Hiking the Rockwall Trail, Kootenay National Park - Day 5 - Judgement Day Or Final Recall...

On the fifth and final day of the trek we woke up to beholden this brilliant view of Helmet Falls.

The final segment from Helmet Falls to the Paint Pots at Highway 93 was pretty much straightforward. Absent were the dramatic ascents and descents of the previous days. Instead, we trekked along a relatively flat trail, through an dense rainforest, along Helmet Creek.

Bunchberry or Dwarf Dogwood (Cornus canadensis) growing close to the forest floor.

Equisetem sp.?

Oh how I miss the taste of cool clear water from a bubbling mountain stream.... Mmmm...

The trail did undulate occasionally. When it did, we were treated to good views of the creeks and valleys surrounding us.

Looking towards the Paint Pots... About 3 km from the Pots, the peace and quiet of the backcountry that I had grown accustomed to was broken by traffic noise on Highway 93. How sad...

Tourists making wishes at one of the ochre-tinted Paint Pots. So strange to be back in "civilization". Very few of them walk beyond this point...A blessing in disguise...

The greenish water resulted from mixing of water from a nearby stream with the springs feeding the Paint Pot.


Ferrous Oxide accumulating on the edge of a Paint Pot.

A particularly brilliant accumulation of ochre.

An ochre swamp.

Ochre intermingling with clumps of green algae making for a surreal landscape...

1.2 km down the trail from the Paint Pots was the end of the trek.

Rockwall FAQs.

Q: Would you hike the trail in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction?

A: It doesn't matter. However, if you want a more difficult first day, start at the Floe Lake end and walk clockwise. Conversely, you can ease into the whole matter by hiking the relatively flat terrain on the Paint Pots end (and then have a double climb to the Tumbling Creek campground the next day). Either way there are giant climbs and knee breaking descents.

Q: How do I book the cabins?

A: You can't. Period. You as normal folk will have to book spots in the campgrounds along the way.

Q: If you were to re-do the hike what would you do differently?

A: I'd definitely go back in the Fall. The Tamarack Larches in this area must look spectacular during autumn when their needles turn colour. Also, if you are trek during high flower season (August), I'd take a macro lens to take pix of those purdy blossums.

Q: Logistically, would it be difficult to hike the Rockwall trail solo?

A: Yes. I only see a slight problem with transport from the trail finish to the trail head. Using two cars is most convenient. However, you can always grab a hitch. Better chance of this happening at the Paint Pots parking lot (more traffic). Or, you can get friendly with your fellow hikers and arrange a ride.

Better yet, stash a bike in the woods and ride back to car at the other end when you are finished.

Q: Was hiking the Rockwall worth the effort?

A: Without a doubt this hike must be one of the premiere multi-day hikes in the Canadian Rockies. The hills are steep but the pay off in terms of scenery (eg. flower-filled meadows, soaring peak) will be inexhaustible. The campgrounds were packed but hiker traffic was sparse out on the trail.

I definitely recommend this classic hike in the Canadian Rockies.

Q: Did you see any bears?

A: Nope. Wish I did though. We were definitely walking through bear territory. Every avalanche slope along the way, and there were many of them, I was looking for them bears. The closest I got to seeing a bear was kaka (poop) on the trail.

Q: Can old folks handle the Rockwall?

A: Yes, I survived the Rockwall. Tip of the day: use walking sticks.

Hiking The Rockwall Trail, Kootenay National Park (British Columbia) - Day 4 - Bubba's Day Off At Helmet Falls...

Day 4 on the Rockwall Trail was a well deserved day off. Not much planned other than sleeping, eating, drinking, playing card games... and visiting the nearby fantastic Helmet Falls.

Early morning at the Helmet Creek Patrol Cabin... Flora was extra lush because of torrential rains the night before. I felt bad for the backpackers hunkered down in their tents in the adjacent campground... BTW, that was Helmet Falls in our backyard...

It took a half hour leisurely walk through the riverine forest to reach the Falls.

Ahmed admiring the Falls. It looked from here that the Falls took a single plunge off the headwall...

But in fact the Falls was composed of two tiers, plunging 352 meters (1,155 ft) to the valley floor.

Tiny-looking Larry's preparing for his close encounter with the Falls.

For the last 72 hours we were treated with mindblowing vistas, but to end the trip with Helmet Falls was tremendous. The spray coming off the Falls was a bit cool, but we managed to lunch up here.

The upper tier of the Falls.

The ubiquitous Western Chipmunk (Eutamias minimus) nibbling on fireweed on the meadows below the Falls. Fauna-wise, we also observed Mountain Goats gracing the bluffs surrounding the Falls and two Golden Eagles soaring overhead.

From the Falls, we looked eastwards, down the valley towards the Paint Pots and Highway 93.

Tips of the Day...

Don't play the CIA-inspired torturous game of who-can-keep-their-feet-in-the-ice-cold-stream-the-closest. Only fools do that.

Don't carry 4 tins of pink salmon for more than 8 hrs while walking over extremely rough terrain.

Don't assume 3 grown men can chow down 10 pounds of salmon mushroom pasta in one sitting.

the blue list of africa...

Heading north from Sesriem to Swakopmund on the coast, the land was pretty bleak. There weren't many places to stop for gas except for an aptly named place called Solitaire.

The gas station here is famous for it's delish apple strudel. Mmmmm...fresh-out-of-the-oven 10 cm by 25 cm chunk of apple strudel. I looked for strudel in Frankfurt, Germany (waiting for the connecting flight to Jo'burg, SA) only to find out that it originated in Austria. It was ironic that I found it in Namibia (out in the middle of nowhere), a former German colony back in WWI. Anyway, I'm glad I got my studel when I did because shortly after this pic was shot, the "Rollen Hotel", a massive overland truck, rolled into the station. At least 30 German tourists piled out and they went straight for the apple strudel.

The Ultimate African Itinerary.

Recently I received an email from Aubrey (whose thinking of a prolonged 8 month trip through Africa) asking for a top ten list of must see/do's on the "dark" continent. That was a daunting task to say the least. After reviewing my responding list, I don't think I did Africa justice. Here is what I came up with:

1. Egypt. all the big sites in Cairo and along the Nile. if you want to get off the beaten path, i'd get out to siwa oasis in the west. Dahab's ok.
2. Sudan. see as much of this as possible. particularly along the Nile in the north.
3. Ethiopia. If there's only place you want to see that is Ethiopia: Simiens for walking, Lalibela, Gonder, Axum (maybe), Danikil depression (if you can afford it), Harar, Omo Valley, Gambella. you can easily kill a couple of months here. such a beautiful place. Test you mettle as a traveler though. The roads and people will challenge u.
4. Kenya. Definitely head out to Lamu on the coast. Nairobbery is not so bad. Couple of days to re-charge there. Didn't make it to lake turkana. My bad. definitely next time for me. if you make it there, please post the pix.
5. Uganda. Rafting the Nile is a must (here, Zambezi river in Zimbabwe or both). Lake Bunyonyi in the south. Kampala is pretty lively (ie. chaotic), definitely worth a visit. I was going to the north but got side tracked.
6. Rwanda. See the gorillas here. You'll be able to get permits on the spot. Pricey but worth it. Kigali is nice. Lots of genocidal memorials to visit.
7. Tanzania. I climbed Kilimanjaro a long time ago. Don't know if it's worth it anymore. it's nice up there though. Zanzibar is pretty interesting. Good source of photos. Ngorongoro crater is like a zoo (animals and tourists). I really recommend getting out to Kigoma and riding the SS Liemba down Lake Tanganyika.
8. Malawi. Another hangout spot. I'd recommend Senga Bay and Point Maclear if you want to hang out by the Lake. Livingstonia's not bad.
9. Zambia. I wish I spent more time here. Livingstone is a big tourist hangout. I believe that's your base for seeing Victoria Falls. They're pretty nice. But you can't go there without rafting the Zambezi, another must do.
10. Botswana. Expensive place but you must get to Maun and into the Okavango Delta.
11. Namibia. Etosha National Park, Swakopmund/Walvis Bay, and Sossusvlei are the must sees. in fact, if you only go on safari once, i recommend etosha.
12. South Africa. I wish I could spend more time here. Capetown and Johannesburg are nice. Kagaligadi National Park was just brilliant, really wild. The Garden Route is a bit overrated. I'd certainly check out the Otter Route next time. It's a hiking trail along the south coast.
13. Mozambique. Poor poor poor place. Maputo is a must. Pretty vibrant city. Go up to tofo if you're into snorkeling with whale sharks. You don't want to miss Ilha do Mozambique either.

Ok, I tried my best (I couldn't keep it to ten items). Just too many variables to crunch.

Tell me what you think of the list, 'cause I haven't been everywhere in Africa...

Not wanting to sound corny, I should have wrote, "go and meet the people and feel fortunate everyday that you're in Africa." Well, at least that's how I felt when I was there...

Aubrey is based in Dharamsala, India, right now, hanging out H.H. the Dalai Lama. Check out his blog Ketchup with Aubs for swell pix and stories of his travels.

Shadows, curves, and sunsets... in the Namib.

if you love negative space (big shadows), especially in your photographs, the Namib is paradise.

high contrast in certain landscape images is the cat's ass. if you add the curvaceous sand dunes of the Namib, you're looking at some real stunning photographs.

the photo above was taken as we were retreating from an attempted late day assault on sossusvlei.

it's nearly impossible to get "magic hour" pix of this area because it's too far away from sesriem (about 60 km). the park gate closes at 6 PM, and you have to be back at the campsite or something nasty will happen to you. ok, i just made that last part up.

travel tip of the day: bring plenty of water if you're going to traipse around the desert. being really really parched (because of poor planning), like i was on this little expedition, is not a good feeling.

travel tip #2 and a photo (finally)

finally, the first photo. i luv maputo. the internet cafes here are great. this picture was taken during our makoro (push-canoe) trip through the okavango delta.

travel tip #2. get yourself a silk sleeping bag liner next time you're traveling. very comfy for tropical weather. it's a bit pricey. $48 at MEC but well worth it.

where are da white folks?

after eight hour bus ride, i'm in maputo, mozambique. it's a world of difference with respect to SA.

maputo's much more relaxed. it's dilapitated in a post-revolutionary war kind of way. that's ok with me.

my guesthouse ("the base backpackers") is located on salvador allende and the 24th of june streets, a couple of blocks away from mao tse tung avenue. you get the drift. this place, comrades, is a chocked full of communists. too bad every one's making bags of money on the 24th of june street.

everything is ok. i'm practicing sayin' obligado. food is cheap. internet is cheap. people are cheery. white mingle with black... what else can a traveler ask for, eh?

travel tip #1. always get your visa at the border if possible. even if you have to grease some palms to do it.

flys like a butterfly...stings like a raging death machine.

the anti-malarial drug lariam, or mefloquine, is poison... just check the extraordinarily long list of contraindications and adverse effects provided in the manufacturer's instructions. side effects range from "minor" symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting, bad nightmares, hair loss... to "severe" symptoms such as hallucinations, extreme anxiety, depression, suicidal behaviour...

i've just taken my first dose tonight as an experiment. it's not the first time i've taken the drug. i took it in 1995 in africa. back then i had really bad dreams where i repeatedly envisioned brian mulroney's face peeling off his skull. i also lost most of my hair. in 1999, i took lariam again in pakistan. i developed a skin condition, listed in the literature provided, called an edema. the skin on my upper arms would bloat and become corrugated in texture. if i pressed down on the effected area, the impression caused by my finger would last several minutes.

i hope none of these side effects return with this dose. hey, if it's the hair loss symptom again, i'll have no problem. however if it the skin reaction returns, i have no choice but to go to plan B. i'll have to take an antibiotic called doxycycline (the stuff dean took). side effects? thought you'd never ask. an increased susceptibility to getting sunburned and being zit free for the duration. the only negative is i have remember to pop one (i don't mean a zit) every freakin day.

if i sound depressed or suicidal in the next couple of posts, you'll understand why.

hey, darth vadar, my brutha...

what the hell is going on the last while...



four gravel road cops were gunned down by some hillbilly freak...
a little girl is tossed onto the 401 from an overpass by her freak father...
a gas station attendant in vancouver, trying to stop a thief from driving off with a freebie tank of gas, is run over by the crook and dragged to his death...
some freak in an atlanta court grabs a gun from a court deputy and shoots 4 court officials including the judge overseeing his rape case...
michael jackson shows up at court in his pj's? i guess he wanted his testifying victim to feel at home...

more reality than you can stomach...

who's hot:

the contender. i thought this show was going to be quite lame. but it's a pleasant surprise. i was skeptical about having the boxers' families milling about. but, they really illustrate the fact that these boxers are not just fighting for themselves. i'm not sure if i'd want to be crowd if my dad "dropped the gloves"... the fighting sequences are stupendous.

sylvester stallone, the host, is hilarious. he and everyone else thinks he's a real boxer. the guy must be pushing sixty. one scene has him working the punch bag. in comes the boxers. he stops and is quite winded. one of the boxers asks whether he should phone for an ambulance. ha! he just played a imaginary boxer in a movie, bubbas...

the only iffy part of the show is the survivor-type challenge where the east coast "team" is pitted against the west coast "team". i've always thought of boxing as a sport of individuals. anyways, if you haven't seen it yet, catch it soon...

who's not:

american idol. completely off the radar screen.

the hour.

if you haven't watched it yet, catch "the hour" on newsworld. the host is the straight-shootin george stroumboulopoulos. entertaining...hip. george almost snagged a highly prized ralphie klein interview for his up-and-coming show when ralphie mistakenly thought george was fellow greek ex-pat george stephanopoulos (ex-pres. clinton guru turned bigtime ABC sunday talk show host). suffice to say, ralphie, long time uber-cbc detractor, didn't return george stroumboulopoulos' calls thereafter.

george stephanopoulos, ironically, was guest on the hour tonight. recently, he thought he had an prize interview lined up with george w. bush. dubya cancelled when he found out the interviewer was george stephanopoulos and not george stroumboulopoulos...

i think everyone should have a chinese-like-mono-syllabic surname...

i gotta go. think i'm having a bout of depression.