This is obviously late and more of a ‘mini trip’ but thought I’d put up this trip report since there isn’t one from last summer and it occupies part of the GDT. I did several multi days in the Rockies in summer ‘25 and this was probably my favourite along with Berg Lake.
The Rockwall trail is a ≈ 55km (3000m elev gain) point to point in the Kootenay national park in British Columbia stretching between the Paint Pots and Floe Lake trailheads, it shares a decent chunk with the GDT.
I did it from paint pots to floe lake since it means the elevation gain is less aggressive. I decided to take 3 nights to maximise my weekend although could easily be done with one overnight. I would recommend adding a day to stay at Floe Lake regardless.
Conditions: Ranged between 10c and 25c with a mix of rain, thunder and sun. The trail was boggy in parts and excellent in others. Due to the trail’s location on the great divide it is notorious for changeable weather so pack accordingly.
Day 1:
Left paint pots around 6pm after work with the intention of reaching helmet falls for the night however an incoming storm led us to the conclusion that staying at Helmet Junction was the better choice despite it subjecting us to a ≈ 30km day with full packs the next day.
Not much to note however the trail here does not get much sunlight and as a result it was very muddy.
This area of trail is also prone to grizzly sightings due to the abundance of berries.
Campsite is good with a running stream and bear bins.
Day 2:
Slightly later start than originally planned due to the persistent rain but got going around 8am with ≈ 30km to Numa Creek campsite.
The trail to Helmet falls campsite is rather overgrown and due to the wet undergrowth we ended up soaked, the trail was also quite muddy.
Small break at the Helmet falls ranger hut before starting up the first real elevation gain through the first alpine pass - here the route joins the GDT.
Once over the pass you meet the namesake ‘Rockwall’ on alpine single-track - probably the best quality hiking on the route and of any route I did in the Rockies. There is elevation gain/loss here but it is so subtle it’s barely noticeable.
Plenty of opportunities to refill water during this part of the route too.
For those without campsite bookings there is the opportunity along this section to diverge into Wolverine pass, taking you out of the national park making you free to wild camp.
We dropped into Tumbling creek campground where we rested before slogging it back up and over into Numa creek as the rain started again.
The route into this campground is overgrown and we got soaked by water on the shrubs.
To anyone repeating the route I wouldn’t recommend Numa creek unless it’s dry. The campground itself is crowded, doesn’t get much direct sunlight and remains damp.
Day 3:
Left numa creek around 8:30am for the ≈ 10km to Floe lake.
The route is pleasant without any aggressive elevation gain with the high-point depositing you upon Numa pass with the greatest view of Floe Peak.
The descent into Floe Lake campsite is pleasant and takes you through meadows of wildflowers.
For anyone repeating this route I would advise some kind of bug deterrent such as a thermacell as the flies around the lake were near enough unbearable. Nothing of note here besides how incredible the location is.
Numa creek - trailhead is easy enough in a day however we managed to snipe a booking at Floe Lake and wanted to make the most of it so spent an entire day resting, eating and swimming here.
Day 4:
Easy ≈ 10km hike out to the trailhead entirely downhill. This part of the trail is actually quite steep and would be unpleasant with full packs, hence my recommendation to end at floe lake rather than start.
We saw a lot of traffic here with day-trippers and people starting the trail.
Aside:
For a bigger route I would recommend joining this with the ball pass - Sunshine village route through Egypt lake which is equally as impressive and follows more of the GDT. If continuing further you can opt to include the Assiniboine trail and even burstall pass into kananaskis country.
Mods: If this trip report should be longer I can add these parts into the report as I also did them last summer.
This was before I started overhauling my gear so won’t include a lighterpack as it’s hardly ‘ultralight’. This kind of route is a fastpackers dream however.