Rockwall - Kootenay National Park - August 2010

Wow, what a weekend - back country camping will never be the same again as you can see from our pictures!! Now that Marie is a Parks Canada employee she is able to book and reserve the Warden's Back Country Cabins in the Western Canadian National Parks. So . . . she booked a couple of cabins in Kootenay National Park and on Friday August 27th we drove to the Paint Pots and hiked up along Tumbling Creek to the Rockwall where we stayed in the Wolverine Pass Cabin. This was an extra bonus as the weather had become very cool and it was snowing by the time we arrived at the cabin and lit a fire in the stove. The next day we awoke to a brilliant blue sky and hiked along the Rockwall, at times through a considerable amount of snow. We then descended to Helmet Creek, where we had a great view of the cascading falls. We opened up the Helmet Creek Wardens Cabin and settled in. Alex and Marie went for a quick dip in the creek (very brave) and then we walked up to the base of the falls where we saw three mountain goats on the steep ledges of the Rockwall. We returned to the cabin for hot chocolate and a warm fire and we were joined in the evening by a couple of graduate students studying primates. The one student is currently studying lemurs in Madagascar for his doctoral studies at the University of Toronto. The clouds descended during the night and on Sunday August 29th we hiked out to the Paint Pots under a dark sky. Fortunately, we could still see the mountain tops and the rain held off until we made it back to the parking lot.