Geology, Flora and Fauna
The Waterton area's unique geological history becomes clear when you compare its scenery with the strikingly different landscapes of Banff and Jasper national parks to the north . Rock and mountains in Waterton moved eastward during the formation of the Rockies , but unlike the ruptured strata elsewhere it travelled as a single vast mass known as the Lewis Thrust. Some 6km thick, this monolith moved over 70km along a 300-kilometre front, the result being that rocks over 1.5 billion years old from the Rockies' "sedimentary basement"- now the oldest surface rocks in the range - finally came to rest undisturbed on top of the prairies' far more recent 60-million-year-old shales. Scarcely any zone of transition exists between the two, which is why the park is often known as the place where the "peaks meet the prairies", and its landscapes as "upside-down mountains". The effect was to produce not only slightly lower peaks than to the north, but also mountains whose summits are irregular in shape and whose sedimentary formations are horizontal (very different from the steeply tilted strata and distinctive sawtooth ridges of Banff National Park). The classic glacial U-shaped Waterton Valley and Upper Waterton Lake (at 150m, the Rockies' deepest lake) are more recent phenomena, gouged out 1.9 million years ago by Ice Age glaciers as they carved their way northwards through the present Waterton valley before expiring on the prairies. Upper Waterton Lake and the other two Waterton lakes are residual depressions left after the ice's final retreat 11,000 years ago. Cameron Lake, by contrast, was created when a glacial moraine (debris created by a glacier) dammed the waters of Cameron Creek. The flat townsite area has different origins again, consisting of deposits of silt, mud and gravel washed down from the mountains over the millennia and deposited as an alluvial "fan" across Upper Waterton Lake. The huge variety of altitude, habitats and climate within the park - a combination of prairie, montane and alpine - mean that plants and wildlife from prairie habitats co-mingle with the species of the purely montane, subalpine and alpine regions found elsewhere. The result is the greatest diversity of flora and fauna of any of the western national parks: 1200 plant species - well over half of all that grown in Alberta - and 250 species of birds. The variety is immediately noticeable. As you approach the park on Hwy 5 from the north, a route almost as scenic as the park, you pass through dry prairie grasslands . This is home to native grasses such as grama and rough fescue, local species now rapidly disappearing, displaced over the years by cultivated crops. Here, too, you should see the prickly wild rose, Alberta's floral emblem, sagebrush, buckbrush (yellow rose) and pincushion cactus. Entering the park you pass the wetlands of Maskinonge Lake on your left, while in the Blakison Valley and around Belly River Campsite you are in the realms of aspen parkland , a transitional zone between prairie and forest habitats dominated by aspen, willow, white spruce, balsam poplar and flowers such as prairie crocus, snowberry and lily of the valley. Higher up you encounter montane forest and subalpine zones, fecund zones rich in plant and animal life easily explored on hikes such as the Bertha Lake and Carthew Lakes trails . On the eastern slopes above Cameron Lake are copses of 400-year-old subalpine trees (lodgepole pine, larch, fir, whitebark pine and Engelmann spruce), the oldest forest growth in the park. Here, too, you'll see vast spreads of so-called bear grass, a bright flower-topped grass which can grow up to a metre in height. Trees largely give out in the alpine zone , an area of which the park's Crypt Lake is a good example. It is the preserve of heathers, hardy lichens, flower-strewn meadows and rarer high-altitude alpine plants. If you want to see fauna , enquire at the park centre for likely locations and times - autumn days at dawn and dusk are usually best. Birds are best seen on Maskinonge and Lower Waterton lakes, Linnet Lake, Cameron Lake and along the easy 45-minute Wishbone Trail off Chief Mountain Highway. The best time to look is during the migratory season between September and November, as the park lies under two major migration routes. Ospreys also nest close to Waterton Townsite. Maskinonge Lake is the place to sit in the hope of seeing mink and muskrats. As for mammals , beavers can be seen on the Belly River, and golden-mantled ground squirrels around Cameron Lake and on the Bear's Hump above town; Columbian ground squirrels are ubiquitous. The park has about fifty black bears, but you'll be lucky to see them: your best bet is to scan the slopes of Blakison Valley in July and August as they forage for berries in readiness for hibernation. Grizzlies, moose and cougars are also prevalent, but rarely seen. White-tailed deer nibble up and down the Red Rock Canyon Parkway, while elk and mule deer often wander in and around Waterton town itself. Mountain goats are shy and elusive, but you may glimpse one or two in the rocky high ground above Bertha, Crypt and Goat lakes. Bighorn sheep congregate above the Visitor Centre and the northern flanks of the Blakison Valley.
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