We camped at Waterton by the lakeside and hiked trails each day in Waterton National Park.    One of the hikes we did was Crypt Lake.    To get to the trailhead, we had to book a ride on the ferry.    The ferry service leaves from the Marina and it takes 15 – 20 minutes to land at the trailhead on the far side of the lake.     The trail climbs above a creek valley to an imposing rock face.    The name “crypt” comes from the route to the lake.    The trail traverses a rock ledge, climbs a ladder, then goes through a natural rock tunnel.   On the other side are cliffs, but an airy trail is supported by chains and handholds to get up a series of ledges to the lake.   The lake itself is rockbound, hidden between Mt. Boswell and Crypt Peak.    We hiked up, enjoyed the rocky route then had lunch at the lake.

There were lots of people on this hike who were sitting at the near end, so we chose to hike around the alpine tarn before heading back down.

We hiked back down the way we came.    The return distance for this hike is about 18 km, with 726 m elevation gain.   It took us about 6 hours of brisk hiking to do the route.    For many people this is an exciting hike, but we were not that impressed.    It is unique, but the scenery was not as interesting as other hikes in the Rockies.   It is a good hike to do once.   A few images (taken by the author) from the hike are shared here in a Google Photos album – Crypt Lake Trail

An embedded photo slide show is also provided here: