Berg Lake Trail and Snowbird Pass
- foundinthewildca
- Nov 21
- 8 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
4 epic days on the world-class Berg Lake Trail.
Trip dates: August 25-28th 2025
Kilometres Hiked: 65.5km (Berg Lake Trail + Snowbird Pass Day Hike)
Campsites: 1 night at Emperor Falls, 2 nights at Berg Lake
2026 Summer Permit Release Date: December 2nd, 2025
Mount Robson Provincial Park is somewhere every hiker or outdoor lover should try to experience at least once. Mount Robson is the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies, standing at 3,954m tall, and towers over everything else in the surrounding area. I first experienced this incredible part of the world in 2020, when I'd managed to score last minute permits as COVID meant travelling within our home province (living in BC, this guidance was not an issue at all). I've been scheming about how to get back here ever since.
Unfortunately the heat dome in 2021 caused a huge flooding event that destroyed many sections of the trail, closing it for years while BC Parks did the necessary repairs. These repairs enabled Parks to not only reopen the trail, but future-proof it as much as they could given the continuing effects of climate change.
Once BC Parks announced the full trail would be open in the summer of 2025, I knew I'd be one of thousands of people scrambling to get a permit. I'd been telling my partner how epic the Berg Lake Trail is for years and was so excited to show him the area. Luckily for us, I was able to snag us 3 nights at the end of August at the start of our two week Rockies trip.
Day One: Trailhead to Emperor Falls Campground - 16km
Garmin tracking: 18.56km | 974m ascent | 184m descent
After a relaxing morning with coffee, breakfast and a final repack at the Robson Meadows campground, we got our permits from the visitors centre and hit the trail around 10:30am. The first 4km to Kinney Lake is a nice mellow start to the day and helped get the legs warmed up. There are a few breaks in the trees where views of Mount Robson peek through and build excitement for what's the come.
We stopped for lunch at 7km in, on a picnic bench at Kinney Lake campground. This is where we camped on our final night of the trail in 2020 and it's a stunning destination in its own right, with lots of people choosing to do it as a day hike. It was a hot day and our cold-soaked ramen hit the spot.
Not long after leaving the Kinney Lake campground I realized the trail had deviated from the route I'd taken in 2020 and was now a beautifully built new trail on the other side of the valley. We started the climb up to Whitehorn Campground, which is at km 10. We stopped there for another snack, some shade and to refill our water bottles, knowing that soon we'd be in a more exposed section of trail and then undertake the biggest climb of the main trail.
Hiking through the Valley of a Thousand Falls is so, so spectacular. It was a hot summer day when we came through and there were still so many waterfalls to marvel at. The new trail also has an epic bridge across the valley, and it's easy to see the future planning that went into this build.
As it was now mid-afternoon the climb up to Emperor Falls was a hot slog, but there are plenty of places to stop to stare in amazement at the views while we caught our breath. A couple of hundred metres up the start of the climb, there's a side trail that isn't signed but is an obvious path to an absolutely epic view of White Falls. It's not as powerful as Emperor Falls, but in my opinion it's equally stunning. Just be careful on the rocks.
Finally we made it up to the side trail to Emperor Falls, a short detour to one of the best views along the Berg Lake Trail. There were only a couple of other people there, who left shortly after we arrived so we had the place to ourselves. We danced around, enjoyed getting soaked by the falls and marvelled at the power of nature. After about 30 minutes we hiked back up to the main trail, appropriately cooled down from the falls and ready to continue our hike.
One short kilometre later we made it to Emperor Falls campground, our final destination for the day. We chose a campsite with a stunning view of Mount Robson, close to the Robson river so we could be lulled to sleep listening to the flow of water. We had dinner (homemade dehydrated Beyond Beef bolognese) and played tiny cards before falling asleep, excited for the next day.
Day Two: Emperor Falls to Berg Lake and Snowbird Pass
Garmin Tracking: 26.5km | 1,021m ascent | 1008m descent
Our alarm woke us at 6am, bright and early for a big day. We were planning to get to our next camp at Berg Lake campground, set up our tent (if a spot was available that early), then continue on to do the Snowbird Pass day hike. The weather forecast looked better on this day than it did the day after, so we wanted to make the most of the sunshine while we had it. We packed up camp quickly, started soaking our oats and hit the trail.
There is something so peaceful about hiking early before most people are awake. It's a habit we got into on the PCT as we were hiking many miles and long days, and needed as much time as possible to get it done. This time of day brings a quiet calm as the sun starts making its way above the tall mountains. It wasn't long before Mount Robson was right in front of us, leaving us awe-struck gazing at its epic walls of rock, ice and snow.
The next section of trail was beautifully flat but flooded in areas, requiring some rock hopping to make it over sans wet feet. It's also where we could fully see the famous Berg glacier that feeds into Berg Lake. The final stretch of trail to Berg Lake Campground was quick and soon we were hunting around for a good spot to pitch our tent for the next 2 nights. Again we got lucky with a spot with a great view of Mount Robson, one of the few sites across the bridge and slightly away from the main part of the campsite.
We pitched our tent and found a spot to eat our oats that had been soaking while we hiked that morning. It was also finally time to drink our morning coffee - truly one of our favourite parts of backpacking.
Snowbird Pass Trail - 21km (round trip from Berg Lake campground)
Around 11am we started the Snowbird Pass trail, which heads past Berg Lake and the Rearguard campground before heading up towards the Robson Glacier. This is one of the most epic views I have ever seen in my life, and almost impossible to do justice in photographs or videos.
Parts of the trail required a bit more focused attention to make sure our footing was strong. Nothing sketchy, just worth paying a bit more attention to, and we were rewarded with stunning views the whole way.
As we climbed up the trail, we were starting to regret our 11am start as it was unbelievably hot. We stopped in the limited shade where we could, and made sure to check out the side trail to a waterfall. This was such a lovely way to cool down as it was significantly less hot there, and the mist was most welcomed. We spent 20 minutes here, drinking lots of water and replenishing our electrolytes.
I absolutely love the section of trail between the top of this climb. It's a stunning alpine meadow with a stream running through it (this is where the previously mentioned waterfall comes from), and it feels so whimsical to stroll along the trail surrounded by such epic beauty. Plus, it always feels comforting to be hiking close to water for a while on such a hot day.
After a while the trail climbs up again for the final push to Snowbird Pass. When I did this hike in 2020 with some friends, this was where we were struggling the most and needed to play a game to distract ourselves from the relentless climb. It felt easier this year, maybe because I knew what the view was at the top and I couldn't wait to get up there.
I don't have the words to do this place justice, and to be honest photos aren't enough either. You'll just have to go there and see it yourself :)
After 45 minutes or so of enjoying the view, we started the hike back to camp. The highlight was after years of desperately searching for mountain goats on every trail where they were known to frequent, we were finally rewarded! There was an adorable mountain goat family enjoying the cool stream while we were filling up our water bottles. We watched them from a distance for a while and just enjoyed sharing this environment with them.
Not surprisingly, it was much easier hiking on the way down compared to the journey up, and it took a lot less time. We made it back to camp around 6pm, made dinner got cosy in our sleeping bags.
Day Three: Zero Day
We originally scheduled in an extra day in case we needed more time/a better weather window to do the Snowbird Pass hike, or to do the other day hikes in the area. However once the day rolled around, we decided to do something we'd talked about for years but never actually done: take a rest day on a backpacking trip.
I'm not going to lie, this decision was a bit of a struggle and there was definitely a part of me that felt guilty about not doing the other day hike around Berg Lake. And then I remembered that I don't need to feel guilty about spending the day doing something I want to do, especially with how hard not being productive feels for me in my normal life.
We spent the day playing cards, reading, eating and snacking and taking photographs of our beautiful surroundings. It was a perfect day.
Day Four: Berg Lake to Trailhead
Garmin Tracking: 20.61km, 222m ascent, 1019m descent
Another early wake up call so we could start hiking out to the trailhead. We were pretty motivated to get to our car, drive to Jasper and eat some town food, so the only photo I took this day was of Vinnie smiling in the outhouse at Kinney Lake:
We took our time on the way in to enjoy all the views, so didn't feel too bad about hustling out. It took us 4.5 hours (including breaks) to get to the trailhead, slip on our crocs and hit the road, buzzing from 4 days in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
If you've hiked the Berg Lake trail before or if you're planning on hiking it next summer, I'd love to hear from you in the comments!
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