2020 Twenty: Hike the Berg Lake Trail

OK... seriously. If you discovered there was a stunning, secluded glacier lake in your province that shared your name, wouldn't you want to see it?!? The only catch is that it's a 21 kilometer hike into the mountains to get there! This has been on my bucket list for a decade now, and its not getting any easier to find the time or to make the trip.

The first person I went to with this idea was my brother, because I know how proud he is of our family name too and he's way more likely to survive a trip like this, than I am.

The trail traces around the base of Mount Robson, which at 3,954m (12,972 ft) is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. Along the way, as we climb close to 1,000m in elevation, we'll pass other lakes and enter the Valley of a Thousand Falls - with Emperor Falls being the focal point. Simply put, this is NOT a day hike. We're probably going to do it in three days and two nights.

To be honest I don't know what else to expect. The food situation scares me a little. Obviously, we won't be able to bring perishable food with us, as we will only be hiking in with a backpack on. That's something I've never done before, and don't even know how or what to pack in a situation like that. But I'm sure we'll figure it out somehow. For now, I just have this unbridled anticipation and excitement for getting out to explore the back country of this magnificent province I live in.

But then just today, as I was doing some research and fact checking for this blog, I discovered something incredibly disappointing...

Sadly, I learnt today that I will NOT be able to accomplish this goal in 2020. Being the AVID outdoors man and camper that I am (note the sarcasm), I don't know how to navigate any of the logistics in making something like this happen; such as making a reservation. Turns out the trail is already sold out for the entire year, and they don't allow anyone on the trail without a reservation.

When I went online a few months ago to look around at the reservation process, I found information that said you can’t reserve spots further than four months in advance. So with us wanting to go in July, that meant March should be the target date to make a reservation. Well, I’m not sure what information I was looking at, but it was wrong. Looks like October 1st is the all important date for reservations within BC Parks.

With all that being said now, sadly I’m changing my goal this year to simply be “Make a Reservation” for Berg Lake Trail in summer of 2021.

In the mean time, I guess I'll gear up and prepare for the annual #5DadsGoWild camping trip again. I don't think this blog conveys just how disappointed I am, but life goes on. You learn from your mistakes and try again. Prior to the inaugural #5DadsGoWild trip in 2018 I had never even gone camping before (click HERE if you haven't read about THAT yet), so for me to try to plan a multi day, 42 kilometer hike into the wilderness and back country of British Columbia, may have been a bit too ambitious for this year. Or perhaps the universe just knew I needed another year to prep for it. Regardless, this one is not going to happen as originally planned, but it will remain on my 2020 Twenty and hopefully the START of this goal will be achieved on October 1st and I will be able to complete it next year.