Day 08 - Waterton Lakes NP

For our second full day in Waterton Lakes, we had one major hike scheduled, the Bear’s Hump. But first we needed a good hearty breakfast. We walked over to Trappers. We really enjoyed the dinner we had there the night before so we decided to go back and try out their breakfast. On our walk over to Trappers (about a 5 minute walk), we noticed that once again, even at 8am, this town is still asleep.

Michele had waffles with Saskatoon berries and Rob went for a Bison Skillet (bison ground beef, eggs, and potatoes). Trappers didn’t disappoint. Breakfast was delicious. 

We then set out for the Bear’s Hump trail head. The trail head is at the town’s visitor center which is set about 0.5 miles from our lodging. We saw this deer just hanging out in someone’s front yard. It just sat there but kept a close eye on us.

On our walk up to the visitor’s center, we got a good glimpse of the Prince of Wales Hotel where we had a 6:15pm dinner reservation for later in the day.

The morning was a bit cool, so Rob brought along his windbreaker but by the time we reached the visitor’s center, it was too warm to wear it.

At the trail head, there were several signs warning about bear sightings along the trail and to “be bear aware”. Michele had forgotten to bring her bear bell but there were quite a few folks hiking the trail this morning so there was plenty of noise.

The trail is just short of 1 mile in one direction and ascends about 738 feet to an elevation of 5,833 feet. Michele was a little worried she would get overly winded and not make it to the top, but we went slow and took several rest breaks (which was often due to the many picturesque views along the way).

Prince of Wales Hotel from a little higher up.

The rock formations on the side of the impressive mountain behind us had an interesting wave pattern.

We made it to the top of Bear’s Hump and the views were spectacular!

In addition to the views and the people, there were quite a few opportunistic squirrels. Similar to the squirrels that Rob observed at Zion’s Scout’s Landing, these squirrels were none too shy about getting close to people especially those that provided little snacks (goldfish, crackers, etc).

Michele of course didn’t want the squirrels anywhere near her. She was afraid they would bite her and give her rabies. But these little guys were quick and sneaky. This one snuck up on Michele without her even noticing….and Rob didn’t bother to warn her either.

After taking in the views for about 45 minutes, we headed back down the trail and into town for lunch. We picked the 49 Parallel Pizza (their pizzas are unparalleled). We sat outside and shared a delicious calzone and salad.

By this time it was around 2:30pm so we went back to our room to rest a bit before dinner.

At 5:15pm we set out for our walk up to the Prince of Wales Hotel for our dinner. The inside of the hotel’s lobby is really nice. Lots of wood railings/moldings and a very large iron chandelier.

Michele especially liked this painting of the hotel and surrounding landscape.

The lighting later in the day was much better for pictures at the hotel.

Though it was pretty windy so it wasn’t so great for longer hair!

After dinner we sat out on the lawn and took in the view for a few minutes before heading back down to town. The setting sun provided a nice picture to cap off the day.

Tomorrow we make our way back to the USA by way of the Crowsnest Pass and British Columbia (our 5^th province). We’ll be sad to say goodbye to Waterton Lakes but I fully expect us to return to this park. It has so much more to offer than we had a chance to take advantage of.