Hiking Berg Lake Trail - Mount Robson Provincial Park, British Columbia

The Berg Lake Trail in Mount Robson Provincial Park provides amazing scenery and various geographical features! Mount Robson is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. If you are interested in this hike you are required to book reservations for this hike. For example to hike the trail in 2018, reservations open on October 1, 2017. To register for this visit here.

The Berg Lake campsite is 21 km from the trailhead parking lot, but there are 7 campgrounds in total along the trail. This means you can determine how many days you would like to be on this trail. I know of people who do the hike in and out of Berg lake in one day, and other people who take 5 days and really enjoy spending a couple days in this beautiful area.

For example our itinerary was as follows:

Pre-hike:

• Camped at Robson River Provincial Campground the night before, as were were departing from Edmonton, Alberta (approx. 4 hour drive). This camp ground is almost literally at the Trail Head which was very convenient.

Day 1:

• All hikers are required to check into the Mount Robson Visitor Centre prior to starting the trail to attend the mandatory orientation, obtain camping permits and hear any announcements. The Visitor Centre typically opens at 8:00 am.

• There is a cafe, Cafe Mt. Robson, located outside the trail head and visitor centre, where we grabbed a coffee and warm breakfast before attending our orientation. A nice option!

• We then hiked the 16 km to camp at Emperor Falls. This campsite was located near a river, so a little chilly at night, but was quiet and stunning.

• The majority of the hike to Emperor Falls is uphill - which can make for a tiring stretch of hike. Once you pass the Whitehorn campsite the trail begins to get steep with many switchbacks.

Day 2:

• From Emperor Falls we hiked the 5 km to Berg Lake, where we would be staying for two nights. Berg Lake itself is so stunning and beautiful, that camping here is really a treat. A huge bonus to camping at the Berg Lake campsite is that there is a Shelter (a lifesaver when it rains....which it did for us....), and a ranger station is located near to Berg Lake. The ranger was often around the campsite, and was really helpful when bouncing hiking ideas off him.

Day 3:

• Camped at Berg Lake. There are two campgrounds past Berg Lake for those who want to continue hiking up the mountain. There are tons of hiking options around Berg Lake - which is nice as you can leave much of your gear at the campsite while you do day hikes.

For more information on the Berg Lake Camping sites visit here.

Making changes to your camping permits is not permitted while hiking the trail. When you register for the hike and determine your camp sites, you need to stick to that plan to ensure everyone who has registered as tent pads to sleep on.

Fees: This hike include a reservation fee of $6 (when we hiked the trail), and a back country fee of $10 per night. In total it was $36 per person for our 3 nights on the trail.

Directions: The park is located in east, central British Columbia, just west of the British Columbia/Alberta border and Jasper National Park. Approximately 4 hours north of Kamloops, BC on Highway 5; 3 1/2 hours east of Prince George, BC on Highway 16; and 5 hours west of Edmonton, Alberta on Highway 16. The closest communities to this park are Valemount, Tete Jaune Cache and McBride.

Important Notes:

• There are no fires allowed anywhere on the trail. Two of the seven campsites have shelters, where a fire is only allowed if someone is in medical distress (i.e. hypothermia) or it has rained for a couple days straight. It poured one day when we were staying at the Berg Lake Campground, and the shelter was a god-sent; although almost every single camper was squished into the little shelter (this made for getting to know your fellow camper a little easier ha!). Camp stoves are mandatory for cooking.

• Must pack your garbage in and out.

• All campgrounds have bear proof food storage bins, pit toilets, washbasins and grey-water pits.

• There was no shortage of water sources along the trail. We did purify our water....but I suspect much of the water would be fairly clean as it is being sourced from glaciers.

• Of the five campsites we saw, all of them were really quite beautiful. For those of you who do not want to hike all the way to Berg Lake, hiking into Kinney Lake campground or Whitehorn campground is an option. While passing through the Kinney Lake campground, I wanted to stay there as the lake itself is pristine!