Down To The Wire On The Rockwall Trail

Anyone who has attempted to get permits for backcountry trails in the last few years knows how much harder it has become and that getting them can mean selecting dates that are either earlier or later than the season when you can count on things to be snow free or melted out.

That was us in 2022 when we threw our hat into permits for the Rockwall Trail in Kootenai National Park in Canada. My blogging friends from Canada, Lisa and Josy, and I were so excited to be spending time on this iconic trail. But snow threatened us at the beginning of our trip as there had been record levels of snowfall and it was a slow melt out that year.

We were set to hike in on July 25th but the weeks leading up to our date were filled with announcements like this every Friday!

And then this! What were we going to do if our permits were cancelled too? I would naturally rely on my two Canadian friends to find us an alternative, Lisa’s vote was going to be time on the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island. I wouldn’t have minded but who wants to give up scenery like this?

Thankfully, the Friday before our trip did not see a cancellation post and I drove up to Canada on Saturday to meet Lisa and Josy in Vancouver so we could make the trek over to Kootenai National Park and the Rockwall Trail.