"Waterton La ..." a Waterton Lakes National Park Travel Page by dabidc

Waterton Lakes National Park is almost hidden in the south west corner of the Province of Alberta. It is bordered by British Columbia to the west and by Montana to the south. In fact the border with Montana is also the location of the Glacier National Park in the U.S.

Together they comprise a joint park called the Waterton Glacier International Peace Park.

Access to Waterton is from Calgary or Lethbridge in Alberta and then though either Cardston or Pincher Creek. The Park can also be accessed from Montana using the Chief Mountain Border Crossing, to the east of Waterton. This highway from St Mary passes thru Babb on the way north to the border. Thus access is easily made from Glacier National Park from either Going to the Sun highway or Many Glacier part of Glacier N P.

Inside the park there is a Townsite which includes some houses, several motels and hotels, a campground ,a few shops, restaurants and cafes. Most of the time there is wild life in the Townsite.

The main building is the Prince of Wales hotel, standing on a promintory north of the Township and looking south along the Waterton Lake to the boundary with the U.S some 10 miles away. The headquarters of Waterton N P is in the Townsite.

This is the only part of Alberta where the Priarie meets the Rocky Mountains without a transition to the Foothills, an area with rolling hills and forests.

The photo shows the remarkable change from treeless grasslands to mountains. The view is at the north end of the Park where a herd of Buffalo or Bison are free to roam. It is possible to drive around the Buffalo Paddock, but it is surprising how a dozen Buffalo can be hidden in the rolling grassland .

There is a growing tendance to build homes on the ridges facing the mountains, so this type of view may soon disappear.

The view of the Hotel was taken from the slopes of Mount Crandell. which flanks the only road leading from the National Park entrance gates to the Townsite.

That road is visible at the lower left hand corner.

At the far end of the Lake lies Goat Haunt in the United Sates .

The Hotel is located on a Moraine, deposits left behind by glaciers. At one point to the east of the Hotel, the moriane has been breached and Waterton Lake flows into a smaller lake, called Middle Waterton Lake.

The water flow continues north, passes thru Lower Waterton Lake and exits the Park as the Waterton river. This river eventually flows into the Oldman River and ultimately flows from Alberta thru Saskatchewan into Manitoba and enters Hudson's Bay, in the centre of Canada.

The Townsite is built on an a level piece of land that could well have grown thru the ages as rocks and soil are brought down from the mountains by Cameron Creek.

Cameron Lake is about 20 kms away and a road parallels the creek from Cameron Lake to Waterton Lake entering the Townsite on the west side with a mighty roar as i drops down Cameron Falls. Must admit that thre roar becomes less and less as the snow melt ends and the creek is reduced to a mere trickle.

The Townsite also manges to have a harbour and mooring area for a few small boats and the cruise ship that travels the lake at least twice a day. The journey did include a stop at Goat Haunt, but I am not sure if that still occurs, it may be a casualty of the increased Security at Border Crossings.

It was possible to take the boat to Goat Haunt and then hike back along the west side of Waterton Lake.

There is also a hike on the east side of the Lake to Crypt Lake and a waterfall there, access is usually by an early morning boat from Waterton and a pick up later in the afternoon.

The trip to Crypt Lake starts from the harbour to the left of the photo and the landing is across the lake at about the point where the land finishes at the top right hand corner of the photo.