The hike to Wall Lake is stunning and surprisingly easy. The trail brings you to a vibrant blue-green lake beneath a towering mountain ridge. It is a 11.5 km out-and-back trail that begins in Waterton Lakes National Park and crosses both park and provincial borders in BC’s Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park.
There is also a small trail at the Forum Lake junction that leads you to a waterfall. If you add this trail, the total hike is 12 km.
Wall Lake Hike Summary
- Difficulty: Easy-Moderate
- Distance: 12 km round trip*
- Elevation: 394 metres
- Trail type: Out-and-back
- Time: 3-3.5 hours
- Trailhead: Akamina Trailhead
To reach the trailhead, take the turn for Akamina Parkway, signs for Cameron Lake. The trailhead is signed ‘Akamina’. Park on the left side of the highway and carefully cross at the pedestrian sign. The trailhead is on the righthand (west) side of the highway.
Detailed Trail Description
The trail to Wall Lake begins along the Akamina Pass trailhead. The hike begins on a wide trail with an incline of about 128 metres of elevation. Keep your eyes to the left and you can catch glimpses of Cameron Lake through the forest. At the 1.6 km mark, you will reach the border with British Columbia.
The forest throughout the trail was affected by wildfire in 2017. There is lots of regrowth throughout, with wildflowers, new trees, and shrubs. There is not much shade along the trail without the trees, so wear good sun protection.
Crossing into British Columbia
The border is marked with a sign for Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park and includes notices including a sign warning hikers to watch for wolverines and keep food stored correctly when camping.
We continued hiking for about another kilometre before we reached the junction for Forum Lake. This sign includes distances and directions to Forum Falls and Lake, Akamina Creek Campground, and Wall Lake. We decided to take the Forum Falls detour, which is 250 metres from the junction, or half a kilometre to make the full trip.
Optional Detour: Forum Falls
The trail to Forum Falls was relatively flat and very short. We passed a ranger’s station and outhouse before we reached the falls. The falls themselves were beautiful, with the moisture around the creek and the mist from the falls encouraging plant growth such as ferns and moss.
After stopping by the falls, we headed back to the main trail and continued towards Wall Lake.
Reaching Wall Lake
From the junction with Forum Falls, it was 3 more kilometres to Wall Lake. Shortly after passing Forum Falls, we passed Akamina Creek Campsite, a backcountry campground.
After we passed the campground, we crossed a bridge and reached a junction with the horse trail. The hikers’ trail splits off to the left while the horse trail continues straight. Take the hikers trail and cross two small consecutive bridges with three steps up and down. Then the trail loops around and climbs a hill before continuing along a narrower hiking trail to the lake.
Wall Lake is beautiful, with a vibrant blue-green colour. The mountain ridge rises sharply directly behind the lake, giving it its name.
We spent around 30 minutes at the lake, sitting along the shore and eating by the water. Our dogs enjoyed a brief wade in the water before we started the hike back. The total hike took us about three and a half hours in total.