Rockwall Trail Backpacking Trip Part I

October 4, 2023July 11, 2024 / Maria / 6 Comments

Backpacking the Rockwall Trail was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my time in the Rockies this summer. There are a lot of iconic multi-day trips in the Rockies that I’ve been wanting to do and this year we landed on the Rockwall Trail. It’s a 56km backpacking trail in Kootenay National Park that is extremely popular and requires permits for camping. There are several entrances to the trail, so it’s not a bad option for beginners because you can exit out if needed, or you can just do a portion of the trail.

The full trail goes from the Paint Pots trailhead to the Floe Lake trailhead. There’s a total of 5 campsites on the trail to choose from and most people do it in 3-4 nights. You only need a park pass to visit as a day hiker, but if you’d like to visit overnight, prepare early. The campsites are released for the entire summer in March from Parks Canada and they disappear within minutes of being released. Me and Carolyn were both online trying to get permits in March and it was still a challenge to get what we wanted.

The trick to the Parks Canada site is to log in on a lot of devices (I had mine and Seth’s computers and both our phones). Before the sites release, it puts everyone in a random queue, so you’ll be in different places in line on every devices. Whatever device is the lowest in the queue, focus on that device and abandon the rest. I was actually #700 on my computer, which is really low, but I had a brain fart when booking the sites (it’s a lot of pressure!) and accidentally booked the wrong campsite for one night. But we watched for cancellations for months and were eventually able to switch to our preferred site about a week before the trip. So even if you don’t get what you want, don’t lose hope. A lot of people do cancel because you have to make the bookings so early and plans do change.

That said, I do feel very lucky to have scored 2 campsites for our 3 night trip. Me and Brandon tented together and Carolyn had her own site. We started hiking the day after attending my friend’s wedding outside Calgary, so we didn’t get an early start and it wasn’t the most well rested I’ve ever been, but fortunately it was an easy-ish day.

We dropped Carolyn’s car at the Floe Lake trailhead (which was easier said than done because it’s a small lot, so we had to wait for a spot to open up), and then all drove in Brandon’s car to Paint Pots to start the hike. It was around 1:30pm when we finally hit the trail and we had 15km to do to our first campsite at Helmet Falls.

Fortunately it was an easier day terrain-wise. It’s pretty easy forest walking and there’s limited elevation gain, only 400m over 15km. The trail starts at Paint Pots, which is characterized by the red ochre in the ground that has tons of traditional uses, particularly as a dye. We did the first 6km to the Helmet-Ochre Junction Campground relatively quickly and ate our lunch there. It’s a nice little campground next to a beautiful river, but it was completely empty when we arrived. We did pass a small group later in the day that were hiking there, but they were the only other people we saw all day and I suspect there were multiple empty sites.

We had 9km left after lunch and most of the uphill is after the campground. The entire trail is a gentle incline, but I only noticed in it for the first half an hour after our lunch break, after which it levels out. The trail continues along the river through the valley and it is very beautiful. I was a bit worried for the hike because I still have plantar fasciitis in my right foot, but I did lots of preventive care and it managed really well. Mostly that just meant that we stopped every ~4km for me to stretch and roll my foot with one of my dog’s tennis balls. So halfway to Helmet Falls we took another break along the river. It was hot out, but not too hot, and I put a lot of effort into starting this hike hydrated (which wasn’t the case with the HBC Trail), so overall I was feeling really good!

We got to the campsite after 5 hours of hiking and immediately set up camp. There were a lot more people at Helmet Falls than the ochre junction campsite, but there were still several empty sites around. The campground is located in the forest, but it’s surrounded by mountains and you can see Helmet Falls thundering down from the cooking area. Despite the hot afternoon, it cooled down really fast in the shade and we immediately had to add some layers. It ended up being our coldest night on the trail, but me and Carolyn kept warm filming some dancing reels for instagram!

On Day 2 we had the option of going to either Tumbling Creek or Numa Creek and we chose Numa Creek to get us closer to Floe Lake for our last night. It’s 20km from Helmet Falls to Numa Creek, so it was our biggest day on the trail and I was a little nervous about my foot. But Day 2 ended up being my favourite day on the trail! I’ve come to the conclusion that 15-20km of hiking is really my preferred distance for backpacking. After 20km, the day starts to feel long and your feet get sore. You have less time to actually enjoy the trail and the tiredness compounds day after day when you don’t give yourself enough time to rest.

We tried to get up early, but it was ~9:30am when we finally made our departure. The day started with a big climb, but I found the Rockwall Trail has a lot of switchbacks on the climbing sections, so overall, not too bad. Plus it was still cool. We took a break at the top of the pass before starting the highlight of the trail, the aptly named, “Rockwall”.

Floe Lake has a big reputation as being the most gorgeous place on the trip, but personally I think the actual Rockwall was my favourite. It’s easy to understand the trail name when you do it because you are essentially hiking along a giant wall of rock all the way from Helmet Falls to Floe Lake. You get to the top of the pass after 4km and then you’re hiking along the Rockwall for at least the next 10kms. It’s incredibly beautiful and I had the best time hiking it with Carolyn and Brandon.

Unlike the HBC Trail, where I was super worn out, we had a great energy on this trip. I was honestly giddy for most of it and the more we hiked the sillier the 3 of us got. I was genuinely thrilled to be hiking with my friends and the mountains brought me a lot of joy that translated into a lot of laughter while on the trail. There’s always things that characterize a trip and they’re usually challenges. When I think of my time on the North Coast Trail, I think about the tiring and muddy terrain; when I think about Assiniboine, I think about how draining the heat wave was; when I think about HBC, I think about overdoing it and injuring my foot. But the characterizing feature of the Rockwall Trail for me was how much joy it brought me, and I think that’s really special.

We spent a lot of time goofing around, singing, and filming tiktoks. Say what you want about Reels and Tiktoks, but I always have so much fun filming silly things to put on the internet and embracing that only makes me happier. I don’t actually have Tiktok anymore, but check out my Instagram for lots of fun content from this trail!

That said, I did encounter some difficulties on Day 2, they’re just not as memorable as the joy. I was on my period for this entire trip, so we had to make an emergency stop along the ridge for a period poo (just being honest) and after that I popped some advil and pepto and then I felt a lot better. It was a Tuesday, so we all celebrated Taco Tuesday for lunch, which is my favourite cold soak that I make (dehydrated ground beef and veggies). I just crunch up doritos into mine for a taco salad, but Carolyn goes the whole 9 yards and brings taco shells into the wilderness!

We had first lunch on the ridge along the Rockwall, where we met Jason, who was doing the final section of his 30 day hike along a portion of the Great Divide Trail! The GDT is a bucket list hike for both me and Carolyn (it’s 1200km of hiking through the Rockies), so we were both keen to hear about his experience and ended up making a new friend along the rest of the trail since we were all on the same track.

Then we had our second lunch at Tumbling Creek Campsite, which meant we had done 12km of trail and had 8km left. Tumbling Creek was also pretty empty, but it was earlier in the day, so I know it got busier later. We ate by the river, which is really beautiful, but very silty. We decided to cross the river in order to shave off ~1km of walking down to the bridge. It wasn’t that deep and was totally safe to cross, but it was very wide and very cold, so it was an appropriate post-lunch wake up!

Unfortunately we had a really big climb after lunch. It’s not the biggest climb on the trail by any means, but I remember it as the most draining because it was mid-afternoon and quite hot when we climbed it. But once you get to the top, there are incredible glacier views before you start your descent down to Numa Creek.

It’s a really big downhill to Numa Creek and it’s totally exposed along the side of the mountain, so I was really glad I didn’t have to climb up it. It was around 5pm by the time we got to it, so it was starting to cool down. It was hard on my feet to end the day on a huge downhill, but we made it to Numa Creek after ~9 hours of hiking. In total we tracked 21km and over 1000m in elevation gain.

Unlike Helmet Falls, Numa Creek was extremely busy. We were the last people to arrive, so it took us awhile to find a campsite. We thought they were all full at first, but then we found 2 tucked away next to each other at the back by the river and somehow I think we actually may have scored some of the nicest sites there! We all had river baths and then Jason joined us for dinner and Carolyn treated us all to ‘worms and dirt’ for dessert.

Growing up in Girl Guides, I am very familiar with ‘worms and dirt’, but it took us awhile before me and Carolyn realized that Brandon and Jason had no idea what ‘worms and dirt’ was and were reluctantly pretending to be excited about this mythical dessert. Once we explained that it’s actually chocolate pudding with crushed oreos and gummy worms, they quickly got on board! But we all agree that the worms are best eaten on the side rather than mixed in – but both me and Carolyn are purists and insisted on eating it all together. So overall, an excellent first 2 days! Stay tuned for Part II.

Hiking Tent Ridge

September 27, 2023July 11, 2024 / Maria / Leave a comment

After a somewhat disappointing start to the summer (where I wrecked my foot on the HBC Trail), I had a very eventful end of the season. My friends got married outside of Calgary at the end of August, so I decided to turn it into a 2 week holiday to the Rocky Mountains! I lived in Vancouver for 6 years before I finally visited the Rockies during Covid in 2020. Since then, I’ve been back every year and I love exploring around all the National Parks!

To start off the trip, I caught up with some friends living in Calgary and we went day hiking in Kananaskis. I haven’t spent much time in this area except for starting my Assiniboine hike at Mount Shark. The trail my friend Craig picked for the day was Tent Ridge, which actually starts very close to the Mount Shark trailhead, but is a very different kind of hike. It’s approximately a 2 hour drive from Calgary or a 1 hour drive from Canmore. You can get there in any kind of vehicle, but it is partially gravel road and quite dusty (but in good condition).

Tent Ridge is a fairly modest hike at only 10km total distance, but don’t underestimate it! Although we parked at the wrong trailhead and added an extra 2km to our hike (drive past the first turnoff for about 1km and there’s a lot). Throughout the trail there is ~850m in elevation gain and a fair bit of scrambling. If you’re afraid of heights, this is definitely not the hike for you. We encountered a few people on our way up that had decided to turn around because the scrambling was too intense for them.

Describing a hike as a “scramble” basically means that there are some exposed sections where you may need to do a bit of light climbing with your hands, or where the trail is not super obvious through some sections. I’m not really a big scrambler, but overall I felt good on Tent Ridge. There is one section early into the ascent where I had to use my hands to climb and that was probably the sketchiest section, after that it’s not too bad, except maybe for one spot along the ridge on the other side that is quite steep with some loose rock, so I did this part in a low crouch in case I had a slip. But personally, I found that the scrambling at Tent Ridge generally looked scarier than it was. The one climbing section looked a bit intimidating at first, but up close I felt safe the entire time.

The main thing to be aware of at Tent Ridge is the direction of your hike. My favourite part of this trail is that it’s a loop hike, so you’re always looking at new terrain, but it’s a lot easier to go clockwise. The climbing sections are all done uphill when you go clockwise, which is generally a lot safer, so if you decide to visit, definitely start in this direction. I also generally think that clockwise is the more scenic direction as well, because on the descent, you get to look out towards Spray Lakes reservoir, which is incredibly scenic and I would hate to have my back to it on the way up.

My group had 3 hikers and it took us ~5.5 hours to do the entire hike with breaks. We weren’t rushing, but we weren’t going that slow either. You do a decent amount of elevation gain in the trees at the start, and then the rest is done in 2 ascents along the ridge. The first ascent takes you up to a small emergency shelter and is the largest climb, after which you drop down through a pass for a smaller ascent up to the second peak. After that, it’s all ridge walking and pretty much the entire trail has phenomenal views.

We stopped a lot to take photos, so that definitely slowed us down. Craig takes some of the most beautiful pictures and all the shots of me that I share in this blog were taken by him. Our friend Alex was in much better shape than the two of us and always well ahead while we were ogling the landscape, so it’s a very enjoyable hike and I had the best time soaking in the views.

It can be a bit cold from the wind up on the ridge, so bring extra layers with you. I also really recommend trekking poles. It’s a steep descent when you come down and poles helped a lot with balancing. Just make sure to secure your poles to your pack when you need your hands for climbing as it’s a lot safer that way.

Overall it’s a pretty short trail report – the trail is in great shape – so I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. We concluded our hike with a stop in Cochrane on the way back for some delicious ice cream from MacKay’s Ice Cream, which we all highly recommend!!

Russet Lake Backpacking Trip

September 22, 2023July 11, 2024 / Maria / 4 Comments

After a month of resting my foot from my plantar fasciitis injury on the HBC Trail, I was really determined to get back in the backcountry. To be honest, my foot was definitely not feeling 100%, but I had a two week hiking trip planned for the end of August and I really needed to test out hiking again before committing to that trip. We had permits to camp at Russet Lake in mid-August, so it was a good opportunity to test the waters. Me and Brandon bought our Whistler edge cards early this year, and the pass comes with a free summer sightseeing ride on the gondola, so our plan was to take the gondola up to the top of Whistler and hike to Russet Lake from there.

This was my first time hiking at Whistler-Blackcomb and I was totally blown away by it! I’ve never bothered to pay for the gondola up because it is expensive and I spend a lot of time there in the winter, but it is absolutely worth visiting in the summer. There are a ton of cool trails up there, as well as another entrance to Garibaldi Provincial Park. I’ve done all the other major hikes in Garibaldi Park (Garibaldi lake, Elfin lakes, Wedgemount lake, etc), so this was the last big hike in the park for me. That said, even with the gondola, Russet Lake is still a challenging hike. It’s not at all technical, but more psychologically challenging with the topography of the terrain.

There’s a few options for hiking to Russet Lake. I think the most common option is to take the gondola up the mountain and hike from either Roundhouse or Peak Chair via the High Note trail (like we did). This route is approximately 12km long, with 600m of elevation gain. However the gondola pass is just shy of $100, so the free option is to hike up from Whistler base via the Singing Pass trail. It’s only 3km longer than hiking from peak chair, but it has more than 1400m of elevation gain. That said, it’s a gentle uphill most of the way.

I didn’t do the Singing Pass trail, but the reason I say the route via High Note is psychologically challenging is because there’s a lot of up and down. Every time you finish a peak, you can see several kilometres forward to the next peak that you’re going to have to hike down and up again. We had to do this 4 times, so it some ways it felt harder. However, it’s worth noting that it’s a net downhill hike on the way to Russet Lake, so there’s more uphill on the way back. If you want to try both trails, you could hike down the Singing Pass trail on the way back instead.

Me and Brandon were joined by Carolyn and her friend Scott on this trip and they opted to hike up the Singing Pass trail. So between us we did both, but Carolyn and Scott joined us on the return trip to complete the rest of the High Note trail, which loops back to Roundhouse. I would say that Russet Lake is an ambitious hike for a single day (24km roundtrip), but the High Note trail is a great option for a day hike from the gondola. It starts at the top of the Peak chair and there’s a few cool new attractions, such as the Skybridge. From there it hikes down around the back of all the chair lifts, looping back to Roundhouse around Piccolo Summit. It’s a 10km loop option to do this trail, but I’d recommend adding on an extra 1km each way to go to the top of Flute Summit – in my opinion this was one of the best views along the entire trail.

But let’s talk about Russet Lake. The biggest thing of note when we visited was the wildfire smoke. It was perfectly clear in Vancouver the night before we did the hike, but then a lot of smoke from Kelowna started to roll in in the early morning. The closer we got to Whistler, the smokier it got. Honestly, we probably shouldn’t have gone, the smoke is really not good for your lung health, but it seems to be a fact of life in the Pacific Northwest these days, so we opted to go anyways.

Carolyn and Scott headed off on the Singing Pass trail and beat us to Russet Lake by more than 2 hours. It took me and Brandon a while to get to the top because we had to take the Blackcomb gondola, followed by the Peak to Peak gondola, followed by Peak chair. But we had the best time on the trail and the views were fantastic! You leave the resort and enter Garibaldi Provincial Park just after Flute Summit. The biggest uphill section on the way there is right before Russet Lake and when you crest the top of the pass you can see the very fancy Claire and Kees Hut looking down to the lake.

The Hut is pretty incredible. It’s managed by the ACC and requires advance booking of course. The campsite is managed by BC Parks and also requires advance booking 4 months prior to when you want to go. Permits disappear quickly, so mark your calendar in advance! The hut is gorgeous, but the campsites are right on the lake, so personally I preferred the campground. From the campsite you can look out to Fissile Peak and Overlord Glacier, so it’s pretty cool.

We went for a quick swim in the cold water immediately after arriving and then Carolyn and Scott left to head up to Whirlwind Peak for more views. Me and Brandon considered joining them, but my foot needed a break, so we ended up just climbing a short way up for a view of the lake to have our dinner instead. Carolyn and Scott opted not to go the whole way to Whirlwind Peak, but got a few more views of the area.

My foot was definitely tired when we got to Russet Lake, but overall doing well. I made a point to stop once an hour on the way there to roll it on a ball and stretch it. Regular breaks makes a huge difference and since then it’s become a part of my hiking regimen to make sure I stop every 5km to rest it.

The rest of our evening was spent lying out enjoying the views and being a bit giddy about being out in the backcountry again. We were eventually driven back to our beds as it got colder. It was pretty cool overnight, but warmed up quickly again with the sun in the morning.

Unfortunately, the smoke was worse in the morning and there was a real smell of bonfire in the air. When you’re out in it for too long, it definitely gets in your sinuses and I had a bit of a persistent cough for the next week, which is why I don’t recommend it. It helps to wear a wet mask, but it’s hard to hike uphill with a mask on. At one point even my eyes were watering from the smoke.

Carolyn and Scott joined us on the hike back to Roundhouse because we all wanted to go to the Umbrella Bar. It’s more uphill on the way back, but I actually preferred it because I find going uphill easier on my foot than going down. There’s a few cute lakes on the way back and you hike through the actual ski resort, so it was cool to compare the terrain in the summer to terrain that I’m very familiar with in the winter because it looks like a different world depending on the season.

The Umbrella Bar turned out to be a bit of a bust. You can get drinks, but there’s very limited food, so we opted to download the gondola and eat in the village instead. We treated ourselves to burgers to celebrate a successful trip. For me, I was celebrating that my injury hadn’t prevented me from doing the trip and looking forward to heading to the Rockies just 1 week later. Overall it was an eye-opening trip for me – I feel like there’s a whole world of hiking at Whistler that I didn’t know about. So if you get the chance, definitely check it out!