Don’t go to Waterton/Glacier expecting to see glaciers – for that you want Rainier or Alaska! The title is somewhat misleading and seems to relate more to its post glacial scenery with deep valleys and lakes with forests of Aspen and Lodgepole Pine, flower filled meadows and rocky peaks up to 3190 metres than to current glaciers (there is at least 1 at Grinell which apparently you can get to though we didn't). The Park lies at the point where the Rockies meet the Prairies and thus covers a variety of ecological niches. You should see both bighorn sheep and mountain goats. It is undoubtedly attractive scenery but not really among the very top scenic highlights of this part of N America which has a number of other nearby parks as good or better many of which have already been inscribed (Particularly the Canadian Rocky Parks) or are on Tentative Lists

There are highways around and 1 across the Park (the romantically named “Going to the Sun Highway”!) but this is primarily a park for walking/camping. We did a very pleasant return walk from near the summit of this highway at 2036 metres along a glacial arete known as “The Garden Wall” which forms the Continental Divide to Granite Chalet where there is a small restaurant serving “home cooking” (I remember how good everything tasted after the exercise of getting there!)

I guess that the “International Peace Park” aspect appealed to the UNESCO committee (the US part is 8x as big as the Canadian) though that doesn’t feature specifically in the 2 purely “natural” criteria on which inscription was based. Reading the 1995 IUCN report after the third nomination attempt by USA/Canada you can almost feel the arms being twisted to accept it - “All 6 external reviewers expressed reservations over the merits of the proposal” followed by a long discussion about what is meant by “Universal outstanding value” which certainly doesn’t convince that this Park meets it. Mention is also made of the fact that the US has included 9 other sites from the “Western Cordillera” in its Tentative List. Nevertheless the Park apparently contains “98% of the world’s remaining stock of genetically pure Westslope Cutthroat Trout” so perhaps it is of “Universal Outstanding Value” after all!