Location: Waterton Lakes National Park – Alberta, Canada
Destination: Bear’s Hump
Distance: 1.8 Miles / 2.8 Kilometers round-trip from the parking lot
Elevation Gain: 656 feet / 200 Meters
Difficulty: Short Easy Hike – Great hike for families with children | Class 1 – Hiking with a low chance of injury
Click here for an overview map of the trail.
Bear’s Hump is a short hike, just 0.9 miles to the top and it offers spectacular views. It’s short and steep, but well worth the effort. We went with some family, and my 3 year old nephew made it to the top all by himself! I’m not sure how long it would normally take to hike this (about 30 minutes to the top?), but with a little one it took about an hour.
From the lookout, it looks as if you could continue hiking to the top of the mountain, named Mount Crandell. Just after the Bear’s Hump Lookout, the hiking turns into difficult scrambling so it’s not advisable to continue. If you want to scramble Mount Crandell, check out Alan Kane’s book for the correct route for this mountain.
    
From the lookout, you can see the top of Mount Crandell.
From the top, the views of Waterton Lakes are spectacular! You can see the whole town of Waterton, including the Prince of Wales Hotel.
   
To add a little more to your day, you might want to stop by the Bison Paddock just outside of Waterton. There is a loop that you can drive in your vehicle where there are plenty of vantage points to see the bison grazing or napping in the sun.
Wonderful photographs. I’m missing mountains in my life like a crazy person.
You’d love Waterton lakes with the gorgeous color and the surrounding mountains!
We were up in Whitefish and Glacier last weekend. It’s so incredibly beautiful! I love seeing all of the different hikes you do – so lovely.
I think you would love Waterton as well, and if you’ve never been to Banff it’s really amazing. We like to spend most of our time in a town called Canmore which is near Banff but not nearly as crowded and the scenery is phenomenal!
Thanks for the tip. We’ve been up to Banff once, and it was amazing! I’ll add Canmore to my list for sure.