Waterton Lakes National Park is the best kept hiking secret in Canada. YOU can go — but let the non-hiking hordes jam the roadways of Banff and Jasper instead.
Contributors Kelly and Lexi (getting married Aug. 4th in the Yukon, by the way) raved about their 2006 Carthew-Alderson hike in Waterton. Based on their recommendation, we added Carthew-Alderson to our list of the best hikes in North America.
Last Friday the weather was hot and clear so we made a dash to Waterton.
Unfortunately, Saturday morning the weather changed as we approached the summit, high point of the day hike.
To see what happened click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Stuck in the clouds, we missed most of the best vistas. We even got lost crossing the top of the ridge having to ask a marmot for directions.
Click PLAY to see how it looks on a “sunny” day. Or watch it on YouTube.
You might have noticed, the biggest drawback of Waterton is wind.
Carthew-Alderson 20km (12.4mi) from Cameron Lake to Cameron Falls. Highly recommended. Hiker’s shuttle C$10 / person available at Tamarack Mall.
besthike.com 
Another great choice!
It has been a few years, but we enjoyed this route immensely!
DSD
This is a GREAT hike! I’ve done it twice and loved it both times. Crypt Lake gets all the press–thank goodness–but this is far more spectacular than Crypt.