Waterton Lakes National Park
Box 200, Waterton Park, AB,
403-859-5133
Waterton Lakes National Park is in southern Alberta where the prairies meet the peaks of the Rocky Mountains and the park borders Montana’s Glacier National Park (not to be confused with Canada’s Glacier National Park, near Revelstoke, BC).
Waterton was named by Lt. Thomas Blakiston, a member of the famous Palliser Expedition and one of the area’s earliest explorers. He named it after 19th century British naturalist Charles Waterton.
Waterton Lakes National Park was created in 1895 as the Waterton Lakes Forest Park Reserve, an area of 140 km2 around the lakes. It was the fourth such federally protected area, and became Waterton Lakes Dominion Park in 1911, following the creation of the Dominion Parks Branch. In 1930, under the new Canada National Parks Act, the park was renamed to Waterton Lakes National Park. Waterton is part of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (IPP), created in 1932 as a symbol of peace and goodwill between Canada and the United States, and in 1995 was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Waterton Lakes National Park is within the traditional territory of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) peoples, that refer to this place as Paahtomahksikimi (pronounced Paw-toe-MOCK-sick-ih-mee), meaning Inner Sacred Lake within the Mountains.
It’s known for its chain of lakes, including the large Upper and Middle Waterton lakes, flanked by the Rocky Mountains. Upper Waterton Lake is the deepest lake in the Canadian Rockies, 148m (487 ft) at its deepest. Bison graze near the Bison Paddock Loop Road. There are five sets of red chairs set in scenic locations throughout Waterton Lakes National Park
The park has two national historic sites located within its boundaries: The Prince of Wales Hotel NHS (built in 1926-27, and designated in 1995) and the First Oil Well in Western Canada NHS (drilled in 1902 , and designated in 1968).
