Carthew Alderson trail is considered as one of the best hikes in Waterton lakes National park.
This is a one way trail, a shuttle bus operated by Tamarrack outfitters dropped us at Cameron lake.

Cameron lake

The plan was to begin at Cameron lake and finish Waterton village..Simple!
I was prepared to explore and experience even though we were told this is one of the difficult hikes in the area with a distance over 20KM.
My legs hadn’t fully recovered from the hike we did the previous day. Somehow I chose to ignore the vital signs of my body and started the hike.
It was all good until I reached the Summit lake, the terrain was not that difficult at all.

Summit Lake

Summit lake

Things slowly started to get intense, I could feel the elevation gain.

And the views kept getting better and better.

View of Cameron lake half way through

The terrain now had completely changed to loose gravel which made it even harder to hike, the breath taking views kept me going all the way to the top

Once we reached the highest point I felt a sense of achievement take over the pain and agony I was going through.

That’s Karthick

After enjoying the 360 degree view of phenomenal landscape and light snacks, we decided to head towards Waterton village.

From now on it was mostly descend- the beauty of this hike was the landscape kept changing every few kilometers

We even had a chance to experience a little snow

We call it the dragon snow 🙂

Colorful flowers and the crystal clear lake

After this point I couldn’t move. Literally. I had to take a longer break to reevaluate if I was able to continue my hike back; the right knee had already given up on me. At this moment I started to wonder what is going to happen.
With all the right motivation and support by Karthick, I was back on track. This time we were really slow as I had to calculate each every step carefully to avoid further damage. I should accept this was the toughest 6KM ever in my life.
Being very slow was daunting but had few advantages, we came across some wild goats, beavers etc. And of-course the fellow hikers made use of our pace to inquire about the distance to next lake/summit and also requested our service to capture their Kodak moment.
When I saw the Waterton village at a distance all my sense came back to life.

This is an unforgettable trail which had tons of spectacular views, breath taking moments and a lot of time to reflect on myself. This trail had absolutely tested the mental and physical strength beyond my imagination. It taught to respect my body and brought a whole new level admiration to nature.

Summary:
Distance: 14.96 Miles, Elevation:2,680 feet, Time :8hrs 26 min.