{"id":953,"date":"2015-06-18T10:30:46","date_gmt":"2015-06-18T16:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=953"},"modified":"2019-03-16T11:41:20","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T17:41:20","slug":"waterton-lakes-and-bertha-lake-waterton-lakes-national-park-canada-7-16-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=953","title":{"rendered":"Waterton Lakes and Bertha Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada (7-16-14)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lupe entered Canada\u00a0via Hwy 17 on the afternoon of July 16, 2014, the 2nd day of her 2014 Dingo Vacation to the Canadian Rockies & Beartooths.\u00a0 She was already in Waterton Lakes National Park<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, and the first order of business was to go see the lake itself.\u00a0 Lupe soon arrived in the small community and tourist town of Waterton Park, which is located on the NW shore at the N end of Upper Waterton Lake.\u00a0 SPHP found a place to park near the S end of town near the lake.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on the rocky beach at Upper Waterton Lake, Canada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a hot day.\u00a0 According to the G6 it was 90 \u00b0F.\u00a0 Not exactly the weather Lupe and SPHP had been anticipating in Canada, but certainly a good day to check out the beach.\u00a0 The beach was rocky, with rounded rocks of various sizes.\u00a0 A breeze was blowing and there was some moderate wave action.\u00a0 Lupe was hot and was eager to wade in the lake to cool off.\u00a0 Lupe doesn’t like to swim, but she loves to wade and lay down in the water.\u00a0 She was clearly glad to have the opportunity to get wet and cool down.<\/p>\n

Upper Waterton Lake was quite beautiful.\u00a0 The deeper water was a brilliant and very appealing blue color, while the shallower water near the shore took on the gray color of the rocks on the bottom of the lake.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the scene was not quite as beautiful as it normally would have been due to considerable smoke in the air.\u00a0 The smoke was from wildfires somewhere, but SPHP never really found out where the fires were.\u00a0 The smoke was thick enough to detract from the view.<\/p>\n

There are actually three Waterton Lakes.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP had driven by Lower Waterton Lake on the way to Waterton Park.\u00a0 The lower lake is good-sized at a couple of km long, but is the smallest of the three lakes.\u00a0 Upper Waterton Lake is the largest and goes all the way S into Glacier National Park in the United States.\u00a0 Middle Waterton Lake is 4 km long and actually at the same level as Upper Waterton Lake, since the two lakes are connected by a\u00a0narrow straight\u00a0called the Bosporus.\u00a0 However, Middle Waterton Lake\u00a0lies outside the long canyon flanked by dramatic peaks\u00a0Upper Waterton Lake\u00a0lies within.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After Lupe had cooled off in the lake, SPHP thought it might be fun to go take a look at the lake from the grounds of the Prince of Wales Hotel<\/span><\/strong><\/a> up on a hill at the very N end of Upper Waterton Lakes.\u00a0 This involved a drive back through the town of Waterton Park, but it wasn’t far and\u00a0didn’t take long despite all the tourist traffic.\u00a0 The views from the grounds of the Prince of Wales Hotel were quite grand, but still just as smoky.\u00a0 Quite a few people were around, and Lupe made a few new acquaintances.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking S towards Upper Waterton Lake from the grounds of the Prince of Wales Hotel.\u00a0 The community of Waterton Park can be seen on the flat ground at the right side of the photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe and the Prince of Wales 7-16-14<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Bosporus strait connecting Middle Waterton Lake (L) and Upper Waterton Lake (R).\u00a0 The mountain is Vimy Peak<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(7,805 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the jaunt up to the Prince of Wales Hotel, Lupe and SPHP returned to the shore of Upper Waterton Lake near the S end of Waterton Park.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP wandered SW along the shore of the lake and came to a trail that heads S along the W shore of Upper Waterton Lakes.\u00a0 A map near the start of the trail showed another trail about 1.5 km\u00a0S to Bertha Lake<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 Bertha\u00a0Lake was located\u00a0up a steep side canyon to the W.\u00a0 The whole trip to Bertha Lake was about 5 km long and involved an elevation gain of 475 meters or over 1,500 feet.\u00a0 SPHP thought that a trip to Bertha Lake looked like an interesting thing to do.\u00a0 Lupe was happy to be on a trail again.<\/p>\n

For the first 1.5 km heading S, the trail climbed gradually.\u00a0 Upper Waterton Lake was always in view extending away to the S sandwiched in between jagged mountains to the E & W.\u00a0 There were bushes 2 or 3 feet high on both sides of the trail, so most of the time Lupe probably didn’t have much of a view.\u00a0 Even though it was getting to be late in the afternoon, it was still very warm out.<\/p>\n

There were lots of hikers heading back towards Waterton Park.\u00a0 There were even more mosquitoes and flies\u00a0feasting upon them, Lupe & SPHP.\u00a0 The\u00a0bugs weren’t too bad though along this first stretch, as it was easy to just keep moving and avoid\u00a0most of the swarm.\u00a0 SPHP chatted briefly with some of the returning hikers.\u00a0 Quite a few had been up to Bertha Lake and all declared the trek to be worthwhile.<\/p>\n

Shortly before reaching the side trail to Bertha Lake, there was a very short spur trail to a little point.\u00a0\u00a0At the point was a bench\u00a0situated looking S to have\u00a0beautiful view of Upper Waterton Lake.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP paused here for maybe 10 minutes to relish the scene.\u00a0 There was a bit of a breeze up on the point to help ward off the bugs.\u00a0 It was a great view.\u00a0 SPHP wished there wasn’t so much smoke around, but there was nothing to be done about it.<\/p>\n

There were two waterfalls on Bertha Creek on the way to Bertha Lake.\u00a0 The first one was reached 1.4 km from the main trail along Upper Waterton Lake.\u00a0 The trail to this point was gaining elevation faster than along Upper Waterton Lake, but still at a generally modest pace.\u00a0 The trail crossed to the S of Bertha Creek just below the lower Bertha Creek falls.\u00a0 Once past the falls, the trail began a long relentless ascent up the forested S side of the side canyon Bertha Lake is in.<\/p>\n

The switchbacks lasted\u00a0nearly the entire\u00a02.8 km from the lower falls to Bertha Lake.\u00a0\u00a0They\u00a0seemed endless.\u00a0 It was still hot.\u00a0 SPHP was sweating.\u00a0 The heat drained away energy.\u00a0 Even Lupe plodded along dispiritedly behind SPHP.\u00a0 It was a tough grind.\u00a0 SPHP felt out of shape.\u00a0 At each\u00a0stop for a breather, though, flies and mosquitoes descended instantly and drove SPHP and Lupe onward.\u00a0 The trail\u00a0never got\u00a0close to the upper falls on Bertha Creek, and didn’t start to level out until nearly at Bertha Lake.<\/p>\n

\"Bertha<\/a>
Bertha Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bertha Lake was very pretty in the early evening light.\u00a0 There was a campground on the NW shore.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP crossed Bertha Creek again to get over to the campground.\u00a0\u00a0SPHP was surprised to find the\u00a0campground was completely abandoned.\u00a0 Peakbagger.com shows a trail completely around Bertha Lake.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP continued SW on the trail leaving the campground behind.\u00a0 SPHP intended to circumnavigate the lake, but about\u00a02\/3 of the way to the SW end of Bertha Lake the trail was blocked by thick deadfall timber.<\/p>\n

It was too late to consider forcing a way through the deadfall.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP turned back.\u00a0 The way back down the trail to Upper Waterton Lake was much more fun than the climb up had been.\u00a0 With gravity now a friend, it was easy to keep going and outpace most of the flies and mosquitoes that were still around.\u00a0 With the sun low\u00a0enough\u00a0so Lupe and SPHP were in the shadow of the mountain, it had cooled off a bit by now, too.\u00a0 Lupe trotted along looking lively again.\u00a0 There were\u00a0spectacular views of the N side of the canyon, and eventually out to the E towards Upper Waterton Lake.\u00a0 SPHP hadn’t noticed them much on the struggle up.<\/p>\n

Lupe and SPHP had only seen one person on the way up to Bertha Lake after passing the lower falls, and saw no one at all on the way back down until below the lower falls again.\u00a0 There were still some people on the main trail\u00a0back to Waterton Park, even\u00a0a few\u00a0just starting out.\u00a0 This far N, it was later than SPHP had realized.\u00a0 Although it was still light out, it was\u00a09:30 PM by the time Lupe reached the G6.\u00a0 Time for a bit of dinner and then a good snooze!<\/p>\n

\"Upper<\/a>
Upper Waterton Lake from the Prince of Wales Hotel. Looks like a great place to own a boat!\u00a0 Short\u00a0guided tours of the lake\u00a0can be booked in Waterton Park aboard cruise boats.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Next Adventure<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Prior Adventure<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s 2014 Canadian Rockies & Beartooths Adventure Index<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>,\u00a0Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span> or Master Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lupe entered Canada\u00a0via Hwy 17 on the afternoon of July 16, 2014, the 2nd day of her 2014 Dingo Vacation to the Canadian Rockies & Beartooths.\u00a0 She was already in Waterton Lakes National Park, and the first order of business was to go see the lake itself.\u00a0 Lupe soon arrived in the small community and … Continue reading Waterton Lakes and Bertha Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada (7-16-14)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[105,164,30,31,106,26,104,163],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2014-canadian-rockiesbeartooths","tag-american-dingo","tag-bertha-lake","tag-canada","tag-canadian-rockies","tag-carolina-dog","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-lupe","tag-waterton-lakes-national-park"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/SDC11644.jpg?fit=1651%2C1238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20807,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions\/20807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}