Our first impression of Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta, Canada was a solid eight out of ten. Right up there but as we have more National Parks to discover we had to leave room at the top just in case one will score higher. Note this Blog of mine is not AI generated, so opinions, spelling and embellishing can only be blamed on me.
Our visit to the park was later in June and at that time the park was busy, at a roadside turnout we had met a couple who were travelling from Victoria, BC to the east coast; you guessed it in a truck camper. They had tried to book a campsite and were told “campground full”, so we went in with the understanding we would have to leave for the night and return to a small community to overnight. The drive in was awesome and it looked like a smaller Banff to us, a busy town site with lots of gift shops and eateries, a marina with boat charters and kayak rentals. Note: no outside watercraft allowed on the lake.
Camping? Completely by accident we ended up at the in-town campsite and yes, the big sign said “Campground Full”. Located at the south end of the community of Waterton, this campground offers 90 water, sewer and electrical sites, 45 electricity sites, as well as accessible, unserviced and walk in tent sites. I pulled to the kiosk and said to the young man that we had noticed the sign (one could not miss it) that they were full and we would probably have to leave the park come evening. He looked at our rig and asked if we would need power hook ups, we said no we would prefer not to pay for hook ups as we are totally self-contained. He then said he had a spot that we could stay (less price as well) and directed us to an area where we could pick a site. We had a choice! This after the sign said “campground full”. The sign should have possibly read dry camping no hook ups, only or something. But then after we got settled in our spot with some tents and other smaller van type campers, we realized looking at the size of the rigs around us these were smaller sites non paved without 30–50-amp water and sewer, most rigs could not stay where we were. Points for truck campers and smaller rigs, we had scored a site in the town campground.
We stayed a week and had a bit of a chance to check out some of the park. We are told it’s usually windy and they were right at least during our stay. Several days of heavy rain prevented some of our hiking however we did manage to see Cameron Falls which is accessible walking from the townsite or by vehicle.
For flatlanders our hike into Bertha Falls which if I remember was only 3 kms in was interesting as it was up and over a mountain. We kept running into people returning who told us it was not much further and it would flatten out, obviously they were from BC as they did not know what flat is. We did it and it was so worth it, I just had to get over trails that were walls on one side and sheer drops on the other. I had a horse take out my hip a few years back and every once in a while it gives out so I don’t trust it on narrow mountain trails.
The Prince of Wales Hotel is a wonder in itself. What a beauty, not sure what the room rates are but we could afford to look in the windows. A bit of a steep hike up from the town site but again very happy we did it.
There is so much more to the park to explore but rain kept us checking out the shops in the town site. One evening we were treated to a fellow camper Rob MacLeod playing the bag pipes on the lake shore, I love the sound of the pipes and out in nature it was even better. Rob can be contacted at rowdyrobbie@gmail.com for those occasions one may want some pipe music, if I remember right Rob is based out of Calgary Alberta.
The predicted heavy rain and snow only came in a heavy rain, water running everywhere and no sun for our solar. Bracing for snow we were able to relocate to an electrical site so not full as advertised. Last year our National Parks offered free entry and 25% off camping fees and we noticed approximately 85% of the RVs were American. Pretty good deal with the dollar where it was and close to the US border into Montana and Glacier National Park bordering the Canadian Park. We wanted to return this summer early because it will be booked mid-summer and then proceed to Glacier National Park, however those plans changed when we discovered there was $351.00 Canadian for an annual non-resident pass or $137 Canadian per person into their popular National Parks in the US. At least at the time of this writing that’s what information we have, I think we are very generous with our entry prices north of the border. At that price were going to skip that trip as there are many less expensive options.
Staying in busy campgrounds is not who we are, so hearing about a small no service first come sites south of the park towards Montana we decided to check it out and found Belly River Campground just outside of the Kainai (Blackfoot) Reserve. Small quiet and primitive camping just our style.
Our quiet primitive campsite at Belly River, we’re not much for crowded popular tourist attractions and campgrounds so this suited us well for a couple of days.
After a few days stay appointments were calling us back to our home base cabin we must return and explore more of the area. As the park has so much more to offer we barley scratched the surface. We do not make reservations just take our chances but if you can’t be flexible, I would highly recommend reservations. I give this park 8 out of 10 and that may end up being our top score, yet to be determined.
Just going to include a little non tourist information on the park if you want to continue reading and let our images fill in the rest.
Waterton Lakes National Park is in the southwest corner of Alberta, Canada. Accessed from Highway 6 from Pincher Creek, Alberta. Waterton was the fourth Canadian national park, formed in 1895 as Kootenay Lakes Forest Reserve. It is named after Waterton Lake in turn after the Victorian naturalist and conservationist Charles Waterton. Its range is between the Rocky Mountains and the Prairies. This park contains 505 kms (195 sq mi) of rugged mountains and wilderness. It has a very diverse ecosystem.
Waterton operated by Parks Canada is open all year, but the main tourist season is during July and August. The only commercial facilities available within the park are located at the Waterton Park townsite. This park ranges in elevation from 1,290 meters (4,232 ft) at the townsite to 2,910 m (9,547 ft) at Mount Blakiston. It offers many scenic trails, including Crypt Lake trail. In 2012/2013, Waterton Lakes National Park had 402,542 visitors.
The Prince of Wales Hotel as seen in our photos, is one of Canada’s grand railway hotels, was constructed between 1926 and 1927 adjacent to Upper Waterton Lakes, by the Great Northern Railway of the United States in an attempt to lure American tourists during the U.S. prohibition era. The hotel, which opened in July 1927, is the only grand railway hotel in Canada to be constructed by an American railway company. The hotel was named after the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), in a transparent attempt to entice him to stay in the hotel on his 1927 Canadian tour, but the prince stayed at his own nearby ranch in Pekisko, Alberta, instead. Wow even King Edward could not afford to stay so I don’t feel too bad, if you can afford it do it as I hear the food is great. The hotel was designated as a national historic site of Canada on 6th of November 1992.
More history if your into it, in 1932, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park was formed from Waterton Lakes National Park and Glacier. It was dedicated to world peace by Sir Charles Arthur Mander on behalf of Rotary International on 18 June 1932, whose members from the Alberta and Montana chapters lobbied for the formation of the park. The Peace Park was the first of its nature in the world, and was intended to promote goodwill between nations and underscore the international nature of protection of wilderness.
In terms of local governance, those lands within Waterton Lakes National Park were split between the Municipal District of Kerr and the Municipal District of Castle River prior to 1944.
The Waterton-Glacier International was inscribed a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. In 1979, Waterton became Canada’s second biosphere reserve and the first Canadian national park to take part in this UNESCO program. They say Biosphere Reserves are created to achieve a better understanding of the relationship between humans and the natural environment, have we learned anything?
In September 2017, a large forest fire forced the evacuation of the townsite and park. The fire burned through 200 km2 of the park, destroying the visitor center, stables and other buildings. Some 80% of hiking trails were affected and several remained closed for the 2018 season. The fire severely damaged 30% of the park, and up to 70% of the park’s forested area was destroyed. However, the Waterton Park townsite and the Prince of Wales Hotel were unscathed. It’s amazing this historic site was saved as we could still see the devastation in the park.
A lot of word salad and hopefully for those interested some information that’s not hard sell tourist stuff. My photographs do not do the beauty of this park justice so don’t take our word for it; one would just have to check it out on your own. Our next post will be in northern BC followed with our travels to the North West Territories.
Safe travels and we hope to meet you down the road, may the wind be on your back.
Gerry and Charlotte
Slow Roaming Nomads, one frame at a time.
Very nice article. We will be traveling up into Canada next September so we will peruse this article again.