Waterton-Glacier Trip

Waterton-Glacier Photos - July 2006 (Click the photos to view larger images) This is a pictorial overview of our trip to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, a park which shares the border between Montana in the United States, and Alberta and British Columbia in Canada. The park was initially conceived and created by Rotarians from Alberta in 1895. It is the world's first international peace park and the jointly run park indefinitely preserves approximately 1.2 million acres of Rocky Mountain habitat.
One way to get around Glacier National Park is to ride the 1936 vintage "Red Jammer" convertible tour buses.	The other way to get around is to drive the Going-to-the-sun Road, a real engineering and construction marvel.	You can see how the road is cut right out of the mountainside if you look behind me.	Cathy and I really enjoyed the Hidden Lake trail that begins at the Logan Pass Visitor Center.
The trail is a moderate three mile hike with breathtaking views of the mountains all around you.	You will often see mountain goats, big horn sheep, marmots, ground squirrels, chipmunks, pikas and more along this trail.	Sometimes the mountain goats will walk right up to you!	You can turn around at the Hidden Lake overlook or continue another mile and a half of steep hiking trail down to the lake.
We also really enjoyed the Trail of the Cedars. It weaves through a forest of huge cedar trees on a suspended boardwalk much of the way.	The Trail of the Cedars joins the Avalanche Lake trail and continues up an incredibly beautiful slot canyon.	Avalanche Lake is about a six mile round trip hike, and well worth the effort in our opinion.	We were fascinated by the Witches Hair lichens that covered the trees on the southwest side of the lake.
Further along the Going-to-the-sun Road is Jackson Glacier. Believe it or not, it is 5.5 miles to the glacier from where we are standing.	Another favorite spot was Sun Point on St. Mary Lake. The views of the surrounding peaks were stunning.	The water on most of the lakes is very calm in the morning. The glacier-fed lakes and streams are incredibly clear turquoise color.	Just a bit further east on St. Mary Lake is Wild Goose Island, another favorite photo spot.
Cathy and I really enjoyed staying right on the lake at Lake McDonald. This lady was enjoying the great weather by doing an oil painting of the lake.	Toward the northeast part of Glacier National Park is Many Glacier. Pictured above is a panorama of the Many Glacier Lodge. We spent one night at Many Glacier, where we were fortunate enough to see a grizzly bear and two cubs on a hillside. The east side of the park was considerably hotter and more arid than the west side.		The view from the deck of the Many Glacier Lodge is quite impressive.
We enjoyed boat rides on Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine, followed by a hike to Grinnell Lake where we saw a bear track right next to the trail.	After staying in Many Glacier one night, we continued north across the Canadian border to the scenic town of Waterton, pictured above.	Waterton is a small town with very a relaxed pace. We enjoyed our time there immensely and felt like we were on top of the world, both literally and figuratively.	The Waterton town site is also home to Cameron Falls, the oldest exposed rock in the Rocky Mountains. You are looking at rock that is 600 million years old!
Much like us, the deer felt right at home in Waterton. We saw many deer wandering around the town and grazing on lawns.	Even this buck was quite tolerant of my presence and allowed me to come fairly close to him without paying much attention to me.	Waterton is described as being "where the mountains meet the prairies." How amazing it is to see the mountains rise right out of the prairies, with virtually no transition of foothills that you normally see.	The weather was delightful the entire time we were in Waterton, so we enjoyed tent camping at the Crandell Mountain camp site. The sunsets were amazing every night and didn't occur until about 9:30 PM.
It was a banner year for berries of every kind. We picked Saskatoon berries for breakfast off the bushes right at our campsite. They are very similar to blueberries.	We enjoyed the relatively easy three mile hike to and around beautiful Crandell Lake, and enjoyed a refreshing swim there, too.	Cathy admired the Aspen groves on the way to and from the lake.	The Alderson-Carthew Trail was a steep and long hike out of Waterton but we enjoyed it immensely, including all the wildflowers along the way.
Cathy relaxed at Alderson Lake and enjoyed doing sketches of the surrounding mountains and wildflowers while I did some additional exploring.	I took another refreshing swim, this time in Alderson Lake. What a great way to cool down after six miles of uphill hiking and a 3,000 foot elevation gain.	A view of Alderson Lake from high above on the steep and sometimes intimidating trail to the Carthew Lakes. The slopes here are so severe that they can play tricks on the eyes. I got more than a little bit intimidated while climbing around on the scree slope immediately below where I took this photograph. It became so steep that I wondered if I would be able to get to the top of it on "all fours." The incredible view was definitely worth the effort.
Another favorite spot was Red Rock Canyon. We visited it twice while we were in Waterton. Here is a view into the canyon from a footbridge above.	The canyon is made from red-colored oxidized bedrock that has been eroded by water over countless millennia.	The water in the canyon is crystal clear, as you can see here. We enjoyed spending a few hours exploring the canyon and wading in the refreshing glacial melt water.	While in Red Rock Canyon, we enjoyed finding this boulder covered with amazing fossils on all sides.
A suitable parting gift, we got to enjoy a huge herd of elk our last evening before departing the Waterton area. If you look closely, you can see them extending to the horizon.	It was sad to leave Waterton and head back to reality. We enjoyed so many things about the town and the entire area. The weather was delightful, the people friendly, wildlife was everywhere, berries of every kind lined the trails (wild raspberries, thimble berries, black currants, Saskatoon berries, elderberries, chokecherries, etc.) as did wildflowers of every shape, size and color. We especially enjoyed listening to the wind roaring through the pine trees during the night and the incredible star gazing opportunities. Once again, we had a charmed trip, as evidenced by the shooting star we saw the first night we were there. "Star light, star bright..."