Waterton Lakes NP, Canada

Leaving Calgary we stopped to buy diesel which is sold by the liter ($.85/liter) – considerably less than regular gasoline ($1.05/liter) – but that equates to $3.23 per gallon – not exactly cheap. En route we passed a very large farm of electric turbine generators that were quite close to the highway – the closest we’ve seen these giant windmills. We stopped in a small town to buy a few groceries and bough some great fresh corn from a local farmer. We arrived at Waterton, “Where the mountains meet the prairies,” and checked out Waterton Town Site, a charming small village of motels, restaurants, and shops, and collected info about the park. Though a small park, as national parks go, it offers much. We took the boat cruise to Goat Haunt Ranger Station in Glacier Park, Montana, and enjoyed learning about the area from the captain’s narration. We drove to Red Rock Canyon where we took a short loop trail showing the rock formations in the canyon. Our 800 ft climb up Bear Hump Trail took us to a fantastic view of the town and Waterton Lake and the surrounding mountains. We met a man from Scotland on the trail and continued the hike with him. We also talked to a couple from Blairsville, GA. Small world, huh? When we arrived at Waterton on Wednesday, it was a warm, sunny, breezy afternoon, but by Friday afternoon the weather was chilly and rainy. Fortunately, we only had occasional drizzles on the hike.

Waterton to Mary’s Lake – Glacier National Park 9/8/07 We awoke this morning to find that our rain on Friday afternoon and evening had turned to snow on the mountains – and quite a show it made. All along the way, we stopped to take photographs of the snow topped mountains. We crossed the border at Chief Mountain Border Crossing where our one remaining Alberta steaks was confiscated. “That’s ours,” said the officer. When the customs officer began to walk into the living area of the coach with his shoes on George said, “Excuse me, sir, could you put on these shoe covers as we do?” The officer complied and George assisted him in putting them on. Other than that, we were quickly on our way, arriving at St. Mary KOA around lunch time. We went to the visitor’s center and saw the video there about the park and looked at the exhibits. Then we drove to Many Glacier Hotel to hear the ranger talk about the history of the hotel which was very interesting. Its history is closely tied to the Great Northern Railroad which built the hotel to promote its passenger rail business. Afterwards, we ate dinner at the hotel and then checked out the campground there and looked for mountain goats, visible only thru the binoculars. We reminisced about our trip to the hotel in 1980 when we were in our early thirties just before George went on dialysis.

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