Day 11, August 23

Day 11, August 23

Locations: Waterton National Park to Kananaskis Country

Miles driven: 280

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I got up at 6:00 and headed back to Lower Waterton Lake. It was overcast, but I decided to go anyway just in case the sun were to find an opening. There was some color back to the east, but that wasn’t the direction I wanted to shoot. After giving up a bit after the sun would’ve risen, I drove back past the magnificent Prince of Wales Hotel and walked up the hill above the road to get some overlook pictures of it. I then went on the hotel grounds to get some snaps of it from there.

I called folks at 8:30 from the information office pay phone and departed Waterton around 9:00 and headed north. I fueled up in Pincher Creek, then headed to Coleman in the Crowsnest Pass area and started up Forestry Trunk Road 940 which leads to Kananaskis Country, just as I had done two days ago when I first arrived. I pulled into a real nice camping spot just off the road at 11:30 to take a nap. There seemed to be a good number of camp spots along the route. I napped until 2:15 when I started out on the road again. The day started out rather warm in Waterton, perhaps around 50 degrees. It had cooled off considerably by this time, though, somewhere in the low 40s, or possibly upper 30s. The little increase in elevation shouldn’t have accounted for the drastic cool down, so there must have been a front that moved in. Along the way, cattle guards were signed as Texas gates. I don’t believe Texans even refer to them as such, but I could be wrong!

I entered Kananaskis’ southern boundary at 3:00. The clouds were off the peaks this morning in Waterton, but the gray clouds had lowered and produced light drizzle for most of the way on 940 and the views were limited for the most part. I arrived at Highway 40 and continued north. I noted there was a possible campsite about two to three miles south of the Peter Lougheed Provincial Park border below the Mt. Lipsett picnic area as there was a short spur road with a fire pit. I caught a quick glance as I went by, so I’m not sure if this would be a legitimate spot or not. It started to snow at 3:56 as I was approaching Highwood Pass, which is the highest paved road in Canada at 7,239’ (2205m), and it was really coming down on the pass summit where the ground was covered in short order.

I went into the Kananaskis Lakes area and campgrounds to check out what they have to offer. I couldn’t see a thing scenery-wise as the clouds continued to be low and snow was still falling. I circled around Lower Lakes Campground first which has three loops and I was rather impressed with virtually all the sites which have thick lodgepole pine. There were literally only a few occupied spots and they were in the loop closest to the shore. I then stopped in Interlakes Campground. It does have an open pullout about midway through the grounds that is right above the shore, so you wouldn’t have to camp here if you wanted to shoot sunset. Both of these campgrounds were $17 per night. I was originally planning to shoot sunset here tonight and stay at one of the campgrounds, but the weather was socked in.

I decided to go a little bit further up the highway to the Mt. Kidd reflecting ponds and see if there were camping options around there and hoped for a sunrise in the morning. I scouted some possible photo areas out and it definitely looked promising even though I couldn’t tell there were mountains all around me. I drove through the Euclair campground at 6:57. It was vacant, though I did run into a camp host as I was checking out the information sign at the entrance. The campground was very forested with wonderful lodgepoles as well, and likely very scenic as it is next to the Kananaskis Range. Mom and Dad, you guys would love it here! It, too, is $17 per night. It was still snowing at 7:00.

I was planning to check out the Mt. Kidd RV Park tomorrow to see what their accommodations were like for the folks, but I elected to check it out at this time since I wasn’t doing anything anyway, and I certainly wasn’t doing any shooting. I wasn’t able to check it out as it indicates only registered guests can enter the loops off to either side. It was definitely not my kind of place! After checking that out, I drove back up to Highwood Pass and ran into heavy snow just below it and was lightly falling at the summit. I drove back down to the Mt. Kidd RV park as I noted earlier that they have an overnight overflow lot on their driveway into the park which consists of five spaces for long rigs. I decided to look closer for signs to see if I could camp for free. I didn’t see anywhere that payment is required, so I gladly went this route as opposed to spending $17 at the nearby Euclair campground. This was a great find and I’ll likely stay here in the future as well unless I’m able to find a primitive spot nearby. It was still snowing as I went to sleep.

7:25 AM — Prince of Wales Hotel