at Robson Pass to Berg Lake within the hour. I wasn’t sure if I would get other cancellations, but I watched all summer and I was able to get my entire preferred itinerary (including 3 nights at Berg Lake) in advance of the trip! So it’s better to have something than nothing. Once you have a booking, sign up for cancellation notifications on Schnerp – they scan the sites and will email you as soon as one becomes available for your selected dates. I got most of my cancellations in the week leading up to the trip (with the final one a day before I left), so don’t be discouraged, most people wait until the last minute to cancel.

That’s a lot of information about the permit process, so let’s move on to the fun stuff! After getting through the reservation gauntlet, I was super excited about the trip and planned to do the trail with Brandon. We left Vancouver after work on Friday night in late July and drove halfway to Kamloops. We did the second half of the drive in the morning and arrived at the Visitor Centre around 1pm in the afternoon. We were starting our hike the same day, but it’s only ~7km along mostly flat terrain to Kinney Lake, so we weren’t worried about a later start. You’re required to stop at the visitor centre in order to pick up your permits, so plan your start time accordingly as it closes at 4pm. 

Unfortunately, the weather was looking absolutely abysmal for our trip. We kept checking it every day leading up to our departure, but it consistently showed rain for the entire 6 day trip. We were optimistic it wouldn’t rain the whole time and that we would get some nice weather windows throughout the week, so we didn’t even consider cancelling. But I do think this is why I was able to get last minute cancellations at Berg Lake. It started to pour as we approached the visitor centre, so we were in no rush to start the hike. I spent some time lining my backpack with a garbage bag and then we hit up the Mount Robson cafe and gift shop to kill time.

Eventually the rain started to lighten, so we drove to the parking lot to get ready. We dressed in full waterproof gear, but the rain stopped very soon after we started hiking and we quickly got sweaty from the humidity and ditched our layers. The view up towards Mount Robson was completely clouded in, but at least we were dry, and I was optimistic that we’d see Mount Robson at some point in the next 6 days. 

The hike to Kinney Lake is very chill. You mostly hike through the forest along the Robson River and you can see where they’ve reinforced the trail against flooding in some spots along the way. It’s a easy hike and there were quite a few day hikers along the trail. Eventually, you hit a bridge at the edge of Kinney Lake, which has a gorgeous view of the lake and river, with Mount Robson in the background. The trail continues along the lakeshore, but it was a bit flooded throughout, so you can take the perimeter trail if you want to avoid that. 

It took us ~2 hours to reach the campsite on the east side of the lake, where we were surprised to find that more than half of the campsites were empty, despite it being 6pm. Apparently ‘no-shows’ has been a common theme in the park all summer. There was a viral tiktok of someone complaining about all the empty sites at Berg Lake. I did find this to be the case at most of the campsites, but not at Berg Lake. There were maybe 1 or 2 empty sites, but overall, in the 3 nights I spent there, that campsite seemed pretty full.

We were happy to arrive at Kinney Lake dry because most of the other campers had gotten completely soaked on the way in. The Kinney Lake Campsite is really beautiful and has several waterfront sites. We were too late to get one, but it also has a big open air shelter that is amazing on a wet or sunny day. I think this site is passed over a lot because it’s so close to the trailhead, but it’s a great place for families and it was my favourite site after Berg Lake. If you want a late start, this is a great option.

The first thing I did after arriving was go for a swim. The water is cold at Kinney Lake, but warmer than I was expecting. It’s definitely the easiest lake to swim in! We had a very chill evening and mostly hung around at the shelter after setting up our tent. Fortunately, the rain didn’t reappear and the clouds lifted. We were able to catch a glimpse of the backside of Mount Robson and we got really cool views as the fog settled over the top of the lake. 

When we woke in the morning, it was cloudy, but not raining. The forecast was showing rain in the afternoon, so we figured it was a good idea to get an early start on the day. From Kinney Lake, we got an idea of the number of day hikers that visit the park in the span of a day. It’s 40km round trip to hike to Berg Lake, so I didn’t expect to see many day hikers past Kinney Lake. Was I ever wrong! There was a steady stream of visitors attempting to do the entire trail in a day. Since it’s such a long hike, they all start early, so we saw lots of people hiking into Kinney Lake as we were preparing to start our day.

The amazing thing about this hike is that pretty much the entire journey is scenic! Once you leave Kinney Lake, you hike through the forest to the end of the lake, where you come to a junction. There’s a few bike racks here because you are allowed to bike as far as Kinney Lake, which is a popular option for day users. There’s two routes at the end of the lake. There’s the Kinney Flats route, which crosses the river delta at the end of the lake, or the alternative high route, for when the Flats are inundated. It was dry, so we chose the Flats route, which is more scenic and saved us unnecessary elevation gain.

Once you reach the end of the Flats, the climb begins. It’s uphill for most of the rest of the day. It still wasn’t rainy and we were pleased about the conditions overall. At least with the clouds, we were spared from the hot sun on our climb. The next landmark is Whitehorn Campground, which is ~2km from Kinney Flats. This entire section of trail is new since the flood. The trail used to climb up the west side of the valley, but now it goes up the east side. The Robson River flooded the banks during the 2021 flood, so the new route avoids crossing it at the bottom of the Flats.

There’s ~150m of elevation gain in this section and the trail mostly switchbacks through the forest. I didn’t find it too strenuous and before we knew it, we had arrived at Whitehorn Campground! This campsite is also beautiful as it overlooks the Robson River and has an incredible view of the Valley of a Thousand Waterfalls. The name accurately captures the vibe and we had a snack break along the river while spotting all the waterfalls. There is a large open-air shelter at Whitehorn and it’s located close to the midpoint of the trail, making it a popular stop on the way to Berg Lake.

We continued hiking up the valley and the trail again diverges from the old trail. The new trail is longer than the old trail and now you cross the Robson River at Whitehorn Campground, and then again before you start heading up to Emperor Falls (with the new trail on the west side of the river rather than the east side). The trail is relatively flat for 2km after Whitehorn as you hike along the valley. There’s a huge new bridge crossing the river that provides an awesome view of the surrounding waterfalls.

After you finish the valley walk, the trail difficulty really ups the ante. For the next 3km, you’ll do the bulk of the elevation gain as you climb up towards Berg Lake. At first, it’s very steep and there are lots of warnings not to take breaks because of the risk of rockfall. There are a few landmarks though. The first is a beautiful view of White Falls, followed by the Falls of the Pool viewpoint. The clouds continued to break-up all morning and there was actually a lot of sun as we sweated our way up to Emperor Falls.

Emperor Falls is one of the larger waterfalls on the trail and involves a short detour, but it’s definitely worth it! It’s a huge waterfall and it gives off a lot of spray, so either grab your rain jacket or prepare to get wet. At this point, we were getting really hungry, so we didn’t stay too long and continued another 500m along the trail to the Emperor Falls Campground, where we planned to have lunch.

Emperor Falls is one of the smaller campgrounds on the trail and unfortunately, it doesn’t have a shelter. It does have a picnic area and some beautiful tent pads along the river. I don’t think this campsite is very popular because it’s so close to Berg Lake and people would rather stay at Berg Lake, but it’s still a nice spot. We set up on one of the tent pads and ended up taking a pretty lengthy lunch break. It started to sprinkle on us when we were getting ready to leave, but it was short lived and the sun came out again as we started the last section of our hike.

From Emperor Falls, it’s ~2km to Marmot Campground, which is located at the head of Berg Lake, and then another ~2km to the main campground at the foot of Berg Lake. The good news is there’s very little elevation gain along this stretch and it is incredibly scenic! As you leave Emperor Falls, you hike along the river at the edge of the mountain. With the sun out, we could see Mount Robson and the short arm of the Berg Lake Glacier coming down the mountain. I remember feeling so incredibly happy at this part of the hike. We weren’t sure how much of the scenery we would get to see with the poor weather forecast, yet here we were already admiring Mount Robson and the glaciers! We both had huge smiles as we continued towards the lake.

After 1km, you start hiking across the flats to the edge of the lake, where there are dozens of streams crisscrossing the terrain. It’s easy to see how this part of the trail could have flooded. I believe the trail was re-routed in this area too – you still cross the flats, but BC Parks have made a trail of stepping stones so that you can (for the most part) avoid getting your feet wet. I’m not sure how long this will last with the streams constantly changing, there was one section where I switched to my sandals because the water was coming up over the rocks and I didn’t want to risk wet shoes so early in the trip.

If you’re not able to get a campsite at Berg Lake, then I think Marmot Campground is the next best option. Marmot is also located directly on Berg Lake, just on the opposite site. You can’t see the main part of the Berg Lake Glacier from Marmot, but you can see the smaller arm and it still has incredible views. I had 2 nights at Marmot on my original booking and was only able to get the cancellation for Berg Lake right before my trip. I’m glad we ended up with 3 nights at Berg (even if only so that we didn’t have to move our tent), but I would have been very satisfied at Marmot too. Plus, Marmot has a brand new shelter and outhouse!

Despite it’s beauty, we didn’t stay long at Marmot because we were itching to get to our campsite. It’s only 2km along the lakeshore to get there, but it did feel like a bit of a slog at the end of the day. We tracked 15km on my GPS with the detour to Emperor Falls, which is a pretty big day. With our long lunch break, it took us 7.5 hours to hike from Kinney Lake to Berg Lake, so we were ready to ditch our packs. The hike along the lakeshore is in the forest, but there are breathtaking views of the lake and Berg Glacier as you get closer to the campground.

Eventually we made it and Brandon wondered off in search of a campsite (he prides himself on always finding the best site available). There’s only 1 tent pad at Berg Lake that actually has a view of the lake, so I didn’t care too much where we stayed, my main concern was going for a swim as soon as possible. So while Brandon was wandering the campground, I snuck down to the waterfront and changed into my swimsuit for a dip. Alpine Lakes are always cold and I knew Berg Lake would be no exception with the glacier draining directly into it. But I love lake swimming and I have to say, it honestly wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be. It was obviously cold, but not the immediately numbing kind of cold. I was able to stay in the water for a few minutes and it felt lovely to wash all the sweat off.

Brandon returned with 2 potential sites and we ended up picking one along the river, behind the shelter. There’s a few campsites at the edge of the campground that do have a view of Mount Robson, but I really liked being close to the shelter, which is where the main open area of the campground is, with the best view, so I was very happy with our site. We set up our tent for the next 3 nights before heading to the shelter to make supper. There’s a bunch of picnic tables with a good view of the mountain, but we weren’t sure if it might rain again, so we opted for the shelter.

Hargreaves Shelter is fully enclosed with a bunch of picnic tables inside. But the crown jewel of this shelter is the patio, which has a great view of the lake! We made some friends and enjoyed a nice night chatting and taking in the view (while stuffing our faces). Communal cooking spaces are one of my favourite things about the parks in the Rockies. You know you have at least one thing in common with everyone there, so I love hanging out and getting to know the different people visiting the park. Most of the campers we met were from BC or Alberta, whereas a lot of the day hikers were international tourists.

Eventually, we relocated to the lakefront for sunset and hung out for a while, basking in how lucky we were to actually be there. The scenery at Berg Lake is unparalleled and even though it’s a busy site, there’s so much energy and appreciation present. I was mostly thrilled that it wasn’t raining and I was full of optimism for the days ahead! Sometimes you want to just be, and this is one of those places where I wanted nothing more than to just sit in silence and stare at nature’s beauty and marvel at the height of Mount Robson. Check back next week to read about my day hike to Hargreaves Lake.