From Waterton northwards

Since there were no more available spots in Waterton Lakes National Park, we spent two nights at a campground right before the park entrance. This way, we also had to pay less. The entire area around the national park is very windy. During the night, the storm shook our Trudy - and therefore us - vigorously. Nevertheless, we wanted to do something in the park on the two days. Unfortunately, Akamina Ridge was still closed, so we couldn't hike there. We planned to do the Crypt Lake trail on the second day, as it should have been the worse weather day.

On the first day, we went on a 25 km long trail towards Mount Vimy. The first 6 km of this trail led through flat land. We had to walk through hip-high grass and shrubbery, which was wet due to the constant rain. Surprisingly, we also had to cross a small river, which was not marked anywhere. We waded through the water up to our knees to the other side. The mentioned shrubbery did not end after the 6 flat km and continued at higher altitude, and it also started to rain (it should have been the better of the two days). Water was again the dominant element on this trail: our pants were already soaked from the wet shrubbery, and our shoes gradually turned into small swimming pools after crossing several well-filled streams. Eventually, the trail consisted only of snowfields that we had to wade through. The wetness was now combined with the cold. The snowfields also made it difficult to recognize the right way, as there were also unmarked junctions along the way. Above the tree line, we reached a point where we could no longer see the path to Mount Vimy, but the path to the neighboring mountain or to Vimy Ridge was visible. So we took this path, especially since the summit of Mount Vimy was constantly in the fog. From Vimy Ridge, we also had a great view of Waterton Lakes up to the prairies. Further up, we could see the other side of the mountain range. The view from Mount Vimy was definitely not inferior to this. If you walked a little further on the ridge, you could also see Crypt Lake (we wanted to do the tour to this lake the next day) - a breathtaking view of a total of two lakes connected by a waterfall, with another waterfall coming from the second lake. It had been a completely successful decision, and the incredible view made up for all the difficulties of the ascent. However, since it was brutally windy and it started to snow lightly, we quickly made our way back, retracing our steps. Once back at the campground, we treated ourselves to a warm shower. You had to buy tokens for it: 4 minutes of hot water for 1 dollar.

The next day was windy again and a little cold, but still very sunny, although the weather forecast had predicted rain - unfortunately, the forecasts rarely match reality here. Since we were both a bit exhausted and we had already seen Crypt Lake from above the day before, we didn't do another tour but instead explored the small town of Waterton, where we took a walk by the lake. Afterwards, we headed to Banff National Park. It is highly recommended to drive Highway 22 to Longview first and then follow Highway 40. It is a beautiful route along the Rockies, where you can enjoy the magnificent mountain scenery and one beautiful sight follows the next. We drove there in the late afternoon and evening, which gave us the chance to see a lot of wildlife: a large number of elk, which are much bigger here than with us, several bighorn sheep that stood in the middle of the highway to lick the salty road, and even a wolf.