We recently took a trip to Waterton Lakes National Park. It is a UNESCO world heritage site located in the south-west corner of Alberta.
Miss S celebrated her 16th birthday and wanted to take a trip down to Waterton to visit the bison. Our last visit had been in summer 2015.
We went down at the beginning of October. It is a two hour drive from our home. It was a lovely drive. The skies were blue and the sun was out.
Our first stop was in Claresholm to buy some sandwiches for lunch. We drove to Old Man River and found a picnic table where we could have lunch. It was quite quick as it was very windy! There were some lovely views on the drive and we saw lots of wind turbines working away on the Pikani Reserve. Waterton and the surrounding area is usually windy. The day that we went was particularly gusty.
After lunch we made our way to the bison paddock loop just outside of Waterton. The bison are kept in a fenced paddock just inside the national park boundary. They were removed in September 2017 due to the Waterton wildfires and were welcomed back in February 2021.
The paddock loop is a 4 km drive and the bison are free to wander anywhere they please in the paddock. On a previous trip, we were lucky enough to see a bull up close (but behind a fence). On this trip, the bison were a little further away. If you look closely at the photo, you can see the bison in the distance.
Next we made our way towards town, stopping at Driftwood Beach for photos.
The girls spent a few minutes looking at the rocks and the driftwood, but we didn’t spend too much time here as it was so windy and cold. Our next stop was the Prince of Wales Hotel which you can see on the cliff in the photo.
The hotel closed for the season on September 20th. We were able to park in the car park and take a walk along the cliff edge.
Miss S soon went back to the vehicle, while Miss C, my husband and I braved the gale blowing through and took photos.
This was about as close as I could get to the edge. The wind was so strong, it actually pushed me backward from the cliff.
After making it back safely to the vehicle, we decided to go to Cameron Falls. As we drove through Waterton town, we saw these deer eating the grass.
Cameron Falls is one of the most photographed spots in Waterton. Here you can see the oldest rocks (1.5 billion years old) of the Canadian Rockies mountain range.
Cameron Lake is about a twenty minute drive away from Cameron Falls. Along the way we saw evidence of the forest fire which occurred here in September 2017. The Kenow Wildfire burned 19,000 hectares in Waterton Lakes National Park.
It was quite sad to see so much destruction, but the forest will eventually grow back.
At the lake, I walked out on to the floating dock to take photos of the mountains. As you can see from the photo, the water was quite choppy and I didn’t stay there long as I felt I might soon take a dip.
This was the view of the side of the lake. We took, what I think must be the shortest walk we’ve ever done, a five minute hike along the edge of the lake. We had to turn back because it was really cold.
We drove all the way back into town to have a stroll and look at the shops.
Waffleton is a cafe that sells waffles made from scratch. I took a photo because I loved the name and the beaver was cute.
The sweater and mug were in a gift store and they made me giggle.
After taking a look at the shops, we made our way along to the International Peace Park. Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada and Glacier National Park in the United States were combined to create the world’s first International Peace Park. It is a symbol of goodwill between the two countries.
I also took another photo of the Prince of Wales Hotel.
At this point we decided to leave and go for dinner. We were lucky to go on the day we did, as it was the last day before the town closed for the season. Staff in the gift shops were starting to pack up merchandise and there were quite a few stores with boarded up windows ready for winter.
We pass this barn on the way home. I call it “The Happy Barn” as it looks as if it is smiling.
The sky looked beautiful on the drive home.
Miss S enjoyed her day out in Waterton.
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