Waterton Lakes National Park

Neither BJ nor I had ever visited Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta. We've visited its southern neighbor Glacier National Park but this time we came to Waterton. The views from lake level were wonderful.

No matter where you went, the mountains framed the beautiful lakes. We heard that the wind often blows but it was not that way when we were there.

The park has a geotrail of eight caches that changes each year. We were early enough that we caught the end of the 2016 trail. One of the caches was located on Bear's Hump. It's about 3/4 of a mile hike to the cache - with a 750' elevation gain.

The views from the top were very much worth the hike. Once again, a cache conned me into doing a hike I might not have bothered with otherwise, and the payoff was incredible beauty!

This park is different from most in that there is a small town in the center of it that is privately owned. Many of the local businesses are 4th, 5th, or even 6th generation.

The Townsite campground includes over 250 sites. Nearly 100 of those are 35 amp pull-through, full hookup sites. We are the little white spec at the far right about midway up this picture.

The sites were essentially level, and had all the services. The one unusual thing was that the sewer connection was located in the center of the pad rather than off to the side like the electrical and water.

The views from the back window were special as the weather would change rapidly.

The other special thing about the campground was the four foot drive lawnmowers that would come though each afternoon. In addition to the mountain sheep, we also saw quite a few deer

Cameron Falls is within walking distance of the campground. The campground is bisected by Cameron creek.

All of the caches that were placed by the park were well done, well concealed, and in locations of special interest. We really loved our time in the park and we're already talking about how to include more time here next year.

Like most of the older national parks on either side of the border, there is a fancy lodge that is often a focal point in advertising pictures. We drove up to get this picture, but didn't stop.

Finding all of the caches in the annual trail meant that we qualified for one of their beautiful coins. The design changes each year. The one slight disappointment was that these coins are not trackable. None the less, they were an enticement to come and visit, and resulted in yet another family that wants to come back. Great marketing!