To The Mountains I Go: August 2014

Day Hike
Distance: 8.7km (one way)
Elevation Gain: 700m
High Point: 1945m
Time: 6-8 hour day
Difficulty: Moderate-Difficult

Access:
To get to the trail head you need to take a 15min boat ride. You can get tickets in at the Waterton marina and the boat you take is right on the dock there. Here is a link for more information http://www.watertoncruise.com/crypt-lake.php

Experience:
So we stayed at my Aunt Linda's house for the night in Cardston so we could get a nice start to Waterton which is about 30min from there. Waterton park opened at 8am and we knew it was going to busy being the last weekend of the summer so we got there at 8 and in the booth told us where to go. We got there and was about 3rd in line. We got our tickets for the boat for 9am. We waited around a bit but not that long after they started loading us on the little cruise ship. It was kinda fun to ride on a boat. The trip on the boat is about 15min and we got to the trail head!

We started about in the middle of all the people and we kept pretty well. There was some groups of people that we were playing leap frog with but in no time we made it to the first falls. They are really cool, but it was really hard to get a good picture because there was some trees in the way. We then made our way forward. My dad noticed that there was lots of wild berries growing. He found huckleberries, organ grapes, and goose berries. The first part of the hike actually seemed pretty easy. It was a bit down hill and flat, but when you get out of the trees and start walking on lots of loose rocks it gets a bit harder because it was quite a bit steeper. We pushed our way through and soon enough we saw another massive waterfall!

We started to get a bit tired but we kept moving forward. Once you pass the 2nd waterfall you can see the 3rd one which is MASSIVE! You don't get to go up to that waterfall but it is huge! That was really cool. We continued on and the smell of horse crap started to really bug me because I couldn't smell any fresh air which was sad. We crossed a few creeks and after you pass the last one you walk on this ridge to the tunnel. We had to climb this very skinny ladder to get up there and I was surprised how small the tunnel was. It required you to get on your knees a bit, and right after you get out you have to grab onto this cable. We had to hold onto the cable because it was a straight drop off if we fell. It wasn't too bad though.

After getting off that cable it was about an 10min walk and we were at Crypt Lake! It was really nice. We stayed there for quite a while. My dad tried to slide down on some snow but he couldn't do it safely so he changed his mind. While he was gone mom and I were training some chipmunks to eat out of our hands. They were so cute! My dad then got back and he did the ALS challenge in the lake. It is funny because I filmed it sideways. After that we made our way down.

It seemed longer going down, and mom really hurt her feet. She ended up getting a blister on every toe. So we were the last ones coming down because of that, but we made it down and got on the boat. It was a good way to finish my goal for the summer.