Winter in Waterton Lakes National Park
Alberta, Canada

I thought in this heat right now, we could use a few chill pictures!

Reminiscing about my many years in Canada, here are some photos I took at Waterton, which is less than 1½ hours drive from where I lived in Lethbridge. Waterton Lakes is right at the US border and joined with Glacier National Park in Montana. The Chief Mountain Pass (Border Station) is open seasonally only and is closed in Winter.

^{Cameron Falls near the Waterton Lakes town site}

My previous post was about Blakiston Falls

Unfortunately, older analog photos are lost, and these here are starting from around 2006 when I first got my Samsung digital camera. If I had my old photos, I remember having some winter scenes from Blakiston Falls as well, alas since many years ago the roads to these remote regions were closed in winter. The only access now is to the town site and a portion of the Cameron Lakes road, which is opened for cross-country skiing access.

🔍 you can right-click all images for a larger view 🔎
want even more, and larger images: check my Flickr Album
Waterton Lakes National Park February 2007
There is practically no tourist traffic in winter, save a few brave souls and some cross-country skiers. Most images here were taken on a day where absolutely nobody else was in the park.

Winter in Canada - Cameron Falls, Waterton Lakes National Park, February 2007
It is not unusual at that time of year for temperatures to dip well below 20 C - the park has access, but with the exception of 1 hotel (and the RCMP detachment), businesses are closed for the season and the town site of Waterton virtually abandoned, houses boarded up. Except for the access road, roads were not plowed. It was, and likely still is, an adventure to go there in Winter. At this time, we were the only ones there!

^{the larger picture of the area in front of the falls - in Summer you cannot find a parking spot there!}

I did drive up the access road to Cameron Lake - part of it is plowed to the first picnic shelter where cross-country skiers would park their cars and strap on the skies to go the rest of the way to the lake. From the barrier onward, there is usually more than a meter of snow on the road. Below are views of the town site from one of the switch-backs on the road.

Returning back to the town site, on the shores of the lake is a large campground with picnic shelters.

^{if you didn't bring any coffee with you, tough luck, can't get any here!}

The Prince of Wales Hotel
in Winter makes me think of the hotel in the movie "The Shining" - shuttered and empty.

Across from the Prince of Wales Hotel is the Bears Hump - a Summer climbing tour will be the subject of my next post about Waterton.

Returning 2 months later, April 2007

^{Waterton Lakes Panorama, taken from the Prince of Wales Hotel}

^{The hotel looks a bit more inviting - sunshine and blue skies, but even April can be bitter cold}

^{a couple of bighorn sheep ewes wanted to be in the picture}

^{.... and a mule deer on the hill, when we left}

^{at dusk, in the buffer zone at quite a distance, a large herd of elks.}

Stay tuned for more posts about Waterton coming up soon
and don't forget to check my previous post Blakiston Falls, Waterton

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