The stunner about Waterton Lakes National Parkin Canada is that few people have set foot on its dramatic landscape, either Canadians or Americans. It defines the word “pristine.” What’s also distinguished about it is that there are no foothills. Just north of the Montana border, the rolling southwest Alberta prairies suddenly hit the dramatic Canadian Rockies. There, its jagged peaks are reflected in a series of cobalt blue lakes that seem to have been painted on the manicured grasslands that surround them.
It’s virtually unspoiled.
An added attraction of protection is that UNESCO has granted it to be a World Heritage Site. It promises you an unobstructed union with nature.
At one location not far from the Waterton Lakes township, a camper was set right next to a river, across from a pond which reflected the sunset on the mountains in the distance. No other people or campers to be seen for several miles. Sigh yourself to sleep in peaceful contentment.
At the hub of all its natural splendors, the township itself sits on Upper Waterton Lake and offers a variety of lodgings, good restaurants, mountain biking and a myriad of diversions including two- to four-person bicycle surreys to scoot around town, and Bertha Waterfall is a thousand feet away from the town center.
It’s a hiker paradise. One particularly formidable hike is to Crypt Lake. Take a Waterton Shoreline Cruise on Upper Waterton Lake to the drop-off point, and then enjoy a trail that features a 175-meter waterfall and passes through a mountain tunnel, ending at the edge of a high cliff. Or the hike from Goat Haunt to Kooternai Lake, where multiple moose sightings are common. That trail takes you into Montana, where you get your passport stamped before returning.
Bike on its many well-paved roads to destinations such as the river that cuts through the Red Rock Canyon, where the rocks are vibrantly colored red and green, because of its iron deposits (or lack of them). Or practice your angling skills and try to reel in a bigger one than the record fifty-two pound Lake Trout caught there.
Spotting wildlife is common. When you see a group of vehicles stopped on the road, they are most likely observing a bear. In town, seeing deer is pretty much ho-hum as the motels and front yards are peppered with deer families grazing on lawns.
The Waterton Lakes Township bustles during summer with its diverse accommodations, restaurants and activities. But even then, the diverse natural attractions and campsites throughout the Park are never jammed with too many visitors. No bumper-to-bumper traffic jams. No jockeying for a picture-taking position among a large crowd taking snapshots of wildlife.
But if high-energy physical activities are not your thing, simply perch on a hill and exhale at the creamy Canadian sunset in the vast expanses and serene lakes below.
If you want to reserve a summer campsite, do it in early May. Or, in the off seasons, it can feel like you have the Park all to yourself. Accommodations at the Crandall Mountain Lodge offer a pleasant, rustic atmosphere with a full kitchen (starting at $170 in high season). Or more modern and roomy is the Bayshore Inn, which also has a fine restaurant, and is the only lodging in the area on the Lake (rates start at $199 in high season).
Dramatic climactic changes often occur and are part of what makes the place exciting. The old expression, “If you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes,” definitely applies here.
Whether you’re after high-energy challenges or no energy tranquility let the sweeping vistas calm your spirit. Go. Exhale.
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