Hiking The Rockwall Trail, Kootenay National Park (British Columbia) - Cabin on the Meadows

We got here so late last night, at first, we couldn't find the loo in the dark. I had to dig a hole... Ok, I'll spare you further details.

The outhouse turned out to be a pre-formed seat made of green plastic over a hole in the ground. No walls, or roof. Rudimentary loo, but the view out the "front door" was of the spooky Devil's Thumb-like mountain in the background. Not bad a view, eh? Sit back and relax...

Wolverine Patrol Cabin was home for the night. It was beautifully situated on the Rockwall Pass meadows.

Larry fixing up some flapjacks. Mmmm...flapjacks... Sure beat the 3 packages of instant maple spice flavoured oatmeal I had planned for brekkie that morning. In fact, it was the only thing on my breakfast menu all week long. I ought to learn how to cook one day.

Varmint... some kind of ground squirrel. Gee, what do they feed them up here? That critter's jumbo-sized.

"The Backyard". The trail went right over the ridge in the background towards Helmet Creek, the final stop on the circuit.

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Green arrow marks the Wolverine Patrol Cabin...

Hiking The Rockwall Trail, Kootenay National Park (British Columbia) - Day 2

We knew Day 2 was going to be a marathon. After a rather leisurely breakfast at Floe Lake, we set off at 0930.

3 mountain pass summits, 1320 m total elevation climbed, 1150 m descended, 20 km of trail, and 12 hrs. later, we reached the warden cabin at Wolverine Pass.

From Floe Lake, the trail turned to the north, taking us through an old growth forest. Once in a while we'd be rewarded with glimpses of the azure blue waters of Floe Lake through the stands of fir and tamarack trees.

The climb towards Numa Pass was gentle to moderate. Numa Pass stood about 315 m above Floe Lake.


As we gained altitude, the forest thinned, revealing large expanses of alpine meadows.

From here to almost the summit of Numa Pass, we were treated to a stunning profusion of blooming wildflowers with each passing meadow. I have never seen such a brilliant display of colors in the Rockies.



Here I caught Ahmed taking pix of one of my favourite flowers, the Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja rhexiifolia). For photo buffs, he's using the outstanding Fujifilm 30d, the king of point and shoots. The same camera that was stolen from me in Cairo, Egypt.



A field of Tall Purple Fleabane...

The ubiquitous LYDF. Little Yellow Daisy-like Flower. Ok, that ID is somewhat sketchy but I can't seem to find it in my nifty guidebook.

The boys tiptoeing through the Numa Pass meadows. Ahmed is standing by a marker that probably acts as a guide for backcountry skiers in the winter.

Indian Paintbrushes come in all sorts of colours ranging from deep red to pink to, in this case, yellow. I read that colour variations are the result of hybridization amongst these plants, but Ahmed says it has more to do with local environmental effects like soil composition.


Ahmed leading us towards the summit of Numa Pass (the scree/snow covered ridge on the horizon)...

Numa Pass and Rockwall in the distance... We lucked out that day. Hardly any wind.

Look, rabbit ears. That Ahmed's a comedian, eh...

The view north showed clearly our destination: the mammoth rockwall in the distance and the Hill from Hell just in front of that. Before reaching any of those features, we had to plunge 830 knee busting metres down from Numa Pass to the Numa Creek Campsite on the valley floor.

My knees were shattered on the way down from Numa Pass but with scenary like this high waterfall who can complain?

I sat beside this slime mold during lunch.

Nearly at Numa Creek campsite...I think the boys were looking for grizzly "bars"...

Felt like it took forever, but we finally arrived at the campsite. Normally, sane people would stop here for the night. But, silly us would march on to witness even more beautiful sights...

After the Numa Creek campsite, the trail was just up, up, up, and more up towards Tumbling Pass. Ahmed dubbed the this stairway to heaven as the Hill from Hell. Suffice to say, the boys, including yours truly, were quite demoralized.

Whenever possible, it was always fun to look back to see where we came from earlier that day. From our vantage point on the Hill From Hell, the dip in the skyline (right of centre) was actually Numa Pass. Indeed, the pass looked rather intimidating, whether one was ascending or descending it. What the hell were we thinking...?

Good grief... when the hell were we going to reach the top of this hill?

We finally reached the lip of the hill. Foot relief for all!! Pass the fresh moleskin!!

Flat landlubbers we were!! We saw our destiny. Just head to the low point at the end of this meadow... It looked like a walk in the park, a piece of cake the rest of the way.

That was until the trail veered to the right. Again, we started to climb relentlessly... In this photo, The Hill From Hell lies below the lip of the bowl in the foreground.

As consolation, we climbed so high that we found ourselves once again surrounded by alpine meadows and wildflowers. Here, Paintbrushes are surrounded by a dwarf variety of Fireweed.

Had the damnedest time identifying these Beefeater-like plants. But they were indeed Western Anemones (Anemone occidentalis). The fruiting bodies are insulated against the harsh cold alpine environs by the fluffy hair-like structures encasing them. The emerging Anemone flowers are nondescriptly white.

The remnants of Tumbling Glacier... the mass of ice was still very impressive. The summit of Tumbling Pass was along this trail but wasn't marked. Suffice to say, from this point the trail would parallel the lateral moraine in the foreground and take us on a 320 m plunge down to the Tumbling Creek Campsite. (It was also here where we met Mr. Roboto, Hiker Extraordinare. He hoped to reach Floe Lake that night. Good luck, eh...)

Hillside shows the result of eons of glacial action.

Ancient tree stump contrasts in stature with neighbouring wispy tamarack trees...

We finally arrived at the Tumbling Creek Campsite at 19:30. Normally, sane people would have pitched a tent at this point but we had no choice to move on. The cabin was waiting for us on the meadows of Rockwall Pass, about 300 metres overhead. As we climbed, "slowly, slowly" became my mantra. Time was on our side believe it or not with the long summer days. We topped out at about 21:00. The photo shows, from the meadows, Tumbling Glacier to the right and the huge lateral moraine (a faint greyish triangular pile of rocks) left of centre that we followed down to Tumbling Creek.

Suffice to say, we were exhausted at the end of the day (21:30).

Not tired enough to scarf down Ahmed's delish pasta dish though.

Hiking The Rockwall Trail, Kootenay National Park (British Columbia) - Days 1-1.5.

I hope that you, the loyal readers of BTOG, are having a fine summer.

Every summer, it seems, I embark on some kind of big adventurous trek in the Rocky Mountains.

I just came back from Kootenay National Park, British Columbia where I completed, along with my pals Ahmed and Larry, the spectacular Rockwall Circuit.

(Note: We hiked from July 28th to August 1st, 2009)


Larry (left) and Ahmed at the Floe Creek trail head ready for five days of wahoo fun in them Rocky Mountains. The clouds were pretty low and threatened to burst open on us any moment that day. (Back in '95 we snickered at the Europeans who used trekking poles while walking in the Himalayas. We called them the "clickety clacks" 'cause we could always hear them coming. Its come full circle. I can't imagine not using the poles now. My rickety old knees thank them.)

First came the crossing of the Vermillion River. Its kind of obvious in the photo, but in 2003 a massive forest fire swept through these parts, traveling up the Floe Creek valley... almost to Floe Lake itself.

Bridge over the River Vermillion. Moments after this shot, the skies just opened up. For a few minutes there I thought the trip was going to be damp and miserable. The weather turned for the better as the rest of the trek was brilliantly hot and sunny (except for third night).

The Floe Lake hike was pretty popular. We started at about 2:30 pm and came across large packs of dayhikers (many who were elderly) heading back to the parking lot.

More evidence of fire history.

Fireweed (Epilobium augustifolium) seemed to proliferate in the burnt over forest.

I neglected to bring my macro lens but the 18-200 mm (zoomed out) was an adequate substitute. The bokeh produced by this all-in-one lens was surprisingly nice as seen in this pic of more fireweed.

The boys sitting on the only bench along the way. Floe Lake was nestled at the foot of the mountain in the background (left). Up till this point, we were gaining altitude gently, following the valley floor. All hell broke loose after this little break. The trail would gain about 1000 m in the next 2 km following a set of heartbreaking switchbacks, ending finally in the alpine meadows of Floe Lake.

Common Stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum). Succulent stems and leaves are purportedly tasty.

More Common Stonecrop. Low lying (10-15 cm tall), Stonecrop grows in scree slopes.

Golden Buckwheat (Eriogonum flavum).

Tall Purple Fleabane (Erigeron peregrinus). Pretty, ubiquitous plants (60 to 80 cm tall).

Tall Purple Fleabane from the side.

Common Harebell or the Bluebell Bellflower (Campanula rotundofolia)

The Cree Indians used the dried roots of the Common Harebell to stop bleeding and swelling.

Looks delish but the Common Harebell is packed with nasty tasting alkaloids and are passed over by grazers.

Home sweet home. After 5.5 hours, we reached the Floe Lake, the first over night stop in the Rockwall Circuit. Did I mention that we stayed in Warden Patrol Cabins along the way? Once I got a taste of staying in these rustic log cabins, I swore I was never going back to the primitive practice of roughing it in tents.

I've stayed in other cabins, in Glacier National Park (BC), but none were comparable to the palatial digs of the Floe Lake cabin. Propane gas fixtures were to die for.

Soft bunk beds!!! Man, the Wardens live a cushy life. I could imagine the New Year's Eve parties they've had here over the years...

View of the Rockwall and Floe Lake from the deck of the cabin. The "Rockwall" is actually part of the Vermillion Range of the Rockies, extending 40 or so km to the north. Floe Lake is named for icebergs calving off the glaciers found at lake's edge.

The Nitty Gritty...

If you plan on approaching from the north, look for the Highway 93 junction on the Trans Canada. Drive south at this point for about a half hour.

We chose to hike in Buddhist-esque tradition (i.e. clockwise direction). In this case, look for the trail head at the Floe Lake parking lot (A). If you're an animist (Bon), hike the trail in a counterclockwise direction starting off at the Paint Pots parking lot (E).

For the record we camped at Floe Lake (B), then Wolverine Pass (C), and finally at Helmet Falls (D).

A very good reference for the hike is found in the Canadian Rockies Trail Guide (Patton and Robinson).