Last summer, we had the opportunity to visit a beautiful park, Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada. Oh. my. goodness. It was gorgeous. We were staying in Cardston, but made several day trips over to the Waterton area. The Waterton lakes are gorgeous, the Waterton Town is nice, and the park is full of things to do, places to go, and things to see.
Waterton Lakes National Park is just north of Glacier National Park, and is actually connected to it. Together they are known as the Wateron-Glacier International Peace Park. Think of the same gorgeous scenery that you see in Glacier National Park, and you have at least that much and more and Waterton Lakes National Park.
The Waterton Lakes themselves are a beautiful glacial green-blue color. There is a boat that will take you from Waterton down south to the far southern tip of the Waterton Lake, which is actually in the United States (you’ll need a passport to get into that part), and you can hike the 8 miles from the southern tip of the lake back to Waterton. We did not have a chance to do that, but I hear the scenery and the wildlife is spectacular if you can make that hike.
Lower Waterton Lakes
Right on the edge of Waterton, are some beautiful falls, called Cameron Falls (video below). It’s not a long walk from the parking lot and is a must see if you are visiting Waterton. You will absolutely not regret it.
There is also a trail-head on the edge of town to another set of falls call Bertha Falls. It’s a nice easy, beautiful hike up above Waterton Lake with a stunning view of the lake, ending at some beautiful waterfalls. Well worth the hike, and easy for everybody, even children.
Bertha Falls
Not far into the park, is a road to Red Rock Canyon. We had heard that you can often see bears along this parkway. And it was true! We saw a number of bears, including one that was hidden down a bush that a man pointed out to us as we are driving by. We spent some time watching it as it was eating berries and turning over logs looking for food. We saw a bear that was lumbering over the hill just as we came around the bend right by a parking area. I slammed on the brakes, jumped out of the car to take a picture, but I think that I spooked it a little bit and it went lumbering off before I could get any pictures of it.
Along the Red Rock Canyon Parkway was a pond where we watched a moose grazing on the bottom of the lake, enjoying the lake bottom greens. It was so fun to see some of the wildlife in the park.
At Red Rock Canyon, we put on some old tennis shoes and went walking up the canyon, walking through the stream and the stream bed until we decidde we could go no further. Along the way were spectacular canyon walls, made up of a variety of red rock, a logjam that I had to crawl through to get from one side to the other and a sliding rock area where some were sliding down the rocks in the water. There is also a short, easy hike around the rim of the canyon that gets you an aerial view. But if you can take some time to walk up the canyon in the stream bed itself, you’ll likely never forget it.
Hiking up Red Rock Canyon
Log Jam Up Red Rock Canyon
Scott, crawling through the water to get through the log jam
We loved our time in Waterton Lakes National Park and we only saw a small portion of it! If you are in the northern Montana area and can take the time to visit Waterton Lakes National Park we highly recommend that you take the time to do that.
Oh, and did I mention the Prince of Wales Hotel on the bluff overlooking Waterton Lakes?
Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park
Video of Cameron Falls in Waterton, Alberta, Canada:
Flickr Slideshow for Waterton Lakes National Park:
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