Tue. 8th September 2026
We have a long drive ahead of us today, around 430km which will take 5 hours driving – and of course, Claude has some stops scheduled for us. As we have said before, it has been very useful to have an AI put together an itinerary but can be frustrating at times. For example, Janet on doing an itinerary check found that the Fort Steele Heritage City (a restored 1880s boom city) was closed on Tuesdays. When challenged, Claude’s response was “oh, that’s just as well as I have something better for you!” Well, why didn’t you suggest that in the first place??!
The alternative is the city of Fernie, pretty much halfway to our destination of Waterton Lakes. Even if it there wasn’t anything interesting to see, it would make a good place to stop, stretch our legs and grab a coffee. Fernie is a small city with a lot of early 20th century buildings that were pretty enough. I suspect that the steep pitch on the roof of the courthouse is to keep the snow off it. It is only when we get to the tiny museum that we really start to understand what it is that makes the city interesting.
The native Ktunaxa people called the area “a bad place” because of the impenetrable forest, uncrossable rivers and the snowfall. White explorers, looking for gold, found coal here in 1873 and that was enough to start the city. The railway arrived in 1898 and so the mining could really get started. There are still 4 working (open cast) mines going today and the railway is still used to get coal out. However, in the 1900s, Fernie had a string of bad luck:
In 1902, an explosion devasted one of the mines killing 128 miners in worst mining accident in BC. In 1904 and 1908 there were big fires in the city, the latter burning down all the city centre and resulting in the city council decreeing that all buildings should be built of stone. In 1911, was the worst snowstorm and freeze in living memory, trapping people in their homes and bursting water pipes. Between 1903 and 2013, there have been 9 notable floods. And to cap it all off, in 1935 the city went into receivership at the end of the great depression. Maybe the Ktunaxa were on to something!
Sticking with the theme of disasters, our next stop, a further hour down the road, was outside the town of Frank at the Frank Slide Interpretation Centre. No not because Mr. Slide speaks in a foreign language (boom-tish! Or crickets!). Frank was another mining town, this time at the foot of Turtle Mountain. In 1903, 80-90m tonnes of limestone broke away from the top of the mountain and the resulting rockfall swept away a part of the town causing 90 deaths. The rock field is still present today and the Interpretation Centre, set beside it, tells the story of what happened and why. In short, tectonic plate movement folded the layers of rock and then pushed them up so the layers stood vertically, rather than laying horizontally, water seepage between the layers and then repeated freeze / thaw cycles weakened the rock until it gave way. Other parts of the mountain are now displaying similar signs of weakness, so another rockfall is expected.
The Interpretation Centre is a bit cheesy (e.g. reconstruction of a building damaged by falling rocks), but did at least explain the why as well as the what.
We crossed over from BC into Alberta somewhere on our morning drive between Fernie and Frank, but it was only as we left Frank were there any noticeable changes in scenery. It was as if Turtle Mountain was the last mountain in the world. Suddenly the landscape was flat and covered in brown and green grasses. Later research tells us that these grassland plains are part of the Great Plains that extend all the way south to northern Texas! Apart from a few houses dotted around, the only features are the wind turbines, and even these are more sparsely distributed than we’d find in the UK.
When we neared Waterton, Janet’s preparation was truly rewarded. First thing this morning, whilst I filled up the car, Janet nipped across the road to the Tourist Office and bought us both annual National Park passes. Park entry has been free up until 7th September but we are going to be visiting so many parks both here and in Eastern Canada, that an annual pass is a no-brainer. All of the Waterton Lakes area is in a National Park and there are pay booths across the road on our way in with traffic queuing up. Then we spot the sign that says ‘annual passes, right lane’, so we avoid the queue, scan our pass at the barrier and we’re in!
The town of Waterton is set alongside the eponymous lake, with the distinctive Prince of Wales hotel (named after Edward VII) standing proud on the hill at the head of the town. For reasons that we can’t remember, we decided not to book that there but instead Kilmorey Lodge, whose only saving grace it turned out, is that it is closer to the town centre. As part of our briefing today, Claude has told us (me) that we are close to the new moon and that Waterton is a great location for astrophotography with the Milky Way visible down the length of the lake. When asked for tips on astrophotography, Claude then states that Waterton is the windiest place in Canada. And so it seems when I go out to reconnoitre locations. Sadly the night was too cloudy for astro, but I was able to get some lovely shots looking down the length of the lake in golden hour.
[PS – The far end of the lake is in Montana in the US. This is possibly the closest we are going to get to the border in our trip – certainly until our drive back from Nova Scotia to Montreal at the end.]