This hike is located in Waterton National Park and requires an entire day to do. Boats depart the marina at 9:00 and 10:00 am and return at 4:00 and 5:00 pm, giving hikers a maximum of 8 1/2 hours to do the 8.6 km, 700m vertical gain trail. Even though the hike sounds hard, it is definitely worth it, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to go on a world-class hike in the Canadian Rockies.

The hike can be divided into roughly four segments. The first segment (the initial switchbacks) consists of switchbacks that gain altitude up the side of a mountain beside Waterton Lake. This segment is fairly easy at the start when you are fresh, but challenging at the end when you are tired. Watch out for rocks and roots protruding from the trail.

The second segment (the long portion) is a long part of the trail that seems to go on forever. You travel along the valley leading to Crypt Lake and there isn't much of an overall elevation gain. Still, you get a number of good views of mountains along the way and you also get to see some of the other streams that feed into the main stream coming off Crypt Falls.

The third segment (the brutal switchbacks) is steep switchbacks that ascend up a lightly-vegetated mountainside. The trail is primarily scree at this point, which makes descent even more treacherous than ascent. However, it is here that you get a good look at Crypt Falls and the valley along which you have just passed. And if you look really carefully, you can see the upcoming traverse and tunnel.

The final segment (the fun stuff) starts at what used to be a backcountry campground (and is now just a picnic table, complete with carved checkerboard). Here, you will encounter a scree traverse, a naturally formed tunnel, a cable traverse, the top of Crypt Falls, and Crypt Lake (complete with bootskiing opportunities). It is here that some people call it quits due to worries about the height. This is unfortunate, as you are only about 15 minutes from Crypt Lake at this point, and have walked for over 2 1/2 hours to get this far. I don't recommend doing the hike if you are afraid of heights, as you won't be able to see the best parts.

These pictures are from the hike I did in early August 2002 with Terry Schauenberg. Due to space constraints, I had to reduce the size of the pictures. If you would like full pictures (for screen savers, backgrounds, etc), just email me and let me know. All pictures (except for the panoramas) are 1200 X 1792 pixels and vary in size from 500 KB to 1.5 MB.

Now for a little note about copyright. You have my permission to download and use these pictures for personal use. That means you can use them for backdrops, screensavers, etc. I'll even give you the high-resolution images for personal use (but you still have to contact me to get them). However, if you're using these pictures for anything other than private, personal use, you have to clear it with me first. We'll figure something out depending on what you are planning on using the pictures for.

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