Waterton Lakes National Park Bertha Lake June 27, 2022

My stars aligned for getting four nights of accommodation during a stretch of forecasted beautiful weather in Waterton Lakes National Park.  I made a long list of where I wanted to go and what I wanted to see.  Bertha Lake was at the top of the list for a few reasons.  I had only been there once back in 2012, it was one of the few trails that was clear of snow, I could walk to the trail head from my home away from home and it had been cleared of deadfall by Parks People.  

I arrived at the trail head and already had to layer down before even beginning to hike.  

It was 7:15am and I was down to a short sleeve shirt!  

It's wildflower season in Waterton and they were in abundance right from the get go.  I took time to admire them all and then realized I better get going or I would get no where.  The trail ascends to open views very quickly thanks to the fire of 2017.  

I took a few moments at the Boundary Bay viewpoint then carried on with the ascent.  That's Waterton Lake and there is a trail down from the viewpoint through those trees on the left.  I leads to the Boundary Bay backcountry campground and also eventually to the Canada/United States border. 

paintbrush wildflowers

There is this one section where the brush is dense and the trail is narrow. 

Conditions so far were ideal.  

The trail was dry, the views were awesome, 

it was greener than green and I was in my glory.  

This was the beginning of snow on the trail.  It was easily avoidable.  

Further along there was a bit more but it was easy to by pass or walk through.  

This is Bertha Lake!  This was also my dining spot.  I could see to the right (out of this photo) a few people in another open area.  After eating I worked my way over there.  After crossing the bridge, the trail was snow covered with a path on top of the snow.  I followed it to where I saw the others, admired the view and then did an about turn.  The trail does go around Bertha Lake but there are still steep snow slopes as you can see on the left and also in the far back bowl, making the loop not doable.  

The views on the return trek were even more beautiful.  

These are those same paintbrush wildflowers that I shared a photo of earlier in this post.  

I like this view of them better.

By now there were many people heading up to Bertha Lake and the majority of them commented about how hot it was.  I was thankful I got the early start.  By now I was getting glimpses of Waterton Lake and I already knew that I would stop by the Lake before heading back to my home away from home.  But, I still had a few kilometres to cover from this point.

Bears Breath

Bears Breath

Once again I took a little time at the Boundary Bay viewpoint where you see south.  A Warden was taking a break to lather on sunscreen.  He was getting ready to head back down.  He wanted to know if there were any signs of bears on the trail to Bertha Lake or at Bertha Lake to which I replied "no".

It's time to hit the last stretch of trail down to the townsite.  

My next destination is to the lakeside.

Yellow Columbine

Here I am standing in Waterton Lake with the water just over my ankles. It is actually that clear! 

It was such a beautiful day and gorgeous view, I sat for awhile with my feet in the water and then let them air dry.  Time came to head on back to my home away from home where I could sit outside with my feet up while savouring some cold sips.