Enter Kootenay National Park, Hello Rock Wall

Friday morning started with 3 thunderstorms rolling past our campsite before 9am. At first I was concerned that we might start our hike in the rain, but by the time we got up, the weather was clearing. We packed up and found some breakfast, after which we parted ways with Kristine. Garrett and I drove from Banff into Kootenay National Park to the trail head at the 'Painted Pots'. This is a cool mountain that we drove by on the way into the park:We packed up our bags in the parking lot - here is a picture of all the stuff we shoved into our two packs (minus the plastic bins):After a lengthy sorting/packing procedure, we saddled ourselves up and took a 'Before' picture:Don't we look excited and happy! Little did I know what awaited me...

Once packed up, we started our trip by trekking through the Painted Pots, which lasts for the first kilometer of the trail. The red-orange soil of the area originates from minerals pools at the top of the slope. Native people traveled here in the past to collect the soil and use it as a dye for all sorts of things. From what I remember from the signs, iron is the main contributer of the colour of the soil. Have a look:These are the pools from which the coloured water trickles down.Once past the Painted Pots area, we started on our real hike to Helmet Falls, 15km from the trail head and with 310 meters of elevation gain. The first part of the trail was fairly casual and we passed several mountainside meadows on the way.Throughout the trip we were following one river or another. On the way in, we followed Helmet Creek, source Helmet Falls. It's a fast flowing river that is cloudy white with some tinges of blue - not something you'd want to drink, but looks cool. We crossed the river via bridges several times throughout the day.After several hours of hiking (6 km along our hike), we stopped at the first camp site for lunch.After the chow, we headed out again for the longest stretch of our hike, including the elevation gain up into the mountains. This was a really grueling part of the trip for us, as the trail stretched out longer and longer to our tired bodies. Eventually we made it to the suspension bridge that indicated we were 3 km's from the campsite. Sometime after the suspension bridge, I started to have some real troubles with my knee. I started avidly hobbling, a movement which I was to maintain for the rest of the trip as my knee rebelled against the weight and strain I was putting on it.
After what seemed like forever (5.5 hours), we finally made it to camp. I was so excited to finally be able to take my stupid pack off, remove my hiking boots and relax! We made dinner using Garrett's camping stove and pots, boiling water to add to our dehydrated meal. It tasted good, even though it wasn't really cooked all the way through. Our campsite was located right near Helmet Falls, so throughout the night we could hear the falls in the background. Helmet Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in Canada, crashing a whopping 300m to the bottom. The thunderous noise it makes contributes to its impressiveness, so the pictures don't really do it justice compared to experiencing it in real time.Once at camp, Garrett and I talked about just hiking out the next day, going back the way we just came in, rather than going on towards our next site, Tumbler Creek. My knee was hurting really bad and we knew we had a lot of climbing and distance to do the next day. We decided to see how I felt the next day before we decided, since it was a shorter distance (12km) to the next camp than going all the way out again (15km).