Waterton Lakes National Park is located in southern Canada on the other side of the border of Glacier National Park. The two parks, in fact, form the first International Peace Park, a partnership between the two parks to foster relations and goodwill. Although the two parks have a close relationship, Waterton Lakes is a Canadian National Park, and visitors must cross the international border in order to enter the park. We drove to the park from Glacier, so we took the Chief Mountain International Highway north. The highway itself is a beautiful drive, with Chief Mountain looming to the left as you wind your way through forests to the entrance of Waterton Lakes. Be careful on the drive though; cows frequent the roads.

As you drive into the park, you can stop at the visitors center, which is rather small, but contains some information for your visit and for other attractions nearby. We decided to backtrack after stopping by the visitor center, driving the Red Rock Parkway to its terminus at Red Rock Canyon. This area is a popular hiking spot, and we soon found out why. The canyon itself is small, allowing visitors to climb down to the creek at the bottom to soak and play. We meandered around the canyon for a bit before returning to the car. We recommend going early to Red Rock Canyon-animals frequent the area when people aren’t around, and the canyon gets crowded during the middle of the day.

We returned to the main park road and drove to the Prince of Wales Hotel, a remnant from the days when railroads ruled the West, and railroad companies would build hotels for visitors who took their trains to certain sites. The hotel is nearly one hundred years old and is a beautiful lodge structure. As you walk in, you’ll be greeted by stained glass, a lobby whose ceilings soar far above your head, and an enormous chandelier that dominates the room. In front of you are windows that overlook Upper Waterton Lake. If you have some time and money, you can have a meal or tea here.

Walk outside to the promontory in front of the hotel and stare out at the vista before you. Here, the glacially-carved valley is filled with the pure blue of Upper Waterton Lake and surrounded by jagged peaks on either side. The scene is sublime and awe-inspiring.

We returned to our car and drove to Waterton Park, a small town located next to Upper Waterton Lake. This is a scene that might seem foreign to those used to national parks in the United States. The town had quite a few homes and a central district with shops and restaurants. We only drove through the town, but found it to be pleasant, if not a little busy.

We decided to drive along the park’s other main road, the Akamina Parkway. Like the Red Rock Parkway, the road had only a few views of the mountains-the drive was largely through forests with very few pullouts. One exception was a stop at an old oil well that was the first oil well in western Canada. The road leads to Cameron Lake, which is a small but beautiful lake set underneath large crags. The scene is quite lovely, and visitors can walk around the lake for a nice stroll. This area is also popular, however, and visitors are allowed to swim and kayak in the lake.

Before leaving the park, we stopped by two different wetlands areas near the main entrance of the park, which were less dramatic than the peaks in the park, but no less beautiful. We also stopped by the bison paddock, a large fenced in area with a small herd of bison. We were able to drive around the paddock and found the bison near a pond, getting to look at them at our leisure.

We were a bit surprised during our visit to Waterton Lakes, as there seemed to be more of an emphasis on recreation and leisure rather than the hiking focus of Glacier. This is not to say that there wasn’t hiking or conservation at Waterton Lakes, but that visitors used the park differently than visitors in national parks in the United States, for example, by spending time in the large village, sunbathing by Cameron Lake, or playing in the creek at Red Rock Canyon. While the experience was different than other national parks we’ve been to, we enjoyed visiting Waterton Lakes and are glad that we had the opportunity to visit. We certainly recommend spending at least a day there when visiting Glacier National Park.