Back to Canada for the summer; Drive north through Wyoming, Montana to Waterton Lakes NP, Canada June 1-3, 2024

 Another trip that was planned almost a year ago, since in order to get the accomodations we stay at we have to book them roughly a year in advance.  And this year we decided to do it a bit differently.  I’m driving up by myself with the kayaks and all of our other gear, and Donna will fly into Comox, where I’ll pick her up and we’ll spend 9 weeks together in Comox, Cortes Island, Quadra ISland and Salt Spring Island.  So I’ll be gone all summer and Donna will be gone 9 weeks.   So lots of reservations, and plans and our hearts are broken.  So we’re “livin the life”, but broken on the inside.  We march on, finding peace and joy in nature, knowing life is forever altered.

So I drove to Lewistown, Montana the first day, nice town next to some mountain ranges in central Montana, then up to Waterton Lakes NP, immediately north of Glacier NP.   No other cars in front of me at the border crossing, just pulled right up, a few minor questions (nope, no weapons).  How long will I be staying….a long time, etc, and into Canada I went.  

Photos:   Deer in Lewisown, Montana on 4 mile in town walk; a couple looking at north end of Glacier NP; entering Canada; Waterton NP, mister black bear at trailhead.    Another one of the black bear; Forum falls on my hike; Wall Lake, destination of my 6.5 mile RT hike (group photo canceled due to rain); Cameron Lake; two group photos on evening walk at Waterton Lake;  Cusheon Falls;  Bighorn sheep; Princess of Wales Hotel with Canada NP signature red Adirondack chairs in foreground.  Ok, back to Mr. Bear.  Aria asked if I was scared of the bear being so close.  I told her just glad to see him and grab a photo.  There was one other couple there, and a solo guy.  the couple were like me, just looking to get a photo since the bear was just minding his own business.   The solo guy was real nervous (his parked car was moderately close to the bear).  The bear was just doing his thing, ignoring us until Mr. Nervous guy made a dash for his car, then the bear skedaddled.    Plenty of goodies in the car for Mr. Bear, but I chose wisely and did not feed the wildlife.   Waterton was nice with spectacular mountains and beautiful lakes but dramatically scarred by a Sept. 11, 2017 wildfire (lightning caused) that burned over 19,000 hectares (or about 48,000 acres) in the park.  It got real close to the townsite and the Prince of Wales Hotel, and impacted most of the hiking trails in the park.  My 7 mile RT hike to Wall Lake was entirely through dead timber, with small three foot trees growing up amongst the dead trees.    It would have been nice to see it before the fire.  My “strategic” photography mostly hides the fire damage.  One side of Waterton Lake was not impacted but the other side was totally burned, which unfortunately is the side with most of the hiking trails.