The Crypt Lake hike in Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada was probably a once in a lifetime experience. I suppose maybe that’s because it took me until age 55 to do it, but it was tough. {scroll down for pics}

As I said in my last post, this is among the hardest things I’ve ever done. Top of the list is probably running the Run4Fun half-marathon in Whitecourt Alberta, but that might only be because it required a lot more training. There is a lot of climbing on this almost 19km hike as you start at upper Waterton lake level and climb about 880 meters to finally reach Crypt Lake in the mountains. The scenery along the way is amazing, and these photos really do not quite do it justice. As you near the end, there is a tunnel you have to go through and then a cable along a narrow trail across a rocky cliff edge. I didn’t really use the cable on the way up, but on the way back down, it was a necessity. Going back down was definitely more scary than going up.

If you have problems with your knees or hips, this hike is probably not for you. It’s pretty steep in some places and takes a toll on your body. As well, you are under a time constraint because if you miss the last ferry back to Waterton you are stuck there overnight with no amenities. We made it back with about an hour to spare, but we did NOT do the optional side trip to the waterfall. Do most of your picture taking on the way up. You’ll need to take rest stops anyway, and on the way back down, you may be too tired to care about taking photos as I was. I would recommend 2 litres of water at the very least and if the weather is warm then 3-4. I only had 2, it was warm, and it wasn’t really enough. I lost my hat to a gust of wind and might have been starting to get heat exhaustion.

All that said, I’m glad we did it. Here’s some of the photos I took, in chronological order:

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