Waterton Lakes, Canada

OK, here I am, back on duty. I'm thankful that Don, a.k.a., John Muir, gave me a break, but after listening to his gross exaggerations I'm not sure I'll let him near the keyboard again anytime soon. By the way, he is finished with his, Night of the Grizzlies book and now on to a mountain man book. No telling where that will lead.

We started off this morning, and after a day of rain, we were happy to see some blue sky peek through with just some left over clouds below.

We were headed north toward the other half of Glacier, Waterton Lakes, across the Canadian border. We traveled a road we had not been on before, and were delighted that it was a very scenic route. A lot of it is on a Blackfeet Indian Reservation and they apparently don't believe in fencing they're livestock. This meant keeping a watch for animals on the road, both horses and cattle.

While Don drove and watched for critters, I watched for photo opportunities, which were pretty much non-stop. The rain we had yesterday brought snow to the mountain tops. The frosting made already beautiful mountainscapes, even more so.

Here we have lake, snowy mountains AND a railroad train.

In spite of watching out for livestock, we came upon a herd of buffalo. I suppose we should not have been surprised since we were on an Indian reservation, but it did catch me off guard and I barely got the picture. I didn't have the time to zoom in so you could have seen the calves with the herd. How how much more "Montana" could a herd of wild buffalo be?

The clouds and mountains and the snow made it hard not to just keep taking pictures. I can't say a lot about the individual pictures except what you already see. It was just miles and miles of beauty.

 

 

 

As we approached the Canadian border, this amazing mountain rose out of the distance.

It looked like a castle in the sky. I'm not sure, but I think it is called "Chief Mountain."

As I said, it was open range. We came over a hill and found cars stopped and people taking pictures of...



...COWS!!! C'mon, people...It's just hamburger on the hoof!!...but just in case you are wondering...I grabbed a quick pix as we went by...

I tried to catch the entry of Waterton-Glacier at the border crossing, but some other lady is taking pictures of hubby and a Jack Russell Terrier...Just pretend that's Don and I. I have absolutely no explanation for the dog...



So now we go a few more miles across the border into Waterton Townsite where our RV park is. The scenery continues to be gorgeous.

 

Finally we catch sight of the Prince of Wales Hotel. It sits on a hill overlooking the lake and the little town of Waterton. It's a very impressive structure and so your first glimpse takes your breath.

Don and I went to the hotel for lunch.

As you walk in, first you see the bell hop helping someone with their luggage in his KILT! He was also wearing black ankle socks and black hose! Hmmm! Cute outfit, Fella! The waiters in the restaurant also wear kilts. (The bus girl wore pants, go figure.)

Then as you walk into the hotel, your view is out through the huge window on the opposite side of the hotel that overlooks the lake an mountains. WOW!!

This is the back of the hotel that looks out onto the lake.

Our RV park also had views of the mountains and a lake all around. Probably the most picturesque RV park we have ever been in. Not the park itself, but the scenery closing in on you from all sides is amazing. This is not our rig, I'm just showing you our surroundings.

 

Not a bad RV park, huh?

After lunch we wanted to drive up Red Rocks Canyon. When we were here last year, we didn't see any of this scenery that I have shown you so far. It was rainy and foggy and totally socked in. We couldn't see anything. We were amazed to see all we saw today.

However, we were disappointed when we got part of the way up the road and found Red Rock Canyon was closed due to construction.

Nonetheless, all was not lost. I noticed that there was a lot of huckleberries growing along the road.

It was then that we saw a bear picnicking on the "hucks." The picture is not great, but I wasn't about to call him over to prose for me. At least I got him...before he got testy about his berry-picking being interrupted, and that's a good thing!

Tomorrow we head to Banff where we hear it is even more beautiful. Don't know how much more of this non-stop beauty I can handle but I'll tough it out.