Waterton Lakes National Park (full text)
The dream of Waterton Lakes National Park is a powerful one. The prairies end, somewhat cataclysmically, in the still, giant waves of the Rocky Mountains.
Photo: The Prince of Wales Hotel on its kame.* Opened July 25, 1927 for yearly summer seasons, except 1933-36 during the Depression. It is a National Historic Site in Canada.
In the Park, storms sweep suddenly, drawn over mountains into valleys, blackened by hard rain, crackling with thunder. In early April, one kilometer can make a difference between a sunny or snowy afternoon.
The winds are infamous, making changeability quick.
There is a climatic swirl of the dominant warm Pacific-marine system and the cold Arctic-continental system.
Waterton has the province's highest annual precipitation, making for dense vegetation in an otherwise semi-arid southern Albertan climate. In winter, it also has the most chinooks making it on average the 'warmest' winter locale in the province. (Temperatures do still fall to -40 degrees.)
Photo: Cameron Falls
There are over 175 km. of hiking trails. Watch for grizzly scat (broken/tubular/think), bear rub trees (bark worn away) and dug up anthills.
Photo: Prairie Crocus, above Blakiston [Pass] Creek
Located in the southwest corner of Alberta, the Park borders British Columbia to the west and Montana, U.S.A. at Glacier National Park to the south.
The Waterton--Glacier International Peace Park was created in 1932, the first of its kind between 2 nations. The boat that has navigated the lakes since 1927 is The MV International. Interpretive boat tours from Waterton village to Goat Haunt, Montana (with a 1/2 hour stop-over) take about 2 1/2 hours.
Photos: Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier National Park, Montana; Mountain goat & beargrass on same (east of Logan Pass).
Rocks gleam in reds and luminous greens, both argillites or hardened mudstone, the red containing oxidized iron (hematite) and the green unoxidized (chlorite). The iron content need only be 3% for the rocks to have their colour.
Photos: Red Rock Canyon; Mule deer
George 'Kootenai' Brown's tombstone is a short walk to the shores of lower Waterton Lake. The frontiersman- trader-guide-packer-pony express-rider (1839-1916) was among those who fought to establish the Waterton Lakes area as a preserve. Kootenay Lakes Forest Park, as it was known, was established in 1895. It was renamed Waterton Lakes National Park in 1911. George Brown was the Park's first ranger.**
Note: F.W. Godsal, an early resident of the area wrote to William Pearce, Min. of Mines in the Federal Dept. of the Interior, in Calgary [Sept. 12, 1883]: "I believe that some years ago in an official report you recommended that Crows Nest Pass Kootenay or Waterton Lakes, etc., should be reserved as National Parks ... I wish now to urge upon the Governmentthe adoption of this suggestion without delay..." (Rodney, p. 174). m. Daly, Min. of the Interior, Dec. 19, 1884, in his affirmative recommendation, "Posterity will bless us."
*Kame: a short ridge, hill or mound of stratified sand, gravel, etc. deposited by water from melting glaciers.
**Olivia, Brown's Metis wife (d. circa 1884) and Chee-pay-tha-qua-ka-soon ("Isabella"), his second wife (d. 1935), also are laid to rest at this site. His log cabin can be visited at the Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village in Pincher Creek, AB.
References:
Dodd, John and Gail Helgason. Canadian Rockies Access Guide. Edmonton, AB: Lone Pine Publising, 1998.
Pole, Graeme. Walks and Easy Hikes in the Canadian Rockies. Canmore, AB: Altitude Publishing, 1992.
Rodney, William. Kootenai Brown, Canada's Unknown Frontiersman. Surrey, BC: Heritage House Publishing, 1996.
Waterton Park Information Services, http://www.watertoninfo.com/
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, http://www.y2y.net/
Photo front cover: Emerald Bay in Waterton townsite
The dream of Waterton Lakes National Park is a powerful one. The prairies end, somewhat cataclysmically, in the still, giant waves of the Rocky Mountains.
Photo: The Prince of Wales Hotel on its kame.* Opened July 25, 1927 for yearly summer seasons, except 1933-36 during the Depression. It is a National Historic Site in Canada.
In the Park, storms sweep suddenly, drawn over mountains into valleys, blackened by hard rain, crackling with thunder. In early April, one kilometer can make a difference between a sunny or snowy afternoon.
The winds are infamous, making changeability quick.
There is a climatic swirl of the dominant warm Pacific-marine system and the cold Arctic-continental system.
Waterton has the province's highest annual precipitation, making for dense vegetation in an otherwise semi-arid southern Albertan climate. In winter, it also has the most chinooks making it on average the 'warmest' winter locale in the province. (Temperatures do still fall to -40 degrees.)
Photo: Cameron Falls
There are over 175 km. of hiking trails. Watch for grizzly scat (broken/tubular/think), bear rub trees (bark worn away) and dug up anthills.
Photo: Prairie Crocus, above Blakiston [Pass] Creek
Located in the southwest corner of Alberta, the Park borders British Columbia to the west and Montana, U.S.A. at Glacier National Park to the south.
The Waterton--Glacier International Peace Park was created in 1932, the first of its kind between 2 nations. The boat that has navigated the lakes since 1927 is The MV International. Interpretive boat tours from Waterton village to Goat Haunt, Montana (with a 1/2 hour stop-over) take about 2 1/2 hours.
Photos: Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier National Park, Montana; Mountain goat & beargrass on same (east of Logan Pass).
Rocks gleam in reds and luminous greens, both argillites or hardened mudstone, the red containing oxidized iron (hematite) and the green unoxidized (chlorite). The iron content need only be 3% for the rocks to have their colour.
Photos: Red Rock Canyon; Mule deer
George 'Kootenai' Brown's tombstone is a short walk to the shores of lower Waterton Lake. The frontiersman- trader-guide-packer-pony express-rider (1839-1916) was among those who fought to establish the Waterton Lakes area as a preserve. Kootenay Lakes Forest Park, as it was known, was established in 1895. It was renamed Waterton Lakes National Park in 1911. George Brown was the Park's first ranger.**
Note: F.W. Godsal, an early resident of the area wrote to William Pearce, Min. of Mines in the Federal Dept. of the Interior, in Calgary [Sept. 12, 1883]: "I believe that some years ago in an official report you recommended that Crows Nest Pass Kootenay or Waterton Lakes, etc., should be reserved as National Parks ... I wish now to urge upon the Governmentthe adoption of this suggestion without delay..." (Rodney, p. 174). m. Daly, Min. of the Interior, Dec. 19, 1884, in his affirmative recommendation, "Posterity will bless us."
*Kame: a short ridge, hill or mound of stratified sand, gravel, etc. deposited by water from melting glaciers.
**Olivia, Brown's Metis wife (d. circa 1884) and Chee-pay-tha-qua-ka-soon ("Isabella"), his second wife (d. 1935), also are laid to rest at this site. His log cabin can be visited at the Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village in Pincher Creek, AB.
References:
Dodd, John and Gail Helgason. Canadian Rockies Access Guide. Edmonton, AB: Lone Pine Publising, 1998.
Pole, Graeme. Walks and Easy Hikes in the Canadian Rockies. Canmore, AB: Altitude Publishing, 1992.
Rodney, William. Kootenai Brown, Canada's Unknown Frontiersman. Surrey, BC: Heritage House Publishing, 1996.
Waterton Park Information Services, http://www.watertoninfo.com/
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, http://www.y2y.net/
Photo front cover: Emerald Bay in Waterton townsite
