Berg Lake Trail Fully Reopened

Berg Lake Trail Fully Reopened It has been almost exactly four years since the Berg Lake Trail disaster that damaged or destroyed much of the infrastructure, resulting in the heli-evacuation of backpackers and the closure of the trail for years for major repairs and rebuilding. Much of that rebuild was done with an eye to resiliency for future expected climate-related issues, and therefore took time to do it right. My wife and I were camped at Berg Lake as the infamous heat dome built over North Central British Columbia in late June 2021 just a couple of days before the disaster, and I have been following the restoration progress since: 'Under the Heat Dome' June 2021 (9 mins):    • Under the Heat Dome - Berg Lake Revisited   'Berg Lake Trail Update' July 2023 (7 mins):    • Berg Lake Trail Update   'Mount Robson Revisited' August 2023 (4 mins):    • Mount Robson Revisited   'New Trail Kinney Lake to Whitehorn' Sept 2024 (8 mins):    • New Trail Kinney Lake to Whitehorn Campsite  . After the first two years, the trail was progressively reopened as the multi-million dollar project proceeded. In 2023, two years after the disaster, an impressive new parking lot and upgraded trail to Kinney Lake were reopened. In 2024, the trail between the Kinney Lake and the Whitehorn campsites was reopened. Now, in July 2025, the final stretch of trail from the Whitehorn campsite to Berg Lake has reopened, with the official ceremony taking place just a week before our latest visit. For this trip, we were not able to secure a campsite at Berg Lake, but we did get two nights at Whitehorn that permitted us to day-hike up to Berg Lake and see all the new works. From the Whitehorn campsite, the trail switches over to the west side of the Robson River via a new bridge that replaced the old suspension bridge. This new section of trail climbs above the trees to cross a talus slope, and is therefore quite rocky under foot. The new trail passes the start of the White Falls climb by some 400 metres to a new and substantially-sized bridge over the Whitehorn Creek flood channel. The added 400 metres out and back nearly doubles the previous one-kilometre distance from the Whitehorn campsite to the base of the main climb, but this is compensated by the earlier, shorter distance from Kinney to Whitehorn. Close up, the new upper Whitehorn bridge is much larger and sturdier than it appears from a distance. The next section of trail climbing up past White Falls, the Falls of the Pool and Emperor Falls is essentially unchanged. However, upon reaching the Berg Lake flats, two more significant changes await. First, the trail crossing the Berg Lake flats has been moved lower down the fan towards the Robson River outflow from Berg Lake, just below the Mist Glacier terminal moraine. There, it is able to cross many shallower braids of the Hargreaves Glacier stream instead of a small number of deep channels higher up. This has enabled the ephemeral bridges to be replaced with some 400 large stepping stones, which should provide better resilience for future flood events. Lastly, the Marmot campsite at the south end of Berg Lake has been upgraded and a picnic shelter has been added. On this occasion, there were no icebergs visible in the lake, a historically unusual experience for me. Overall, the enormous amount of work done on the trail has been excellent, and congratulations should go to BC Parks staff and their contractors. My only question is why the trail closure opportunity was not taken to scale or make safer the terrifying-looking overhang that appears to threaten hikers on the steep section beside White Falls. An added item of note was that during our two nights camped at Whitehorn, we saw none of the typical rodent activity around the picnic tables. At first, we thought that visitors were doing a better job of minimizing food scraps and crumbs that inevitably attract rodents, but then we realized that the three to four years of no campers would have exceeded the lifespan of most rodents and the new generations likely haven't any learned food scavenging behaviour yet! A final note of interest: the new Alpine Club of Canada hut is now under construction at Robson Pass just north of Berg Lake.