Thursday, August 31, 2023

Beautiful Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada – [August 26 – 27, 2023]

 

 

Overlooking Upper Waterton Lake - wildfire smoke puts the mountains in silhouette

Mountains rise abruptly out of the prairie


Oh we love Waterton Lakes National Park!  What’s not to love?  Dramatic Rocky Mountains sculpted by glaciers; clear, cold lakes (some big and some tiny); scenic hikes; canoeing and kayaking; beautiful vistas; dog friendly trails and lakes; generous, welcoming people.  The mountains of Waterton Lakes rise abruptly out of the gently rolling Alberta prairies.  There are no foothills.  We camped in Crooked Creek Campground 3 miles from the park, in the prairie.  Across the street from our campsite are fields of cattle and horses.

 


Upper Waterton Lake from the boat tour


Waterton is the Canadian part of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.  This was the first International Peace Park.  It was originally sponsored by Rotarians on both sides of the border with the slogan, “Nature Knows No Boundaries.”  Pretty cool!  This small park (525 sq km) is also a Unesco World Heritage site, and Unesco Biosphere Reserve.

 


Goat Haunt entrance to Glacier National Park


The boundary between the US and Canada


Glaciers shaped the mountains into steep walls along the sides of deep, blue lakes.  The largest lake is Upper Waterton Lake.  It extends into the Glacier US National Park.  On our first day, we took the International Boat Tour down the lake, where we disembarked for a brief while at the Goat Haunt entrance to Glacier Park.  You can only get to this entrance from the lake or by hiking 8 miles along Upper Waterton Lake.  While on the boat, we passed the international boundary between the two countries – a line of cleared forest.

 

A forest regenerates after fire of 2017.

Burned tree trunks from 2017 fire.



Cameron Lake - The fire destroyed the trees on the upper part of the mountain, but spared the trees near the lakeshore

In 2017, Waterton had a catastrophic wildfire sweep through much of the park.  As we have learned at other parks, fire is an important part of forest regeneration.  The burned tree trunks now stand among rampant new growth and wildflowers.  As you look around at the sides of the mountains, some show rock formations usually hidden by forest, with skeletal trees, while other sides are lush with green forests untouched by fire. 

 

Big Horn Sheep walking down the road.

Historic Prince of Wales Hotel overlooks Upper Waterton Lake

Our first morning in Waterton we drove into the Waterton Townsite (location of stores, hotels, restaurants and private residences) in the company of 3 Big Horn Sheep.  They were the extent of the wildlife we saw.  There was a car between us and the sheep, so most of my photos are of their hind quarters…

 

Red Rock Canyon

After our boat tour that first morning, we drove to Red Rock Canyon, a canyon of deep red argillite, with a babbling stream bouncing through the canyon.  We visited on a Saturday, and the canyon and stream were full of families laughing and walking in the cooling waters of the stream deep inside the canyon.  Most of these families were from nearby towns who drove 1-3 hours to enjoy the park on a hot summer day.  The canyon is very pretty.  There is a paved loop path along both sides of the canyon.  Very scenic.

 

Schooner joined us on a hike and made many new friends.

Waterton is dog friendly, so we took Schooner with us on our second day in the park.  We started the morning with a 2-mile hike high above but along the Upper Waterton lakeshore.  The views were breathtaking.  We saw up close the regeneration of the forest after the fire.  We met probably 20 other dogs on the trail (all but 2 friendly) and probably about 100 people who wanted to pet Schooner.  Needless to say, Schooner was in heaven.

 

Cameron Lake - the icefield above it was once a glacier, but it has melted away 




After the hike we drove to Cameron Lake.  This impossibly beautiful little lake has crystal blue water and is 193 feet deep at its deepest part.  Visitors can bring their own canoes, kayaks, SUPs, and floaty toys to the lake.  Again, we found many of the people we met were from nearby and visiting the park for the day.  There is a hiking trail around the lake and families set up around the shoreline, some even cooking their meals. 

 

Schooner's very first canoe ride

Brrrr - Russ goes swimming


We rented a canoe and took Schooner out on her very first canoe ride.  She did super well and was very calm throughout.  It was lovely to be bobbing around on the water again.  After the canoe ride, Russ took a swim in the lake.  Cold but not impossible.

 

Look at the strata on this mountain!  

Unlike its wildly popular cousin to the South (Glacier), Waterton has modest visitation.  If you can’t get an entry ticket into Glacier, or don’t even want to try, we recommend Waterton Lakes as an alternative.


The moon at sunset from our campsite


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