Waterton Lakes NP, Alberta
July 13, 2025
Another gorgeous travel day brought us over the border into Canada with perhaps the smoothest border crossing experience to date. The scenery we encountered along the way made us feel like our travels have finally kicked into high gear this year.
One last dramatic sunset in Montana
Leaving "big sky" territory
Glacier National Park in the distance
Alas, Glacier was not on the docket this year--maybe some other year
We were the only one at the border crossing
They let us in!
Approaching Waterton Lakes National Park --it's just north of Glacier, so the mountains look quite similar
Entering Waterton Lakes National Park
A bunch of cars were stopped at the side of the road to watch these two bears. A park ranger quickly appeared on the scene to keep traffic moving along.
Our campsite, while not private, was nestled right in the mountains and was close to the shore of scenic Upper Waterton Lake. The campground was also conveniently located just outside of the little town of Waterton. After our weekly family cards night, we took a walk on the Townsite Loop Trail and got some ice cream in town, since it stays light out past 10 pm here at this time of year.
Our campground at the base of the mountains
We sat here for a while to take in the view
Look around from the shore where you could see mountains all the way around
Look around from the patch of flowers near the red chairs where Julie is sitting
It didn't take long to realize that the deer here were very tame
The Prince of Wales hotel overlooking the lake
The marina at sunset
Cute license plate
Cameron Falls
On Tuesday morning, we drove the Red Rock Parkway and walked a couple of short trails.
We spotted these two cuties in someone's front yard in town
Where prairie and mountains meet
The Red Rock Parkway
The Red Rock Canyon was smaller than we expected, but it was indeed red
The path to Blakiston Falls
This sign gave the impression that bears speak English and cougars speak French. (Or is it that bears eat English speakers and cougars eat French speakers?) 😉
Immediately after reading this sign, we happened across a couple with a very small dog. Our first reaction was, "bear bait?" (We didn't hear them speak, so it's possible the little dog was "cougar bait" instead.) Just then, a little child exclaimed, "Look at that baby puppy!" This reminded us of when our 4-year-old Alan saw a similar tiny dog in a park and quite innocently said, "Nice kitten!"
Blakiston Falls
The newly installed viewing platforms were impressively constructed, and you could see through the floor
That's the platform we were previously standing on
A scene along the Red Rock Parkway
That afternoon, we rode the Kootenai Brown Trail, a really nice paved multi-use trail. While it was an out-and-back trail, the scenery going "out" had views away from the mountains, where the "back" had views toward the mountains. So, it really didn't feel like we were backtracking.
Lower Waterton Lake
We stopped to sit for a while on the secluded and breezy shores of Lower Waterton Lake--we couldn't see another living soul
The Prince of Wales hotel has quite the view!
This herd of mountain goats was watching something intently and then suddenly bolted all at once...
...A grizzly mom and cub was the reason for their jitteriness
It was a warm yet windy day at the beach
Wednesday's weather continued to be beautiful, so we chose to do a hike to Wall Lake.
The Akamina Parkway Eighty percent of Waterton Lakes National park was devastated by the Kenow Wildfire of 2017
The trail to Wall Lake
The trail took us into Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park in British Columbia
While burned forest with new growth is interesting and has a unique beauty, we decided after a few miles that we prefer forest scenery that hasn't burned
Approaching the "wall" of Wall lake
To our surprise, we happened upon a small section of the 20% of Waterton that did not burn in the 2017 fire
How lush it seemed!
Wall Lake (with quite the imposing wall behind it)
Take a look around at Wall lake
Forum Falls
The cold spray felt really good on a hot sunny day!
Despite being a bit early in the season, Rick found a few wild blueberries
A positive thing about a burned forest is that you can see the views better
After the hike, we made a quick stop to Cameron Lake because it was on the way. This seems to be one of the more "resort-y" areas of the park where various watercraft are rented out.
Cameron Lake
Did we mention that the deer are really tame here?
More of the Akamina Parkway
Overlooking Waterton Townsite and Lower Waterton Lake
Another cute fawn 🙂
We were pretty bushed after two active days, so Wednesday afternoon and next day were pretty chill. Thursday was a rainy day with dropping temperatures, so Rick made bread and did a couple of minor maintenance tasks, while Julie worked on the blog.
Really???
It cleared up on Friday, and we took the Bertha Lake trail right off of the campground. We opted not to go all the way to Bertha Lake for a few reasons: we were kind of tired of the burned/dead tree look; Rick's allergies have been sapping some of his energy and it would have been quite the additional climb; it didn't seem like we could top the views of Upper Waterton Lake that we had along the first half of the hike; and some hikers warned of a large bear near the trail if we kept going. So, after we made it to the official overlook point, we decided to turn back.
A short section of the beginning of the trail was actually not burned
There were a lot of blooming fireweed along the trail
An bird's eye view of the campground
Look around from the trail
This mamma grouse had a bunch of babies following her in the brush. They were too camouflaged to photograph well, unfortunately.
The official viewpoint showcasing Upper Waterton Lake
Looking in the opposite direction was not as impressive
Look around from the viewpoint
Heading back down
On Saturday, we walked to the historic Prince of Wales hotel.
Couldn't get enough of this gorgeous view
Look around from the trail
We found the "fly-paper" spot 😉
Entrance to the Prince of Wales hotel
We almost wanted to buy a drink at the lounge to partake of the view through the windows, but since the weather was so nice, it was more enjoyable sitting outside for free 😉
Walking through the small town of Waterton
The recently constructed visitor center (to replace the one that burned down in 2017) looked expensive, but we found the exhibits a bit lame
Sunday was another gorgeous day--mostly sunny with a high in the low-mid 80s and a pleasant breeze. We walked to town to go to church, and then mostly sat out on the deck, enjoying the beautiful surroundings. We really appreciate the ability to stay a week at many places we go. It allows us to just take days off without feeling like we are missing out on something more important to be doing.
The deer acted more like dogs than like wildlife
We very much enjoyed our stay at Waterton Lakes National Park. Being so close to all the natural attractions as well as to a town was a unique mix. If it weren't for all the dead trees, it would have been near perfect!
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