#kootrocks

HIKING THE ROCKWALL TRAIL

The Rockwall Trail is stunning a 55km (34 mile) trek through BC's Rocky Mountains. You'll hike through flower-filled meadows and larch forests, down into deep craggy creek valleys, past hanging glaciers, and beneath the jagged mountain peaks of Kootenay National Park. It's a beautiful hike, easily one of the prettiest in all of Canada, and the views seem almost unceasing.

THE SILVERY SLOCAN

Crystal clear lakes, towering mountains, hot springs, and charming small towns filled with cozy coffee shops wait for you on the Silvery Slocan Circle Route. Travelling through Nelson, Kaslo, New Denver and the Slocan Valley, you trace a loop back in time to where silver once ruled the day, where towns boomed overnight and disappeared almost as fast, to an area rich with colourful history, stunning wilderness, and a delightfully offbeat and laid-back vibe. 

LAKE OF THE HANGING GLACIER

Crashing milky waterfalls, lush flower-fringed forests, a powder-blue lake framed by ice-stacked mountains... Lake of the Hanging Glacier is a hike worthy of anyone's "Best of" list. Deep in the Purcell Mountains west of Radium BC, it's a modest 9km (5.6 miles) trek with a couple great views along the way, but the main reward waits at the end of the trail: a steep granite headwall with Jumbo Glacier spilling overtop, groaning and grumbling and occasionally splashing down into the blue lake below.

The Purcells are perhaps one of BC's more unsung mountain ranges, dwarfed in recognition by the Rockies and Coastal Ranges, but they are quickly becoming my favourite. The dividing range between the East and West Kootenays, the Purcells are a truly wild and rugged range, and its trails are quieter than its more famous counterparts so you get all the payoff — big mountains views, sparkling turquoise lakes, picture-perfect wilderness camps — without the crowds.

KOOTENAY ROCKIES ROADTRIP

This summer we managed to spend 7 full days driving the 2.5hr stretch between Fernie and Radium in BC’s Kootenay Rockies. There was so much to see! With two massive mountain ranges overlooking a broad golden valley, the East Kootenays have a lot on offer for travellers of all sorts, but especially those into the outdoors. We canoed quiet lakes, hiked several dusty backcountry trails, camped on mountaintops, visited at a horse ranch, and dipped in natural hot springs... all in all the perfect little roadtrip.