After an awesome 4 days on the Rockwall Trail, we were ready for some rest and relaxation! We left the National Park and hit the first B&B we could find in the small town of Radium. The 3 of us crammed into a double room and immediately took turns showering and cleaning our gear. I only have a certain amount of backpacking clothes and we had another backpacking trip a few days later, so I took advantage of the B&B to try and clean as much as I could. There was no laundry services, so this meant washing my clothes in the tub and hanging everything up to dry. It worked decently well for most things, but I’m not sure where I went wrong with my hiking pants because I couldn’t get the odour out of the them no matter how hard I tried!
We stayed in Radium just long enough to scarf down an elk burger before heading back to the bush. Since we were in the Kootenays, we wanted to check out some of the nearby hot springs. Radium hot springs is probably the most well known because it’s a commercial hot spring located right in the park. I’d been once before as a teenager and Brandon isn’t a fan of commercial hot springs, so we opted to skip it, but if we had more time I would definitely check it out.
Instead we set our sights on Fairmont and Lussier. Fairmont is a small town south of Radium that appears to be named after the Fairmont Resort that dominates the entire community. I’m sure it’s a very nice resort, but we’re not that classy and had big plans to check out the resort run-off instead! I’d read online that the resort discharges the water over the hillside into the nearby river, around which a few natural pools have been developed.
Honestly, the whole thing is a bit dicey and it’s not really clear to me if you’re technically allowed in the area (that wasn’t stopping other people, but for that reason I’m not including directions). It involves a bit of walking down the river and it has become very eroded, so my guess is that the resort doesn’t want people climbing down there for liability reasons.
Purely from a scenic perspective, it does look really neat because it’s basically a waterfall cascading into connecting pools. But it is run-off from the resort and it’s not very hot anymore. It’s warm enough in the summer, but it’s definitely more bath water temperature than hot spring, and I think if you went in the cold season it wouldn’t really be hot enough to keep you warm. There were about a dozen other people around, so we hung out for a bit to say we did it and then packed up and moved on.
Our next stop was back into the woods as we’d decided to check out some rec sites in the area and visit Lussier Hot Springs. Lussier is pretty well known and it’s reasonably developed without being commercial. It’s actually located in Whiteswan Provincial Park, which has 5 first-come-first-serve campgrounds. It was the Friday of the Labour Day Weekend and we wanted to get a site before the long weekend crowds arrived, so we hit up the first campsite in the park, which is called Alces Lake.
We didn’t have any trouble getting a site, but it did get pretty full by the end of the night. Alces Lake is a lot smaller than Whiteswan Lake, so maybe that one is more popular, but Alces is beautiful too and we really loved it! Our campsite was right next to the lake and the hot springs parking lot had been pretty full when we drove by, so we opted to hang out at the lake for the afternoon, with the plan to go back to the hot springs around dinnertime in hopes it would clear out.
It was a great decision and we had a blast at the lake! The water was really warm and we spent the afternoon lounging in the water on our thermarests. I’ve had a slow leak in my thermarest for almost a year now, so I finally was able to look for the hole. I thought I found it near the mouthpiece and sealed it up, but it’s still leaking, so I may have to finally breakdown and buy a new one (which is disappointing because they’re so expensive!).
Waiting until 5pm was a great idea though! There were still a few people around when we got to the hot springs, but there was enough room for us and it gradually cleared out more while we were there. There’s a large parking lot walking down to the river and then there’s several man-made pools next to the river. None of them were too hot, but it was still warm enough outside that we didn’t want to hang out too long in the hot pool and spent most of our time in the middle pool. We went for a few cold dips in the river, but mostly just relaxed for 2 hours, which was lovely!
We returned back to the lake for supper and then enjoyed watching the sunset over the lake while Carolyn did my hair. Me and Brandon camped in my 3p North Face tent and Carolyn opted to just sleep in her car, which is her newest obsession.
We left the next morning after breakfast to head back to Kootenay National Park and then camped in Lake Louise for two nights, so it was a short visit to the Kootenays, but still a lot of fun! To be honest, I’m not really a big hot spring person – not because I don’t like hot springs – but because I find them to always be very stressful and busy. But Lussier wasn’t either of those things and it had a really nice vibe. I’d definitely recommend, especially with so many options for camping nearby! One day I hope to return and drive a bit farther down to Top of the World Provincial Park, which is also located nearby.
Let’s start off with a disclaimer – there’s a lot to do in Kootenay National Park – I’ve still only done a fraction of what there is in the park, but after spending a week there, I feel like I got a good idea of what a lot of the attractions are. There’s still lots for me to return and explore, but here’s some of my learnings after 1 week.
Getting There
Kootenay National Park is characterized by Highway 93. It runs through the entirety of the park and it’s from this highway that you access all the attractions. Put simply, you can either enter through BC or through Alberta. If you’re coming from Calgary (as we were), the obvious option is to drive Highway 1 through Banff and then take the exit for Highway 93. If you’re coming from BC, it’s the same distance from Golden to either park entrance, so it all depends on which direction you’d like to drive. You can access the park through Radium, which in my opinion is the nicer direction because that’s the official park entrance and you can get your park pass there. But there’s nothing wrong with entering through Banff National Park. Leave lots of time for your drive either way because there’s so much to see in the park!
Where to Stay
Where to stay depends on what kind of sleeping experience you’re looking for. If you’d like to stay in a hotel, I’d recommend Radium. It’s right on the doorstep of the park and has lots of options for cheaper accommodations. You could also stay in Lake Louise or Banff, but be prepared to shell out a lot more money for these options.
If you’d like to camp, then there will be a lot more options available to you and you’ll be able to stay directly in the park. But you have to be prepared to book sites when they release around March because all of the National Parks are popular and they book up fast. See the next sections for more information on your camping options.
Frontcountry Camping
If you’re new to camping, then frontcountry camping is what you’re looking for. These are drive in sites, so you can store lots of things in your car and they’re a bit easier to get to than backcountry sites. There are 3 frontcountry sites in Kootenay National Park – all can be booked through the Parks Canada reservation site, check early in the year for the date that sites will be released.
Redsteak Campground – This is the largest campground in the park and therefore the easiest to get into. it’s located very close to Radium. It has 242 sites and is usually open from late April to early October.
McLeod Meadows Campground – This site is located in the valley, along the banks of the river in the middle of the park. It has 88 sites and is usually open from early June to early September.
Marble Canyon Campground – Marble Canyon is a large attraction on its own and this site is located in the sub-alpine with nice mountain views. It has 60 sites and is usually open from late June to early September.
Full disclosure, I haven’t actually stayed at any of these sites, but I would like to try for McLeod or Marble one day!
Backcountry Camping
Backcountry camping is my preferred method of camping, but it is a whole different beast than frontcountry. It revolves around hiking and you have to carry everything you need on your back, so you should only attempt backcountry if you’re aiming to complete a hike.
As far as backcountry camping goes, there are limited options in Kootenay. All of these sites are on the Rockwall Trail (a 54km hiking trail), with the exception of Verdant Creek (which is now closed). Though you don’t have to commit to doing the entire Rockwall Trail if you want to visit some of these sites, many have alternative entrances.
Helmet-Ochre Junction Campground – A small campground along Helmet Creek. It’s a 6km walk to the campsite. It’s a good stopping point along the Rockwall Trail or for a 1-nighter if you just want to visit Paint Pots or Helmet Falls. It’s pretty easy hiking to this site, good for beginners.
Helmet Falls Campground – A larger campground located at the base of Helmet Falls. It’s a 14km hike to the site and is most commonly used along the Rockwall Trail, though you could stop here for 1 night if you just want to visit the Falls. Alternatively, you could camp here for 2 nights and do a day hike up through the pass to the start of the Rockwall and back.
Tumbling Creek Campground – A larger campground located where Tumbling Creek meets the Rockwall. It’s a great place to stop on a thru hike of the Rockwall Trail, or you can do a 10km hike on the Tumbling Creek Trail. It’s a fairly gentle climb up to the campground. I haven’t done the Tumbling Creek Trail, but if I was to enter the Rockwall this way, I would plan to stay for 2 nights and day hike along the Rockwall.
Numa Creek Campground – A larger campground located on Numa Creek. It’s a great place to stop on a thru hike of the Rockwall Trail, or you can do a 6.5km hike on the Numa Creek Trail. It’s an easy trail to the campsite, but Tumbling Creek is closer to the Rockwall if you’re planning on day hiking there. As a thru hike, I recommend staying at Numa, but as a day hike, I’d recommend Tumbling.
Floe Lake Campground – The most popular campsite in the park. This campground is located right on beautiful Floe Lake. It’s a 10.5km hike up to Floe Lake with considerable elevation gain. It’s the most challenging hike on the list, but the most rewarding. A perfect end if you’re doing the entire Rockwall Trail.
Verdant Creek Campground – This site was extensively damaged in the 2017 wildfires and is no longer recommended. It was previously used as an alternative access to Egypt Lake in Banff National Park.
Hiking
The Rockwall Trail – One of the biggest attractions in the park. This 54km trail is extremely popular and travels along gorgeous alpine terrain. Recommended as a 3-4 night thru hike.
Stanley Glacier – Another popular attraction in the park, this 11km trail can be done as a day hike and covers a lot of elevation gain. You can hike it on your own, or if you’re a fossil enthusiast, pay for a guided hike with Parks Canada!
Cobb Lakes Trail – A shorter trail on the west side of the park, day hike 5km and back to picturesque Cobb Lake for the day.
Dog Lake Trail – A fairly easy 7km trail that leaves from McLeod Meadows campground, with beautiful views of the surrounding valley.
Simpson River Trail – A flat and easy trail along the Simpson river, customized to your preferred length. The trail continues all the way to Mount Assiniboine if you’d like to hike 12km to Sunrise Creek Campground and continue on further.
Ball Pass Trail – I wouldn’t recommend this trail unless you’re backpacking and continuing on to Sunshine Village, in which case, this beautiful trail covers a lot of elevation gain and kilometres. Stay at the Ball Pass Campground or infamous Egypt Lake.
Arnica Lake – A very scenic trail that hikes down to Viewpoint Lake and then back up to Arnica Lake. It’s 10km in total and is very popular in the Fall when the larches turn yellow. (technically this trail is in Banff, but it’s so close to the border)
Boom Lake – Another trail in Banff, but Boom lake is a scenic 10km trail with moderate elevation gain to a gorgeous lake.
Roadside Attractions
Since I spent most of my time in Kootenay National Park on the Rockwall Trail, I was more keen to explore all the roadside attractions rather than do more hiking. We spent a full day driving the 100km of road between to the two park entrances and there were tons of attractions to keep us busy all day! Starting from Radium, here are my recommendations:
Sinclair Canyon – Towering canyon walls as you enter the park. Stop for some photos and walk along the pedestrian sidewalk through the canyon.
Radium Hot Springs – Gorgeous commercial hot spring and pool just within the park boundary. Perfect in the winter or on a cloudy day. Walkable from Redstreak Campground.
Olive Lake – Short walk to turquoise waters and a fish conservation area located in Sinclair Pass.
Kootenay Valley Viewpoint – Rest stop with panoramic views of the Kootenay Mountains and Kootenay River across the valley.
Kootenay River Day Use Area – Rest stop with a few picnic tables and an excellent view of the river.
Numa Falls – Short walk to a bridge under which the rushing Numa Falls are channeled to the Vermillion River.
Paint Pots – 1km walk each way to see the red ochre soil that makes up the traditional paint pots.
Marble Canyon – Go back in time along the 1.5km loop trail to see how Tokkum Creek has formed the canyon over thousands of years.
Continental Divide Rest Stop – Photo op where the Rockies collide, separating BC from Alberta, and the flow of water to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Vista Viewpoint – Technically in Banff National Park, but the last stop along Highway 93 with beautiful views of Arnica Lake.
National Park Pass
Before visiting, make sure you get your park pass either at the entrance in Radium, or when you drive through Banff National Park. You will need it to park everywhere inside the park. It’s $10 per person, per day, or you can get the family pass for the whole year for $145, which is applicable to all National Parks in Canada.
Day 3 very much felt like the second half of the journey to me. The total length of the trail is 54km (though we tracked 58km in total on my GPS). By the end of day 2, we had done 34km of 54km, so we had two much easier days ahead of us. Unfortunately, the weather was supposed to deteriorate on Day 3.
I checked a ton of weather forecasts before we left and they often contradict each other, so we weren’t sure what to expect. The original forecast had said a 60% chance of showers, but when I got a weather update from my inreach, the POP had increased, but wasn’t starting until 1pm. So we got up early to try and finish the 10km hike to Floe Lake before the rain started.
It was overcast when we started hiking, but looking pretty good. It drizzled on us for a few minutes mid-morning and I put my backpack cover on, but then it didn’t bother us again for the rest of the hike. The trail from Numa Creek to Floe Lake ascends up through Numa Pass, with an elevation gain of ~800m. It was the biggest uphill of the trip, but similar to other parts of the trail, it was largely switchbacks, so it’s never overly steep. We made good time hiking up and decided to stop for a break at the top of the pass.
Coming up to the pass is very beautiful, with lots of larch trees. Before you get to the top of the pass, there’s a fantastic view looking back at the Rockwall and where you’ve come from, so that’s where we decided to stop. The downside is that it’s also the highest point of elevation across the entire trail at 2,336m, so it was quite cold up there. The rain was still holding off, but it’s very barren and nothing grows, it’s just a lot of rock, so it can get a bit windy.
We continued on to the top of the pass, which is where you get your first view of Floe Lake! If you have the time, definitely linger in the pass for a while because it is incredibly beautiful in all directions. We took some photos with Floe Lake, but then continued on in an attempt to warm up.
While my plantar fasciitis was doing quite well, I was battling a second foot problem on Day 3. I’ve been wearing trail shoes for the past 2 years (meaning they’re short and have limited ankle support), so I switched to my mid-ankle hikers for the Rockwall Trail. They were fine for my injury, but I think I’ve been overcompensating with my left foot and my ankles got used to short shoes, so I ended up with a very large bruise on my left ankle from rubbing against the shoe. It was actually quite painful and resulted in a bit of a stabbing pain with each step on the downhill sections.
It’s all downhill to Floe Lake from the Pass, which is only a few kilometres, but it was quite painful on my ankle. I was really concerned about Day 4, which is all downhill for 11km, but after a bit of workshopping, I figured out it was less painful if I didn’t tie up my boots past my ankle and rolled my socks down to create a bit of a cushion. But I dumped the mid-ankle shoes after that and switched back to my short ones for the rest of my trip.
There’s no where to swim on the Rockwall Trail aside from Floe Lake, so me and Carolyn were pretty keen to swim there. The problem is that it was quite cold and we weren’t convinced it would be warm enough to strip down to our swimsuits. Fortunately, we worked up enough of a sweat on the way down that we decided to immediately make a swim attempt. We didn’t look for a campsite, but walked directly to the lake to immediately strip down and run in the water. Unfortunately, we didn’t pick the best swim spot, because it was very muddy and we sunk ankle deep into it, but we went in anyways and had a quick refresh before going to set up camp (obviously it was freezing).
Floe Lake is by far the most popular campsite on the trail and because it’s only 11km from the trailhead, lots of people visit as a day hike. That said, it was not at all busy when we were there. It was mid week and the weather was dicey, so it was a pretty quiet. The cooking area at Floe Lake is right by the lake and really nice. There’s 2 campsites with lake views, but the rest are way up in the woods, so we spent most of our time just chilling at the lake. The layout of the campsite is a bit odd and don’t rely on the site maps provided because they aren’t accurate. The outhouses are far up in the woods and there’s a few tent pad clusters around. The campground wasn’t full when we were there, but not too many empty sites.
Because I didn’t have to carry a tent on the trip (I shared Brandon’s), I decided to bring my tarp for Floe in case it rained. We caught up with our new friend, Jason, and set it up on the beach for lunch. It did drizzle on us a few more times, but later in the afternoon it actually started to clear up and we got a few glimpses of the sun poking out from behind some clouds. So we spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging out and doing a few photo shoots.
It was by far our most relaxing time on the trail and we hung out for several hours. Floe Lake is just another extension of the Rockwall, with lots of glaciers sitting up on the rock. They’re quite active and you can regularly hear and see bits of ice falling off the glacier. It was kind of nice to listen to it while you sleep, but at one point in the middle of the night it sounded like half the mountain had fallen off into the lake!
While relaxing we did spot a black bear on the other side of the lake. He was moving pretty quickly and we think he got scared by a few hikers that decided to hike around the lake. They never ended up seeing him at all though because he took off so fast and ran the entire length of the lake. We decided to start preparing our supper around 6pm, but our timing was bad because the wind picked up at the same time. It got really windy and it felt like the weather was getting ready to shift back to rain, so we ate and tidied up everything really quickly to get back to our tents before the it started.
We decided to all hang out in Brandon’s tent for the evening and I went there while Carolyn did a quick run to the outhouse. The rain never did materialize so I started doing a bit of journaling. But I was alone for a long time and I began to wonder where Carolyn and Brandon were. Eventually, Brandon showed up at the tent laughing to himself and started to gleefully tell me that Carolyn had a REALLY good story for me. He made it sound really ominous and I was convinced that she got cornered in the outhouse by a bear or something while I was obliviously writing in my journal. Brandon said they’d be back soon and I kept waiting for them with no sign of anything.
Eventually I gave up and went looking for them. I had to walk through the entire campground before I finally found them coming back from the lake with Jason. Carolyn looked mortified. It turns out, in her quick trip to the outhouse, she made a grave mistake. She keeps all her stuff for camp in a cross-body bag, including her toilet paper, and when she leaned down to close the toilet seat lid after using it, her inreach and kindle both slipped out of her open bag and fell in the outhouse!
I have to say, the outhouse at Floe Lake was particularly disgusting. It looked older and it was really dirty on the inside. She immediately had a panic attack after they fell in because she was alone and had to address the problem immediately lest someone else come along and poop on them. To her credit, Carolyn was more worried about the Leave No Trace aspect of her electronics in the outhouse than the actual monetary value of them. The outhouse wasn’t that deep (by which I mean, the gap between the seat and the waste wasn’t that far, maybe 5-6 feet). She managed to fish out her inreach fairly easily with a stick because the inreach has a carabiner and it was sitting on top of mostly toilet paper. She obviously sanitized it, but overall it wasn’t too dirty.
The kindle was another issue. You can imagine her relief when Brandon happened to show up at the outhouse with the intention of conducting his own business. Apparently her first instinct was to tell him to go and get me immediately, but then she reconsidered and said, “wait, no, Maria can’t help me. I need help now, you’ll have to help me!” For which I am grateful!
It took 3 tries, but the two of them were able to fish out the kindle using a pair of giant stick chopsticks, but Carolyn did have to go almost shoulder deep in the outhouse to reach it. They double bagged the kindle to deal with later, but she ended up washing it (and her jacket) in the lake because at the end of the day, she cared less about whether she would still be able to use the kindle and more about just not leaving it in the outhouse, even if she ultimately disposed of it.
So yes, it was incredibly gross and I think most people’s instinct would be to just leave it in the outhouse, but I do respect her for actually going in after it. It was mostly to assuage her guilt, but as Jason pointed out, “guilt fades, shame is forever”. That said, Carolyn claims that if she could go back in time, she would probably still do the same thing, but she’ll never be making that mistake again! However, we have stumbled upon a few articles since then about other people who have fallen into outhouses and got trapped while trying to retrieve items, and S&R recommends against this risk! So you do get a pass to just leave it if this happens to you. We spent the rest of the trip sizing up the depth of every outhouse we used to assess ease of retrieval!
After that the rest of the trip was somewhat uneventful. It didn’t rain all night, but then started to pour around 6:30am on Day 4. It rained for about an hour. We waited it out and then I got up as soon as it stopped to grab our stuff for a tent breakfast, but it didn’t rain again after that. We packed down our camp and readied for our final 11km descent back to the parking lot.
It’s pretty steep for the first 3km, but there’s still lots of switchbacks and it levels out a lot after that. It’s a decently nice hike back down through the valley with views across the mountain, but it’s all one massive burn zone, which puts a bit of a damper on the hike and is fairly exposed. It would be pretty rough on a hot day hiking uphill because there’s limited shade. The burn zone is from 2003, so it actually has 20 years of growth in it, but it’s still very obviously a burn zone because it takes years for the burned tree trunks to finally fall down. Knowing that the rest of the province was burning at the same time made for a somber hike.
We only stopped once for a break on the way down and did the whole 11km in 3 hours. We loaded everything in Carolyn’s car and drove back to Paint Pots to get Brandon’s car. There’s a few picnic tables there, so Carolyn cooked us some ravioli for lunch and then we drove to our hotel in Radium to shower before going for a proper post-hike burger and ice cream in Radium.
So overall this was one of the most fun hikes I’ve been on in a long time. I don’t think it was as stunning as Mount Assiniboine, which I did in 2021, but I had a lot more fun on this trail and it is still incredibly beautiful. The Rockwall is a really unique feature and I loved hiking along it for 3 days. Even though this is a very popular hike and it’s hard to get permits, it doesn’t feel busy at all because it’s a long trail and the permit system greatly reduces the traffic on the trail. I could see it being busy at Floe Lake on a nice weekend, but mid-week really eliminates a lot of the crowds. I really think Kootenay National Park is underrated in the Rockies and we had a great time exploring the trail and the region! Definitely recommend!
The Road Goes Ever On 