Hiking the Rockwall in Kootenay National Park

Hiking the Rockwall. 5 days. Not rushing, soaking it in.

In late August, feeling the last weeks of summer sneaking up on us, we set out on a long-awaited hike – the Rockwall, a 55 kilometer journey over 5 days. We didn’t know how it would work out – a fair bit of rain was in the forecast starting on day one. Both Billy and I were feeling a bit dejected while driving from Canmore to Kootenay National Park. Watching the low clouds in the valley, we wondered if the weather would be different once our altitude went above the clouds. After weighing the odds, we decided to follow through with the hike and planned to get most of our hiking done before the storms rolled in at the predictable 3-5PM window each day.

Days of preparation beforehand, our bags were full and we felt ready for this hike.

We prepared most of our food for the next five days ourselves using our dehydrator. We had in our packs:

• Chili Pasta
• Stir Fry with Broccoli and Shrimp
• Creamy Red Lentils and Rice
• Ramen Noodles with Shitake Mushrooms and Chinese Sausage
• PLUS SNACKS

I also bought myself a new Gortex “Patagucci” (as my witty friend calls Patagonia) rain jacket in order to be prepared for the rain. We also had new backpack covers from Billy’s sister.

According to “Don’t Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies” by Kathy and Craig Copeland, this is a challenging hike with some technical trails with some steep ascents and descents. From their advice, we decided to start our hike at Floe Lake. By starting at Floe, we would do a lot of our ascent on this first day and then gradually work our way down in altitude. For us, this meant getting a challenging day done on fresh legs instead of finishing with the biggest climb.

Billy dropped me and our bags off at Floe Lake and he drove back 12km down the highway to drop our car off at our end destination of Helmet Falls parking lot. He hitched a ride with a lovely psychologist who was driving home to Vancouver after visiting her partner in Alaska. Sending another big thank you out in the universe to her! There really are so many nice people out there.

Floe Lake

The hike up to Floe Lake was pretty fun. I greatly enjoyed the views and I felt the trail was well traveled and not too rooty and rocky. It went by quite fast, even with a nice lunch stop at the creek with sandwich wraps we brought with us for the first day.

We even saw a bear down in the valley! With all the wild berries around, we were very careful to make lots of noise for the bears so they knew we were coming and could avoid us. Once you arrive at Floe Lake, the first view of the Rockwall is imposing and impressive. The campground is quite spread out and the eating areas have nice views of the lake and the mountain range. Billy went for a swim at the lake after we set up our tent and we spent a while sitting by the water in the sun. The lake is gorgeous and the views are already awe-inspiring.

At night, we could sometimes hear the glaciers cracking and echoing off the mountain slabs. It was really cool.

Floe Lake to Numa Creek

The trail to Numa Creek from Floe Lake starts with a steep ascent of 300m. Once at the top, we were rewarded with a beautiful meadow to take in the view of Floe Lake from way up! We powered on to Numa Pass where there was a little scree ridge to climb. Billy ran up with with his poles and I decided to chill on the ridge and paint.

From there, we began our steep descent 800m towards Numa Creek campground. There were a lot of tinkling creeks, waterfalls, and fairy ponds. At one point, we were between two rivers which eventually merged at Numa Creek. The descent was a little tough on the feet but it was rewarding. The campground was a cozy little one and had a nice section to relax by the river.

From assessing our food packing, we decided to approach our eating with a good oatmeal breakfast, light lunch, and then supper #1 once we arrived at camp, then supper #2 after the rain. As if on cue, it started to rain around 4:30PM. We ran to the tent and relaxed.

Later, during supper #2, we saw a fire helicopter put out a fire (we suspect from a lightning strike to an old tree) over the valley and probably around 5km from our camp. Thank goodness for firefighters and tower watches patrolling the skies for wildfires.

Numa Creek to Tumbling Creek

Hiking out of Numa Creek towards Tumbling Creek began with a tough ascent that was very close to bush-wacking. I made the terrible mistake of wearing shorts that day and regretted it for the first part our our hike. All the trees and bushes were holding a lot of moisture from the rain and we were pretty wet by the time we made it out of that section.

Once the bushes opened up to a rock garden that we climbed with some long switchbacks. Eventually, we found ourselves at another beautiful meadow where we had a little lunch with a view. Onwards to Tumbling Glacier, a very impressive and huge glacier along with full a full rockwall to behold.

The descent was steep. Billy was quick and I got jello legs but it was all worth it once we got to Tumbling Creek campground. The river runs along the side with a nice rocky edge where we laid in the sunshine for a couple of hours, just enjoying the cold water and hot sun – epic.

O, Tumbling Creek, you were wonderful!

Tumbling Creek to Helmet Falls

Tumbling Creek to Helmet Falls was THE MOST EXCITING HIKING DAY! So much to see. Wow.

The day started with a short 300m ascent to head to Wolverine Plateau. This pass was amazing to hike in and it was so cool to see the Rockwall from the backside.

Rockwall Pass was truly epic. It’s really that cliché feeling of “I’m so small” walking next to this impervious mountain range. After the Rockwall Pass, we descended into a rock garden that was so cool and gave me a lot of inspiration for future pottery projects. Lots of rocks with unique patterns and colours – grey + white stripes, grey + shale marbling.

After this section we had our last big ascent of the hike to make our way to Helmet Falls campground. The decent was nice and we stumbled on a section that has SO MANY LITTLE BIRDS, flitting around and singing their songs. The rain clouds started to close in as we made in into camp. Our legs were tired but we managed to set up our tent before a huge rainstorm rolled in.

The rain slowed down after a couple hours and Billy had a good run up Good Sir Pass. Then it rained overnight… and continued into the morning.

Helmet Falls to Parking Lot

Helmet Falls to the Parking lot was a little bit of a slog through the forest. It doesn’t help that it was pouring rain for the entire 15 km hike out! But it happened on our last day instead of our first, so I’m thankful for that. There were some nice river sections that were beautiful to see. In our quick pack out in the rain, we lost Billy’s backpack rain cover (turned out to be in my bag, I felt bad). He was completely soaked and cold when we got to the car. Of course, he dealt with it like a champ. I was about 75% soaked and cold and went through several emotions on the hike out.

Amazing hike. In the end, I felt happy that I could do 5 days comfortably in body strength and mental patience for the challenge. I love how the campgrounds were spaced out about 10-12 km and 5 days felt like a really nice pace. Overall, I am happy I had about 3 years of backpacking summer camping experience before this hike. Felt prepared and calm. 10/10 would recommend experienced backpackers who are looking for a trip to unplug, hike, and be present.