We finally settled down a bit in Banff, found a second job and started enjoying Canada. We have set the same days off at work, so every free day with nice weather we hike somewhere (we don’t have a car yet, so we choose hikes accessible by bus or bike). Our shifts for the beginning of August have changed somewhat and we have one extra day off. Lu is pretty upset… however, I have a habit of seeing the positives, so I’m already thinking about how this week could be combined with the following and how we could have 5 days off in row and go on some real adventure. Everything fell into place and are planning a vacation to Waterton. We are booking a car from Budget company and we hope that we get a spacious car cause we are planning to also sleep in it of course.
We are lucky, because we got a Chevrolet, in which we can fold the seats nicely flat, so we can sleep comfortably in it – we have already found a place where we will spend the night “The Waterton Park Front” (a parking lot which is outside the national park and at the same time about 15 minutes by Waterton).
Day 1
The first day is mostly driving and relaxing day, we leave quite late, we still have to arrange some things in Calgary and the trip to Waterton is about 4 hours driving from Banff. Along the way we have some stops planned to stretch our legs – for example Elbow Falls in Bragg Creek or Lundbreck Falls.Oour last stop is Pincher Creek in Walmart and then to the parking lot because it’s already dark and we get up early in the morning and go to Crypt Lake – we don’t have a booked boat, so we have to be among the first in line to get on – there are only two boats a day.
Day 2 – Crypt Lake [21,26 km, 873 m elevation]
In the morning, we quickly have breakfast and head towards Waterton, on the way we stop at the Bison Paddock to see the Bisons. We park at the Waterton Shoreline Cruise Co, but there aren’t many parking spaces left, so we’re glad we arrived so early – not only for the parking, but also for the ticket queue.
We do not expect a super -long hike, so we only take running backpacks and we are almost running to the lake. The path is beautiful, varied, there are chains and a ladder waiting for us, and the whole thing is also interesting because the trail can only be reached by boat. The Crypt Lake Trail Has Been Voted One of the Top 20 Hikes in the World by National Geographic. We go around the lake, some people have even brought rods and are catching fish, we think about swimming, but when the wind blows, it’s pretty cold, so we just decide to have a snack by the lake.
Suddenly everything turns upside down, my period has just arrived and I am in excruciating pain, we are trying to get on the ferry as there are also limited options, one leaves at 3:30 in the afternoon and the second or last one leaves at 5 in the afternoon. However, I am not able to walk even a few meters. I have never been like this in my life and I feel like I am going to die. When Lu sees the “pace” at which I am able to move, she tries to urge me to go down. However, I can only take a few steps every time and then I literally fall flat on my face. When it happened like this for about the twentieth time, I just lay down and tried to rest. People were walking around asking Lu if I was okay, if I needed anything, etc. It seems like it’s taking forever and we don’t have much time left. A bunch of girls from the USA pass us by and they even ask me several times if I want pain pills – I soften and say yes, I also got some candies to eat them so that I don’t feel worse. Now I’m just praying that it will take off as soon as possible and we’ll somehow crawl onto that ship. Finally it is acceptable to me and we can continue with our hike. We meet the girls again on the way down, so I thank them again and I want to invite them for a beer as a thank you, but the girls continue on their road trip, so the beer doesn’t happen, but I am very grateful to them.
The trail was really beautiful, but the way down was unfortunately more of an ordeal for me. We had more plans, but since we only took the second boat back, we decided to stop at Linnet Lake, prepare dinner, walk around the lake and check out the Prince of Wales Hotel. We wanted to have a tea at the hotel, but only found traditional afternoon tea on the menu for $55 (sandwiches and some desserts were included, but the gluten-free version had to be only pre-ordered, so we opted for just a cocktail at the bar. When we were paying, the waitress asked us where were come from, and when she found out that we are from the Czech Republic, she sent the bartender to us, who was also from the Czech Republic, haha.
We were lucky enough to see a black bear with two cubs on the way to our sleeping point, and as a bonus we had a beautiful sunset in the parking lot.
Day 3 – Carthew Alderson Trail [20,51 km, 1 144 m elevation];
Bertha Falls/Bertha Lake [11,93 km, 548 m elevation]
For the Carthew Alderson Trail is possible to book a bus from Waterton to Cameron Lake where the trail starts. We found out that it was possible to book only one last place, so we decided to go from the opposite side and try to hitchhike at Cameron Lake. We start at 8:30am from Cameron Falls. There were fires in Waterton in 2017 and this hike shows it very significantly… nature is working with it quite successfully, so despite the burnt forests, the surroundings are colorful thanks to various plants and newly growing trees.
We meet the doe with the young ones so we go off the trail so that they can continue along the path in peace. We only start meeting people walking in the opposite direction at Carthew Lake, so we enjoyed the trail a lot not only because of the beauty of the nature there, but also because we were almost alone on the trail. I can totally see why the Carthew Alderson Trail is rated as one of the best in Waterton.
We didn’t stay long at a Cameron Lake because it was overcrowded. We continued to the parking lot and there we tried our luck at hitchhiking. The first car stopped immediately, thank God. We stopped a very nice couple originally from Fernie, the whole way we talking about travel, Canada and the world in general, photography and wildlife, and to top it all off, they were just going to Cameron Falls, so we got straight to the car.
Since we were back at the car around 3:30 in the afternoon, we decided to go to Bertha Falls/Lake. The mapy cz showed us that we had to walk for about 6 hours, and the weather didn’t look very good, so we walked about half of the time. Btw, Berta Lake is a great place to take a shower, haha. And since we were hungry and had a craving for tacos, we went to “The Taco Bar”, which we highly recommend. On the way to our parking lot, we were lucky again and saw more bears, this time a mother with a four cubs.
Day 4 – Goat Lake –Twin Lake – Red Rock Canyon [32,94 km, 1 158 m elevation]
Again the same routine, the alarm goes off at 7, but it takes us a while to get out of our sleeping bags, get dressed and have breakfast. We are at the start of the hike just before 9 o’clock in the morning and we have almost 33 km waiting for us. We start at Red Rock Canyon, there are already a lot of people moving there in the morning, but as we move away and walk closer towards Goat Lake, the people decrease. The last section to Goat Lake was very challenging – a steep hill and the sun was shining on us the whole time. We have a snack/lunch at Goat Lake and after a short break we continue towards Twin Lake, where we take another snack break. I feel like we are always eating or drinking something, it is very hot, but every time we get to the lake, there is a cold wind and we are cold, so the mood to swim in the lake always passes us quickly. The last section from Twin Lake to Red Rock canyon is probably not visited much, because we pass through decent jungle.
We find that Red Rock Canyon is even more beautiful from the other side than directly from the parking lot, and as a bonus, there are no people. On the way to Waterton, where we go to wash and eat, we meet another bear, this time only one. We have dinner on the benches in the company of a doe with two cubs. After about 10 minutes spent together, they lose their shame and go to see what we have for dinner. They try to take our dinner without asking, but we successfully prevent it, because they are not supposed to eat human food. With bears, it’s even the case that if Parks Canada finds out that one of the bears got into human food that they ate, they will shoot it. Which of course we don’t want, so we try to follow all the rules and not leave human food or sunscreen, toothpaste and all other things that have any “smell” unattended.
Day 5 – Akamina Ridge [16,94 km, 919 m elevation]
On our last day we had planned a hike to Mount Blakiston – the highest mountain in Waterton. However, we ended up changing the plan and decided on Akamina Ridge, a hike that seemed more interesting and that we missed to complete The Triple Crown of Waterton. I have to say that it was a good choice, the hike was really beautiful and I’m glad that I once again overcame my never-ending fear of heights and with the help of Lu, I slowly climbed up the ridge. In these places, we understood why the hike is recommended clockwise. I don’t know if we went a little different way than we should have gone, but the climbing part scared me a lot, so I almost cried and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it from the other side, i.e. downwards.
We ended the hike with a swim in Wall Lake, the weather was amazing and the water was perfect. We arrived at the car around 4 o’clock in the afternoon and got into the car just before it started to rain. Another almost 4 hour drive home, we stop at The Hut Café for lunch/dinner and continue our way home.
The trip to Waterton was a really nice change for us and I think 4 full days is just right for Waterton.
