Red Rock Canyon

Red Rock Canyon is a signature day-use stop at the end of Waterton's scenic Red Rock Parkway, where a mountain creek runs over broad shelves of red and green rock. It is a good choice for a short walk, a picnic, or a close look at the park's unusual geology. The canyon is popular enough that parking can fill in peak season; July and August are especially busy. The parkway is narrow and winding, and vehicle access is seasonal, usually from May into late October.

For a photo, keep some creek in the foreground with the colored rock shelves around it; the water shows what cut the channel as well as how the stone changes color.

The signed canyon circuit is an easy, paved 0.7 km loop with little elevation gain. Allow about 20 minutes to take in the creek and the interpretive panels along the path. If you want to stretch the stop, Lower Red Rock's parking area is also the trailhead for the easy 2 km return walk to Blakiston Falls.

The canyon walls are argillite, a shaly siltstone. Red layers contain oxidized iron; green layers hold iron that has not oxidized. The sediments that became these rocks settled at the bottom of an ancient sea about 1.5 billion years ago. Look closely at the smooth ledges beside the creek and the stripes are easier to pick out than they are from the road.

Red Rock Canyon is part of an alluvial fan formed through erosion and deposits from Blakiston Creek. The fan sits in Waterton's broader transition from steep mountain slopes to land shaped by glacial and river deposits. The canyon is a small place to see that meeting of water, rock and mountain landscape at close range.

Upper and Lower Red Rock make up the day-use destination. Upper Red Rock has eight picnic tables and dry toilets. At Lower Red Rock, three tables sit inside a shelter with a wood stove. There is no food concession, so plan on bringing food if you want to eat here rather than making the stop part of a village meal.