Waterton Lakes National Park sits in the south western corner of Alberta. It isn't one of the well known mountain parks further to the north and benefits from the lack of tourist buses. The park shares boundaries with Akamina-Kishina Provincial Park (British Columbia) and Glacier National Park in Montana (USA).
We booked a weekend in Waterton some months ago figuring that by May there would be some weather that resembled spring. I guess we underestimated the power of winter in these parts. It was the first time the weather didn't play nice for one of our North American holidays. It snowed most of last night and the roads were treacherous on the way down. The further south we traveled, the worse the conditions became. First it was rain, then sleet at one time and by the time we reached Pincher Creek, some 200 kms south of Calgary, it was snowing. The roads south of Pincher creek were awful. Unfortunately, I'd only changed out the winter tires for hard compound summers last Monday making the snow even more difficult to negotiate.
By the time we arrived in Waterton there was a foot of snow on the ground. We checked into the hotel and looked out to a bleak site. What had we done?
By the time we arrived in Waterton there was a foot of snow on the ground. We checked into the hotel and looked out to a bleak site. What had we done?
We drove around the town during the afternoon while it was bucketing down with snow. There were Mule deer everywhere. Interestingly they were only the mums with their fawns. The confused ground squirrels were popping their heads out of the snow wondering why spring had deserted them already. We stopped at Cameron Falls (below) which is just on the edge of the town.
After exploring the township, we ventured back along the access road into the township. At least it wasn't snowing so much anymore. There was a hillside just out of town where a mob of about 30 Big Horn Sheep were digging through the snow for grasses. A small heard of mule deer were mixed in as well.
It was awesome to be able to see them up close.
The animals didn't even seem to acknowledge that we were even there.
The snow stopped about 5pm so we took the opportunity to have a look around while we could see more than 10ft in front of us. As it turned out, the weather was calm after the snow storm which meant the Waterton Lakes were like a mirror. The mountains at the far end of the lake are in fact in Montana. Upper Waterton Lake (above) actually extends quite far into Montana. The mountains in the background are in fact in the USA. Also in picture is the Wateron township across the lake (to the right of the picture).
The Prince of Wales Hotel.
I think its location makes it more famous than anything. It's pretty hard to miss. The architecture is quite interesting as well. It's flagged as a 5 star hotel and judging by the nightly rates, you pay for the rating. Oddly enough, it's only open during summer.
There are two roads that lead into the main park, The Red Rock Parkway & the Akamina Parkway. Unfortunately both parkways were closed thanks to the snow so we headed just out of the park to the Bison Paddock. It's just a big fenced off paddock where they have a small heard of Bison. Unfortunately the animals were a long way off & the photos weren't great. Maybe we will more fortunate when we go back tomorrow.
