Saturday, August 22, 2009 – Day 41
After travelling towards home through the USA for a few weeks it was time to get a closer look at Southern Alberta and British Columbia. One person commenting online on our Cross Canada Adventure route suggested that we visit Waterton National Park in Southwestern Alberta. It was a wonderful idea.
We headed directly for Red Rock Canyon which is in the North Eastern part of the park. Not knowing what to expect on this hot sunny afternoon we drove along the narrow road with some relatives from the area. The kids enjoyed being with other kids their own ages for a change and enjoyed the drive as much as anything else.
After parking our vehicle in the parking lot we took our picnic lunch to the edge of the creek that flowed through the canyon. It was an amazing sight as we saw the red rock cliffs up the riverbed. The red cliffs were separated by thin horizontal stripes of gray rock that sliced the cliff walls into layers. The gray colours added to the walls of the rock which called for us to explore more upstream. It was too hard to resist and so after a short lunch at the edge of the stream we all hiked upriver. We had been told that there were some natural water slides carved into the rock and the kids were anxious to go upstream to slide in the frigid water. We walked through the shallow water hopping from stone to stone while occasionally trudging through the water. Because of how cold the glacier feeling water was, I could not walk for too long in the water without my feet starting to tingle and feeling a bit numb.
It was not a long walk to the first water slide, only about 5 minutes. This slide however was less than 10 feet long and not exciting at all for our older kids. Our youngest 6 year old was content to slide around in the freezing waters a few times before shivering to shore for a dry towel. He had fun but with the shade around us, it didn’t last long.
The older kids wanted a bit more excitement and so they headed on upriver another 10 to 15 minutes to check out the longer 100 foot rock slide. They spent at least an hour at the big slide before the cold got the better of them. They just repeated their slide down the river over and over again. Our 8 year old even braved the long slide in the frigid temperature of the water. When the older kids returned where the younger ones were they were full of stories involving their hike past a tangled mess of trees to the much anticipated and worthwhile sliding spot.
While it was not our first time to Waterton Park, it was our first time to Red Rock Canyon and definitely worth spending an afternoon at. The canyon had something to offer kids of all ages and was a beautiful sight to boot. We’ll definitely have to come back to explore more of the corners of this large National Park.