Big Sky Vacation Day 12: O Canada!


Today, we drove to Alberta, Canada.  The Waterton Lakes National Park is the northern half of Glacier National Park and together they make up the International Peace Park.  I’ve always wanted to see that side of the park and this trip I was going to make that happen.

We got up this morning and completed packing.  We got the car packed up and the house cleaned up.  After one last sigh, I closed the door on the East Glacier Home Away from Home that we rented for the last week or so.  It was great, but time to move on to other locations.

We grabbed breakfast up in town and then headed up Hwy 49 one last time toward St. Mary’s.  From there, we took 89 up through Babb and into Canada.  There weren’t many cars on the highway in this direction.  We probably only saw 4 or 5 cars total.

After about an hour, we came to the Chief Mountain border crossing into Canada.  We had to wait for someone to come out to the border gate to let us through.  The questions were pretty routine.  I wasn’t as nervous this time.  Most of the questions they ask are from census information and you have to give an answer that kind of matches.  The times of computer information.

We got the nod and headed over the border.  We were officially in Canada, again.  From this point on, I had to read the inner circle on the speedometer for the speed limit.  Here, it is typically 80 klicks or 50 mph.  I’m even talking in klicks!  We stopped at an overlook to take a break and use the bathrooms.  We didn’t realize it, but this overlook was over Waterton, which is our final destination for this leg.

When I came out and joined Rich at the view point, he was talking to a couple.  Turns out, they were from Chattanooga, TN.  Their destination was Lake Louise up in Banff.  They have a long way to go.  Luckily, we are almost to ours.

It was only about noon, so we had time to kill before we can check into our hotel.  We went by the Visitor’s Center to get information.  While we were in line to get info, a lady came in and said that a bear was spotted on a trial behind the center.  It was maybe 15 minutes up the trail.  Funny, the trail behind the center is called Bear Hump.  I guess he was humpin’ it out there, too.

We got our info and some hiking suggestions from the ladies behind the desk.  We had to go back up the road to catch a turn going northwest.  As we were getting out, everyone on the road suddenly stopped and got out of their cars.  Guess that bear was coming this way.  I told Rich we should stop and get a shot, but he didn’t like that idea.  He saw the bear, but I didn’t.  Turns out it was an adult grizzly.  Two bears in two days for Rich.

We drove out to Red Rock Canyon where the road ended.  First, we stopped by the first oil well in these parts.  I guess the area was known as a tar patch for centuries and someone decided to sink a well to get it all out.  They did and now it is dry.  We continued on to the canyon and parked and walked out to the trail that would take us to Blackiston Falls.  I told Rich, “Hey, we have a Blackiston Falls on the Silver Creek in Clarksville, too.”  He wasn’t impressed.

I was more impressed with these falls.  It was a little bit of a hike back to them, but they were well worth it.  They were beautiful with lots of water flowing.  Looking around the area, you could see where the falls had moved around and changed course.  The wall in front of falls had been worn away and released what looked like a pool at one time.

We walked back up to the Red Rock Canyon.  This is another river or creek that cut through the red rocks of the area over a long period of time.  It also turned out to be a very popular swimming hole for a lot of hot people.  There were pools of water and some smaller falls that people were using as slides.  Seems like they should be hurting the formations, but no one else seemed to mind.

We walked up and around the canyon before heading back to the car.  In the parking lot, I saw the funniest thing.  There were two motorcycles parked together.  His and Hers, I imagine.  The lady’s bike was pink and white with a barbwire motif.  The man’s had pennies, nickels, and dimes glued all over anything that might hold them.  Wonder how much money was on there?

We then drove down to Cameron Lake to do a couple of hikes.  The lake was beautiful with the mountains all around it.  There was boating, fishing, and swimming.  In the background, you could see a mountain covered in snow that was actually in Montana.  The center was bowled out from centuries of avalanches.

We walked back to Akimina Lake first.  This is a small and very quiet lake up above Cameron Lake.  We found a lady with a couple of pugs sitting on a platform there.  Her husband was fishing the lake for trout.  He came in while we were talking with a really nice rainbow trout.  The dogs were too thrilled to see the fish though.

We went back to Cameron Lake and walked the trail that ran beside the lake back to the avalanche zone.  There the trail stops.  In this area, there is too much danger of the upper level snows on the mountain letting go and creating an avalanche.  They try to keep people out of that area just in case.  It was July, but they had had a lot of snow this past winter and it was still hanging up on the mountain.  We didn’t hang out there long because the mosquitos were huge and vicious.  We had to reapply bug spray just to survive.

We eventually made it back to the boathouse and concessions.  Rich stopped in for coffee.  It was after 2:00, you know.  There were a bunch of 3 and 4 years old around the door.  They were cute, but definitely in the way.  Kids that age just don’t see anything outside of themselves.

Time to head into town and find our hotel.  The GPS was having a hard time understanding where we needed to be.  I recognized the outside of the hotel from one street over.  It just took a bit to figure out how to get over there.  It looked better than I had hoped.  You never know about hotels these days.

We got checked in and sent around to a yellow building.  So there are probably 9 buildings and each building holds 12 or so rooms.  It was kind of an interesting way to stack them.  Rich figures this is so they can shut down rooms in the winter when they don’t need as many.  We ended up on the second floor and there was no elevator!  I thought I was going to die dragging my suitcase up the stairs!  We made it though.  After showering and settling in, it was time for dinner.

We walked out to the street to find the business section.  I could see people on the sidewalk taking pictures of something.  Then I turned to my left and a deer came walking through the complex.  Right behind her came a baby.  They were less than 25 feet away.

We walked up the street and could see the Prince of Wales hotel on the hill overlooking the lake and town.  Pat’s Garage was on the corner.  We walked to the right and found our restaurant.  This was Trapper’s Grill.  It seemed to have the most promise.  We got in right away and got a table.  Rich ordered the smoked trout appetizer and we had a couple of beers.  It was delicious and I’m not a big trout fan.  We ordered a bison steak and bison meatloaf.  Dinner was pretty good.  Or were we just hungry?  We had another beer and talked.  Time to pay.  You don’t even look at the bill and just put it on a card.  Everything is expensive.  It’s a resort town.

I looked around the gift shop and say some really great t-shirts.  Rich was not impressed.  We walked around town to look at other restaurants and bars.  Pretty much, everything was the same.  Not a lot of choice, but some interesting places to go for breakfast and dinner tomorrow.

We walked out to the marina to look at the schedule for the boat tours.  We figured we would go on a lake tour tomorrow rather than hike.  Our legs and feet are tired and we’ve seen a lot of mountains and falls over the last few days.  The tour on the lake would be about 2 hours.  We would go to Goat Haunt on the U.S. side and then come back around to town.  We’ve drive up to the Prince of Wales hotel and poke around a bit.  Then come back to town for dinner and hang out.

Sorry for not attaching picture today.  The link here is really slow and pictures would be impossible.  I’ll add them later when we get to someplace where the access is better.

Gateway to Canada
Gateway to Canada
Welcome sign and the fact it said wild rose.
Welcome sign and the fact it said wild rose.
Overlook going into Waterton that appears on the far side of the lake.
Overlook going into Waterton that appears on the far side of the lake.

 

Sign explaining the mountains around Waterton.
Sign explaining the mountains around Waterton.
Pennies, nickels, and dimes
Pennies, nickels, and dimes
Blackiston Falls from a distance
Blackiston Falls from a distance
Blackiston Falls
Blackiston Falls
Interesting rock cairn at Blackiston Falls
Interesting rock cairn at Blackiston Falls

 

Looking up the river at Blackiston Falls
Looking up the river at Blackiston Falls
Magma that came up through the crust and cooled.
Magma that came up through the crust and cooled.
Popular place to play in the water
Popular place to play in the water
People all up and down the canyon.
People all up and down the canyon.
Anderson Mountain at Red Rock Canyon
Anderson Mountain at Red Rock Canyon
Cameron Lake and the boat dock.
Cameron Lake and the boat dock.
Info on avalanache area in Cameron Lake
Info on avalanache area in Cameron Lake

 

Beautiful little flowers along the trail
Beautiful little flowers along the trail
Akamina Lake
Akamina Lake
Trails end on Cameron Lake
Trails end on Cameron Lake
Grizzlies on plaque at Cameron Lake
Grizzlies on plaque at Cameron Lake
Hiking along Cameron Lake
Hiking along Cameron Lake

Snows over avalanche bowl on mountain in Montana

Avalanche area in one of the creeks
Avalanche area in one of the creeks
Alleluvial fan going to Cameron Lake
Alleluvial fan going to Cameron Lake
River plain where people have lived for centuries.
River plain where people have lived for centuries.

 

Our hotel for the next two days.
Our hotel for the next two days.
Our building at the resort
Our building at the resort
Rich in heaven with his beer and smoked trout.
Rich in heaven with his beer and smoked trout.
Deer on our walk through town.
Deer on our walk through town.

 

Prince of Wales hotel from down in Waterton
Prince of Wales hotel from down in Waterton
Pat's Garage in Waterton where you rent everything you need.
Pat’s Garage in Waterton where you rent everything you need.
Deer outside of our building at the hotel.
Deer outside of our building at the hotel.
Fawn following mama
Fawn following mama
Wild rose in the wild.
Wild rose in the wild.

rose bud