September 20, 2023
Waterton Lakes campgrounds become first come, first served after September 10, and as it was a Saturday, we went with a sure thing and made reservations at Pincher Creek along the way.
Each Canadian Province has a unique look, and Alberta was more prairie and farming for a change of pace from mountains and glaciers!
On Sunday, we drove into Waterton Lakes, and the first thing we hiked was the Bears Hump to get a panoramic overview of the town.
It was pretty windy up there, which was an excellent introduction to how much stronger the wind would blow for the rest of our stay.
The town sits at one end of the deepest lakes of the Rockies so the wind has a long fetch to gather force. After getting a spot in the Townsite campground, we walked over to the visitor Centre, where Ranger Jack of the US National Park Service was out front for a talk about bears and skulls, skins, and other props.
Ranger Jack shared this quote about bears, which seems appropriate as we’ve seen 24 black bears and almost as many grizzlies on this trip. “In part because bears can be so dangerous, they force you to pay attention. They flood your blood with adrenaline and endorphins. They introduce you to terror, awe, amazement, and ecstasy. Bears connect you to the deepest pulses of life. This is their gift: the power to take your life, or to renew it; to re-create who you are, if only for a moment, and perhaps for a lifetime.”
Afterward, we toured the town and ate frozen huckleberry yogurt in a chocolate and coconut-dipped waffle cone.
Very relaxed deer all over town.
We spent the day driving, hiking, and exploring Waterton Lakes National Park on Monday.
We quickly stopped at Cameron Falls before driving the Red Rock Parkway out to Blakiston Falls, where we had to stop and let a doe with her two fawns cross a footbridge ahead of us. We could tell she wanted to cross, but we were in the way, so when we backed up, she ran past us, closely followed by her fawns.
This looks like a fun way to explore Waterton Lakes!
After completing the Red Rock Parkway, we backtracked into town and drove the Akamina Parkway to Cameron Lake, where we ate our picnic lunch. When I made our trip plans, Waterton Lakes was at the end of the trip, so I didn’t give it too much research. It’s a Waterton/Glacier Crown of the Continent, two parks joined together across the United States and Canada border. So, how different could Waterton be from Glacier? As it turns out, it’s very different!
In 2017, a fire swept through Waterton and burned about 90% of the trees you can see from any drive or hike. Additionally, the whitebark pine at higher elevations is dead mainly due to blister rust—you mostly see dead tree trunks and bare limbs everywhere. Some spots have shrubs turning pretty fall colors, but overall, it’s nothing like what I imagined. When we hiked around Cameron Lake, we met some locals who said it was tough to see the park the first time they returned after 2017, but the spring wildflowers are spectacular now due to all the sun they get. They sadly admitted that perhaps their grandchildren will see it in a semblance of its former glory.
On the way back into town, we stopped at the site of Canada’s first oil rig, whose production was short-lived due to the shallow and small oil deposit.
We hiked to Crandall Lakes, where the rocks around this lake were so white they almost looked whitewashed.
We hiked over 10 miles, and the wind was 30 mpg with gusts to 40! Thankfully, the camper only shook a little bit overnight in the wind.
Tuesday was a bit less windy, though still too much for a boat ride to Goat’s Haunt, so we did a peaceful early hike from our campground to Bertha Falls.
It was our last day in Canada, so we drove to the Prince of Wales Hotel, high on a hill where Upper and Lower Waterton Lakes meet. We had a delicious High Tea to celebrate our trip, which seemed fitting as we started Day 1 with High Tea at Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island!
Recalling our trip and talking about our favorites overall and by location was fun- what a trip we had! We relaxed for the rest of the day and prepared to cross back into the USA.
And here we are, back home!🥹
I came across this quote when I was trying to find something about how you don’t get to choose home but that home tugs at your heart and chooses you. At the end of our Alaska adventure, Drue’s advice seems more appropriate.
“Life should be a daring, loving, laughing adventure — or it is nothing at all. If you don’t start choosing, life and circumstance will choose for you. You can change or stay the same. You can grow or never leave the nest. All of life becomes about our choices. We choose our people, we choose our ways, we choose our thoughts, and we choose how we seize or surrender our days. Every day, every moment, and every thought is about choice. So everyday you must make your choices. Life isn’t ever really about what happens to us, but how we respond to life.”
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