Prairie Meets Mountains at Waterton Lakes

To see more Waterton Lakes photos click here 
Waterton National Park is in south east Alberta near the border with BC to the west and the states to the south. Beautiful place. Serene mountains and lakes teeming with wildlife starting with buffalo as we entered the park, tons of deer, and the highlight: a cinnamon bear cub in a tree with mum out of sight in the bushes down below. We thought that it was a grizzly, but discovered it wasn’t. Cinnamon bears are light brown in colour and part of the black bear family (not brown bear).  We did a very cool six hour hike into the mountains to Carthew pass. Our starting point at Cameron lake and it’s surrounding peaks were shrouded in cloud.  We walked up beautiful snowy forests passed another lake for lunch with a view of pretty mountains. Steep scree terrain rewarded us with a spectacular 360 degree view at the saddle summit with Glacier National Park (Waterton’s equivalent in the US) to the south and glimpses of prairies to the east beyond Waterton’s peaks. Just before entering Waterton’s pretty townsite the Prince of Wales Hotel had a perch overlooking the lake that I think any Fairmont Hotel would kill for! In comparison, our accommodation was less pretty even though it was beside the lake. We were surprised to see that the National Park campground (the only one open) was pretty much an open field with no character or privacy between sites. Stone chimneyed kitchen huts offered some warmth and shelter, but we couldn’t find any wood at the camp or in town. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the beautiful colours and hiking. *Mush