Hiking the Berg Lake Trail

Last week, my old friend Bob and I emerged from a four-day hike in the backcountry of Mount Robson Provincial Park. The highlight of the trail is the magnificent Berg Lake and its impressive glacier, which meets the lake.

We started last Monday morning after an overnight in a Valemount hotel, we waited out some morning rain before setting off for our first campsite at Emperor Falls, about an 18 km hike in with some punishing elevation gain close to the end of the day. Bob went to put our food in the bins and said there were bear claw marks all over the metal bin, great!

The next morning we woke up to a blue blazer of a day and packed up and made our way toward, and beyond Berg Lake and its impossible beauty, to the last camp before the Alberta border, the Robson Meadows campsite. With a great view of Mount Robson and an additional view toward the Snowbird pass valley.

The next morning called for rain, but when we woke up, the sky was mixed, and we decided to see how far up the Snowbird pass we could make it before the rain came. The rain never came, so we managed to do the whole round-trip hike of 22km with 1km elevation gain and were rewarded with epic views of Mount Robson, its glacier and the Snowbird pass, which at 2600 meters of elevation offered sweeping views of a snowfield into the Alberta Rockies. Just as we made our way back to camp, the rain started. It took nine hours to finish, but we finished just in time.

The next morning, a helicopter came in above our camp and landed at the ranger station for what looked like a ranger shift change. I was hoping it was to pick us up to skip the 26-kilometre hike out, but unfortunately not; we’d have to pack up and do it the hard way. Seven hours later, we made it back to Bob’s truck and headed straight to the A&W to make up for three days of meagre meals.

The Berg Lake trail gets booked immediately as days become available; people come from all over the world to hike this magical place. I’m grateful to Bob for the invite and sure glad I was able to experience it. In all, we hiked about 80 kilometres, all but the 22km Snowbird pass was done with our heavy packs, so as beautiful as it was, it was gruelling.

It’s a top ten hike in the world. If you get the chance to see it, go. Hint: You can pay for the chopper ride in, and then you're left with a 26 km walk out.