Sept 11th…..Big Bertha

Yes it actually is a legit trail on Alltrails. ( Upper Bertha Falls to Bertha lake Trail..!!) There was a promise of some views, and also some elevation…the two do so often tag team together…!!!

The trail starts in the village of Waterton, and as such it is a relatively busy trail. It gets less busy as you climb, a lot of the people out on this one stop at the waterfall and venture no further.

The trail weaves upward above the village, up high enough to see out over the lake afore you turn in to the wind and start to climb the next valley.

We had to stop just to take in the breath-taking view down the lake……

…and then the path starts to go up a little more seriously…….

The next bit of the trail is a steady up to the waterfall.

We opted not to stop and take pictures at the waterfall as there were many, many young people spread over the rocks paddling their feet in the water and munching sandwiches. (snapped a shot on the way by tho..!!) We don’t go in for such dillydallying, ( 😂 ) and carried on.

From here up the trail gets a bit more challenging…..!! I think I counted 20 switchbacks….and it’s a climb.

I trundled along at my, not very exciting but steady pace.

There was a young couple ahead of us and they kept stopping, but every time we started to catch up, they would race off again (we chuckled as they raced off each time…..they clearly did not want us oldies catching them….!!)

By the last few switchbacks…they had crashed, stopped, breathing heavily clutching their legs and gulping water heh heh…!! Us oldies are relentless..!!! The tortoise and the hare, slow and steady.

There was a very impressive waterfall close to the top….but there was no clear sightline for the camera to get a decent picture…

The last gasp to the top followed by a few switchbacks down to the lake.

……..and the occasional break in the trees to look down into the valley where we started….

It is quite magnificent…..and we were blessed with another beautiful sunny day. and the sunlight bouncing off the water added a bejewelled sparkle to the blue blue water.

Again, it was much busier than we were used to, but we found a quiet spot in one of the small bays around the lake to sit and have a snack and a water break….and soak in the surroundings….

The shrubbery around here is very dense…….perfect bear habitat…….this was one of those spots that there could have been bears sitting right next to us and we would never have known….the upside of that being….that if they WERE sitting next to us…they were not interested in messing with us…!!!Not today anyway…

We respectfully returned to the path and started the descent.

The route back down is always like another hike in itself, with the very different perspective of ‘looking the other way…!!’

Back down to the first waterfall….which was now even busier…!!,,,so again no cluster of artsy pictures by the photographer…!!

Its a long way down, not as bad on the knees as some we have done…….

I have said it before, Waterton is an incredibly beautiful park. I think I might even like it better than Banff….!!

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