Let me start off by saying that the Rockwall is one of the most beautiful and challenging hikes you can do in the Kootenay National Park area. My brother and I were able to complete this hike in the beginning of October in the year 2022.

We wanted to complete the Rockwall hike in 4 days and thus booked the camp sites we wanted to stay at. However, we were ominously greeted with a warning highlighting how physically difficult this itinerary was going to be, it would behoove you to heed this warning. But if you’re stubborn like the Cabbage and his brother you can ignore it, we did, and we’re still here so clearly it wasn’t that bad.

Booking the Campsites

I need to highlight how difficult it was for me to book these camp sites. Usually these sites go pretty quickly, so you’ll need to be on your toes, if you want the perfect itinerary. I was able to book them through this site, https://reservation.pc.gc.ca.

Planning

The Rockwall can be completed in 3-days, 4-days or 5-days. I’ll be blunt and not recommend anyone who isn’t in “good” physical shape to plan on doing this hike in 3 days. If your in “decent” physically shape then perhaps you could look at doing a 4-day trip.

You’ll need some kind of vehicle to get to your starting point. Also, this hike isn’t a loop so you’ll need to figure out how you’re going to get back to your vehicle. From what I’ve read there are a couple options which I will list below:

• Hiking back to the start
• Hitch hiking back to the start
• Dropping a bike off at the end point and biking back to the start
• Having two vehicles (what we did)

You’ll need to purchase a national pass for each vehicle being parked, for the duration of your hike, . Also, the Floe Lake parking lot is incredibly small, and usually fills up on weekends. If the parking lot is full you can park your car along side the highway, I wouldn’t really recommend this option, however, we did this.

Below is a screenshot of the approximate distances and elevation changes

Personally, I feel that the ideal starting point would be Paint Pots Trailhead, because you’ll cut 100m of elevation gain. My chiropractor who did the same hike started at Floe Lake, he said “we were always turning around to look at the views.”

The Rockwall Hike

As stated above our plan was to complete the Rockwall hike 4-days, details can be seen below:

• Day 1 : Hike to Helmet Falls campground (Easy)
  • Visited Paint Pots I think?
  • Hiked to Helmet Falls
• Day 2 : Hike to Numa Creek Campground (Hard)
  • See Wolverine Pass
• Day 3 : Hike to Floe Lake Campground (Moderate)
• Day 4 : Hike to Floe Lake Trailhead (Very Easy)

Day 1

This day was relatively easy, it was a steady elevation gain through the entire day.

We stopped at paints pots I think. It seemed like it was a couple holes in the ground filled with water. Not something too amazing in my opinion.

We also hiked right to helmet falls. We used All Trails, however, the route ends early and doesn’t bring you near the water fall. To reach the water fall, you’ll need to continue on a hard to find path and gain some elevation. You can get up close to the water fall, but swimming at the base is a no-go.

Day 2

This day was the most difficult, we started hiking around 0630, and finished around 1700. Keep in mind we are very slow hikers, and take a lot of breaks. Aside, from being the most difficult day this day was also the most scenic.

We were able to see Wolverine Pass (we didn’t go all the way down it), I’d recommend this slight detour, I think its only 500m from the path.

Day 3

This day was of moderate difficulty, we started quite late around 1100, we got to Floe lake camp ground around 1600. We were lucky, as the route was quite dry, we were informed that during this time of year, the trails are quite slippery/icy, and crampons (which we didn’t have) may be needed.

At this time of year the lake was cold, but I couldn’t resist taking a short dip.

Day 4

This day was the easiest, but also the least scenic as the hike out is mostly burned out trees.

Final Thoughts

This was one of the most beautiful hikes we were able to do. I highly recommend doing this hike. If you are thinking about embarking on this adventure please consider the following:

• Its hard to book the camp sites, since this trip is so popular
• You’ll need to have a national park pass for each vehicle parked
• This is not a loop so you’ll need a way to get to the starting point
• 9 people aimed to finish the trail in 4-days. Out of those 9 people only 5 people were able to finish in this time, so clearly this hike is not a “walk in the park”
• If your planning to go at the end of September or beginning of October I would recommend brining crampons
• If you can reserve a night at Floe Lake campground, I would recommend it, as this was the most beautiful camp site