Best time to go
Bear’s Hump is popular and can be busy at peak times. Morning, later in the day or midweek are the quieter choices. The summit is exposed and can be windy, so give yourself time to enjoy it before heading back down.
Overview
About Bear’s Hump
Why stop
- The panorama stretches from the Waterton lakes into Glacier and the prairie.
Heads up
- The sustained steep grade feels bigger than a 2.8 km return.
Map
Where it is
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Full mapPlan your stop
Before you go
Best time to go
7 active Waterton Lakes alerts
- ClosureBelly River Campground closedBelly River Campground is closed to all traffic and travel because a carcass is in the area. - Violators may be charged under the Canada National Parks Act, with a maximum penalty of $25,000.Official details
- ClosureBlakiston Fan closed to protect rutting elkThe Blakiston Fan area is closed to traffic and travel to prevent disturbance of elk rutting there.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Waterton Lakes Tour Guide
Your drive to Bear’s Hump, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Waterton Lakes National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Waterton Lakes audio tourRecorded for this place
Bear’s Hump0:00 / 0:22
“You’re nearing the Bear’s Hump trailhead, where a short, steep climb leads to a bluff above town. I’d choose it for the view across the lakes toward Glacier, with open prairie in the other direction.”
Plays as you drive up to Bear’s Hump in the Parkwolf Waterton Lakes Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Emerald Bay and Kilmorey Lodge
- A Valley Shaped by Ice
- Pat’s Waterton and Mount View Road Shops
- Cameron Falls
- 51 audio storiesacross Waterton Lakes’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Bison, Black Bear, Elk, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 47 trails, 70 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
More about Bear’s Hump
Why make the climbBear’s Hump is a rocky bluff on the side of Mount Crandell, Waterton’s signature viewpoint…
Bear’s Hump is a rocky bluff on the side of Mount Crandell, Waterton’s signature viewpoint above the townsite. It’s a strong pick if you want one short walk that gives you the shape of the park: the view takes in town and the lakes, south into Glacier National Park, and northeast to open prairie. The approach is 2.8 km return with 225 m of climbing; Parks Canada estimates about an hour.
A short, steep approachThe rocky trail climbs sharply for most of its length, so it feels tougher than the distance…
The rocky trail climbs sharply for most of its length, so it feels tougher than the distance suggests. Benches along the way give you places to pause, and a final set of steps brings you onto the flat-topped bluff. The trailhead is across Entrance Road from the Prince of Wales Hotel access road.
Take in the whole panoramaFrom the top, look across the townsite and Waterton Valley toward the lakes and mountains.
From the top, look across the townsite and Waterton Valley toward the lakes and mountains. Turn northeast for the prairie ranchland, then south toward Glacier in the United States. For a photo that shows the scale, keep the rocky edge in the foreground with the town and Upper Waterton Lake below it; the view opens in several directions, so don’t stop at one frame.
The Hump’s older namesMount Crandell is known to the Blackfoot as Bear Mountain.
Mount Crandell is known to the Blackfoot as Bear Mountain. Before the trail to the viewpoint was built, the bluff was called the Pimple, a less grand name for one of the park’s best-known outlooks.
Rebuilt after the Kenow wildfireThe 2017 Kenow wildfire burned much of Waterton, and the Bear’s Hump trail was rebuilt and…
The 2017 Kenow wildfire burned much of Waterton, and the Bear’s Hump trail was rebuilt and rehabilitated afterward. That recovery is part of the walk’s story as you climb above the townsite.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Waterton Lakes
83 sightingsBisonMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
563 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
146 sightingsElkMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
113 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
55 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
53 sightingsTrumpeter SwanMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Waterton Lakes. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
