Akamina-Kishinena Park is a BC Parks wilderness park in the Kootenay region, in the southeast corner of British Columbia. BC Parks places access from Waterton Lakes National Park, with a 1.5 kilometre uphill walk from the Akamina Pass trailhead to the Alberta-BC boundary and park edge.
The park helps preserve the narrowest point of the Rocky Mountains alongside Waterton Lakes National Park and US Glacier National Park.
Akamina-Kishinena is for backcountry hikers, cyclists, riders, anglers, hunters, and winter visitors who want alpine ridges, deep valleys, windswept passes, and a serious wilderness setting. BC Parks identifies the area as habitat and connectivity for the last self-sustaining grizzly bear population in the United States, and winter range for goats and bighorn sheep.
Trail options include Akamina Pass, Forum Lake and Falls, and Wall Lake. BC Parks says Forum Lake is two kilometres from the ranger station, with the falls 200 metres from the station, while Wall Lake is two kilometres from Akamina Road with 50 metres of elevation gain.
The park also has cultural, geological, and conservation significance. Cairns trace Ktunaxa travel routes, Forum Lake has limestone estimated at 1.3 billion years old, and the park supports rare plants including yellow monkey flower and pygmy poppy.
Plan around hiking, backcountry route-finding, designated-trail mountain biking, e-biking where signed, fishing for rainbow trout in Forum and Wall lakes, horseback riding with required permission, hunting in season, and winter ice fishing.
BC Parks calls this a wilderness area without supplies or public communications. Arrange transportation and supplies in advance, carry water treatment, prepare for sudden storms, check trail conditions, and review horse-use and hunting requirements.
