Crandell Lake (Red Rock Parkway), Waterton Lakes National Park

Facts:

Difficulty: Moderate

Distance (Return): 4 km

Estimated Time (Return): 1 ½ hours

Description: Steady uphill trail through montane forest

Crandell Lake has 2 trails that lead to the lake. One starting from the Akamina Parkway and the other starting from Red Rock Parkway. Both are short trails but the Red Rock Parkway hike is a bit longer and steeper. We decided to start from Red Rock because we’d never done the hike from there before. Personally I didn’t find it to be all that steep, it is a gradual climb to the lake so it makes the elevation gain quite bearable.

As we were getting ready to start we had a young bighorn sheep watching us in the parking lot. It’s always exciting to see them in the summer because it seems that the townsite is largely populated by them in the winter but aren’t seen as often in the warmer months.

 

The 2km hike to the lake is pretty sheltered and the whole time you are surrounded by forest. Some sections of the path have stretches of exposed rock that you walk on which quickly leads you to beautiful Crandell Lake. It’s a great place to spend an afternoon and just relax along the many rocky outcrops along the lake. As we explored the area we found some really great photo opportunities and as we watched the lake we could see the fish jump from time to time.

When you first descend onto the rocky beach if you continue following the path straight up around the lake to the right you will find that the path will take you all the way to the Crandell Lake trail head at the Akamina Parkway. This provides a person with the opportunity to either extend their hike or have the hike start and finish in different places. Last summer when we started from the Akamina Parkway we ended up doing a loop around the entire lake which made the short hike a bit longer and gave us some different views of the beautiful lake and surrounding mountains.

 

*There is also a small backcountry campsite on the north shore of the lake.