Days 10 to 12: Waterton Lakes National Park

On our way to Waterton Lakes NP, we stop at Lethbridge, Aberta to check out the High Level Bridge, which is the larges trestle bridge in the world. After taking a lot of pictures of it from all angels, we finally have the opportunity to see a train crossing it. Woo!! After a shopping trip to the Real Canadian Superstore to get some groceries, we head west to the Rockies that are emerging on the horizon.

 

That is when we start to have trouble with the overdrive. It starts randomly turning on and off before it finally just stays off. We stop in Cardston, famous for its Mormon temple, to see what's going on after calling Joe our mechanic. We finally figure out where the transmission is located and where its dipstick is. The transmission fluid level is REALLY low. We buy a stock of transmission fluid and replenish it. This is the last “big” town before the wild Rockies. We are sure the transmission is doing a bit better, but the overdrive is still not working, which is okay as we will be driving through the mountains anyway.

The roads are slowly going up. The Rockies are getting closer and cultivated fields are disappearing. Before reaching the national park, we check into Crooked Creek Campground. We head into the park to check it out. We stop and take pictures here and there. The mountains are impressive, like a mirage after spending days in the flat lands. The lake shores are fully of dry wood, and we see a black bear from a distance. The famous Prince of Whales Hotel overlooks the lakes and the village of Waterton. We go back to the campground to cook the sausage and make some potato salad for the next days that will be filled with hikes. The whole mountain skyline is in front of the campground, and when the sun disappears behind them the temperature drops drastically.

We wake up cold the next day at 7 am. We leave the campground an hour later to reach Cameron Lake in the national park. We start our day long hike on the Carthew-Alderson trail around 9 am. It's 8º Celsius (46º Fahrenheit). Cameron Lake is beautiful and still. We hike to Summit Lake through a zig zag trail that climbs the mountain through the forest. The scenery is amazing with the immense peaks overlooking the lake. We continue to hike toward Mount Carthew, slowing inching above the tree line. The climb involves walking along a gravel trains which has quite a steep incline. The view is spectacular from the summit. We descend to Carthew Lakes where we eat lunch and rest. We keep descending to Alderson Lake. Our feet are starting to ache. The lake is such an intense blue. The last stretch to the Waterton Falls alternates between a slow and steep descent. We are starting to hurt quite a bit more, especially our toes. As we finally have the village of Waterton in sight, we catch up with an older couple from Michigan and walk the last kilometer with them. The show some edible berries called thimble berries, which seem even more delicious than raspberries (if you can believe that). We arrive to Waterton falls, the end of the trail, after walking for more than 20 kilometers (12. 5 miles or 7 and half hours). Exhausted. The older couple gives Yellow a ride back to Cameron lake to pick up the RV, while Red explores the village and rests.

We arrive to the campground around 6pm and extend our stay another night. After taking refreshing showers, we treat ourselves to a delicious dinner featuring a salad, some Wisconsin cheese, and a bottle of St. Emilion red wine that we got from Nath and Marie. We play some Banana Grams and chill out outside watching the sunset over the mountains. We sleep like babies.

On Saturday we take it easy, which isn't such a bad idea because it's really cloudy. We cook, make some bread, write some thank-you letters, remedy our few sunburns and aches, and relax. We end up doing a short hike at the Red Rock Canyon in the NP. It is exactly as its name says, a canyon with red red rocks and LOTS of tourists. Back at the campground we cook again, write more thank-yous, and relax some more.