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Today, we drove to Alberta, Canada.\u00a0 The Waterton Lakes National Park is the northern half of Glacier National Park and together they make up the International Peace Park.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always wanted to see that side of the park and this trip I was going to make that happen.<\/p>\n
We got up this morning and completed packing.\u00a0 We got the car packed up and the house cleaned up.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It was great, but time to move on to other locations.<\/p>\n
We grabbed breakfast up in town and then headed up Hwy 49 one last time toward St. Mary\u2019s.\u00a0 From there, we took 89 up through Babb and into Canada.\u00a0 There weren\u2019t many cars on the highway in this direction.\u00a0 We probably only saw 4 or 5 cars total.<\/p>\n
After about an hour, we came to the Chief Mountain border crossing into Canada.\u00a0 We had to wait for someone to come out to the border gate to let us through.\u00a0 The questions were pretty routine.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t as nervous this time.\u00a0 Most of the questions they ask are from census information and you have to give an answer that kind of matches.\u00a0 The times of computer information.<\/p>\n
We got the nod and headed over the border.\u00a0 We were officially in Canada, again.\u00a0 From this point on, I had to read the inner circle on the speedometer for the speed limit.\u00a0 Here, it is typically 80 klicks or 50 mph.\u00a0 I\u2019m even talking in klicks!\u00a0 We stopped at an overlook to take a break and use the bathrooms.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t realize it, but this overlook was over Waterton, which is our final destination for this leg.<\/p>\n
When I came out and joined Rich at the view point, he was talking to a couple.\u00a0 Turns out, they were from Chattanooga, TN.\u00a0 Their destination was Lake Louise up in Banff.\u00a0 They have a long way to go.\u00a0 Luckily, we are almost to ours.<\/p>\n
It was only about noon, so we had time to kill before we can check into our hotel.\u00a0 We went by the Visitor\u2019s Center to get information.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It was maybe 15 minutes up the trail.\u00a0 Funny, the trail behind the center is called Bear Hump.\u00a0 I guess he was humpin\u2019 it out there, too.<\/p>\n
We got our info and some hiking suggestions from the ladies behind the desk.\u00a0 We had to go back up the road to catch a turn going northwest.\u00a0 As we were getting out, everyone on the road suddenly stopped and got out of their cars.\u00a0 Guess that bear was coming this way.\u00a0 I told Rich we should stop and get a shot, but he didn\u2019t like that idea.\u00a0 He saw the bear, but I didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Turns out it was an adult grizzly.\u00a0 Two bears in two days for Rich.<\/p>\n
We drove out to Red Rock Canyon where the road ended.\u00a0 First, we stopped by the first oil well in these parts.\u00a0 I guess the area was known as a tar patch for centuries and someone decided to sink a well to get it all out.\u00a0 They did and now it is dry.\u00a0 We continued on to the canyon and parked and walked out to the trail that would take us to Blackiston Falls.\u00a0 I told Rich, \u201cHey, we have a Blackiston Falls on the Silver Creek in Clarksville, too.\u201d\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t impressed.<\/p>\n
I was more impressed with these falls.\u00a0 It was a little bit of a hike back to them, but they were well worth it.\u00a0 They were beautiful with lots of water flowing.\u00a0 Looking around the area, you could see where the falls had moved around and changed course.\u00a0 The wall in front of falls had been worn away and released what looked like a pool at one time.<\/p>\n
We walked back up to the Red Rock Canyon.\u00a0 This is another river or creek that cut through the red rocks of the area over a long period of time.\u00a0 It also turned out to be a very popular swimming hole for a lot of hot people.\u00a0 There were pools of water and some smaller falls that people were using as slides.\u00a0 Seems like they should be hurting the formations, but no one else seemed to mind.<\/p>\n
We walked up and around the canyon before heading back to the car.\u00a0 In the parking lot, I saw the funniest thing.\u00a0 There were two motorcycles parked together.\u00a0 His and Hers, I imagine.\u00a0 The lady\u2019s bike was pink and white with a barbwire motif.\u00a0 The man\u2019s had pennies, nickels, and dimes glued all over anything that might hold them.\u00a0 Wonder how much money was on there?<\/p>\n
We then drove down to Cameron Lake to do a couple of hikes.\u00a0 The lake was beautiful with the mountains all around it.\u00a0 There was boating, fishing, and swimming.\u00a0 In the background, you could see a mountain covered in snow that was actually in Montana.\u00a0 The center was bowled out from centuries of avalanches.<\/p>\n
We walked back to Akimina Lake first.\u00a0 This is a small and very quiet lake up above Cameron Lake.\u00a0 We found a lady with a couple of pugs sitting on a platform there.\u00a0 Her husband was fishing the lake for trout.\u00a0 He came in while we were talking with a really nice rainbow trout.\u00a0 The dogs were too thrilled to see the fish though.<\/p>\n
We went back to Cameron Lake and walked the trail that ran beside the lake back to the avalanche zone.\u00a0 There the trail stops.\u00a0 In this area, there is too much danger of the upper level snows on the mountain letting go and creating an avalanche.\u00a0 They try to keep people out of that area just in case.\u00a0 It was July, but they had had a lot of snow this past winter and it was still hanging up on the mountain.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t hang out there long because the mosquitos were huge and vicious.\u00a0 We had to reapply bug spray just to survive.<\/p>\n
We eventually made it back to the boathouse and concessions.\u00a0 Rich stopped in for coffee.\u00a0 It was after 2:00, you know.\u00a0 There were a bunch of 3 and 4 years old around the door.\u00a0 They were cute, but definitely in the way.\u00a0 Kids that age just don\u2019t see anything outside of themselves.<\/p>\n
Time to head into town and find our hotel.\u00a0 The GPS was having a hard time understanding where we needed to be.\u00a0 I recognized the outside of the hotel from one street over.\u00a0 It just took a bit to figure out how to get over there.\u00a0 It looked better than I had hoped.\u00a0 You never know about hotels these days.<\/p>\n
We got checked in and sent around to a yellow building.\u00a0 So there are probably 9 buildings and each building holds 12 or so rooms.\u00a0 It was kind of an interesting way to stack them.\u00a0 Rich figures this is so they can shut down rooms in the winter when they don\u2019t need as many.\u00a0 We ended up on the second floor and there was no elevator!\u00a0 I thought I was going to die dragging my suitcase up the stairs!\u00a0 We made it though.\u00a0 After showering and settling in, it was time for dinner.<\/p>\n
We walked out to the street to find the business section.\u00a0 I could see people on the sidewalk taking pictures of something.\u00a0 Then I turned to my left and a deer came walking through the complex.\u00a0 Right behind her came a baby.\u00a0 They were less than 25 feet away.<\/p>\n
We walked up the street and could see the Prince of Wales hotel on the hill overlooking the lake and town.\u00a0 Pat\u2019s Garage was on the corner.\u00a0 We walked to the right and found our restaurant.\u00a0 This was Trapper\u2019s Grill.\u00a0 It seemed to have the most promise.\u00a0 We got in right away and got a table.\u00a0 Rich ordered the smoked trout appetizer and we had a couple of beers.\u00a0 It was delicious and I\u2019m not a big trout fan.\u00a0 We ordered a bison steak and bison meatloaf.\u00a0 Dinner was pretty good.\u00a0 Or were we just hungry?\u00a0 We had another beer and talked.\u00a0 Time to pay.\u00a0 You don\u2019t even look at the bill and just put it on a card.\u00a0 Everything is expensive.\u00a0 It\u2019s a resort town.<\/p>\n
I looked around the gift shop and say some really great t-shirts.\u00a0 Rich was not impressed.\u00a0 We walked around town to look at other restaurants and bars.\u00a0 Pretty much, everything was the same.\u00a0 Not a lot of choice, but some interesting places to go for breakfast and dinner tomorrow.<\/p>\n
We walked out to the marina to look at the schedule for the boat tours.\u00a0 We figured we would go on a lake tour tomorrow rather than hike.\u00a0 Our legs and feet are tired and we\u2019ve seen a lot of mountains and falls over the last few days.\u00a0 The tour on the lake would be about 2 hours.\u00a0 We would go to Goat Haunt on the U.S. side and then come back around to town.\u00a0 We\u2019ve drive up to the Prince of Wales hotel and poke around a bit.\u00a0 Then come back to town for dinner and hang out.<\/p>\n
Sorry for not attaching picture today.\u00a0 The link here is really slow and pictures would be impossible.\u00a0 I\u2019ll add them later when we get to someplace where the access is better.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>