I am a Mountain Goat

Today was our first full day on holidays.  The day started out a little strange.  We had breakfast and just as we were cleaning up it clouded over and we had an impressive thunderstorm.  Luckily it was a short storm and the skies cleared and it was a picture perfect day after that.  The storms were a bit of a blessing, as it meant that we had a head start over many people visiting the park.  Being so close we could see that the storm had passed the park so it was really quiet by the time we arrived.

Right before you head through the gate to go into the park they have the Bison Paddock Loop.  It's a little roadway through a Bison Paddock.  We did our little drive through and sure enough there were all the bison!  They only had 10 or so and they all seemed to travel as one giant pack through their pasture space.  Except for one.  Mom noticed an odd shape on a hill and Dad pulled out his binoculars and said it looked like a burrow for an animal.  And then as we got closer, sure enough, it was a bison.  Hiding from the rest.  Their little area was so pretty, it was all rolling hills covered with wildflowers surrounded by the lovely mountain views.  Also it was free so I'm not sure why more people didn't go check it out.

Once we arrived in the park we drove through and stopped at the visitor's centre and climbed Bear's Hump, which is right behind the visitor's centre.  Many people I've spoken with and the internet agreed that it was worth the climb.  You were to get an amazing view of the lakes and mountains.  They were right and the view was amazing!  Only the part I didn't realize is that it was a 40 minute hike.  Uphill!  The one book with a list of all the hiking trails in the park tells me that you gain around 740 ft in elevation during the 1.2 km climb.  And I believe it.  It was a strenuous hike, involving a lot of switchbacks and stairs.  Awkwardly spaced stairs with random rises.  I was amazed with the amount of people that even had their small children on their backs with their carriers, it made me feel like a weakling watching them.  But I made it up and down the hill and all the other hikes felt really easy in comparison!

Look at that view!

We climbed up to the top of the peak right above the big white thing.   The other mountain tops were a lot higher and I guess you could have climbed them if you really wanted but after all that down seemed like such a better idea!

We finished just in time to make it down to the marina to take the boat cruise to the American side of Upper Lake Waterton.  The national park is part of an International Peace Park with the American Glacier National Park.  Which means that the two parks are treated as one, and their motto seemed to be the animals and plants don't recognize the border so why should we.  The rangers work together to maintain and promote the park.  It also means that you can take the boat ride and get off on the American side for a few minutes.  There is also the option of going hiking on the American side and they actually have Canadian Border Services waiting to check your passport.  I was mostly surprised that it was Canada and not the States checking.  But they were there, sitting at their picnic table ready to check passports.  The catch is that only Canadian and American citizens or Permanent American residents are allowed to go through.  All others have to go to the full border crossing just outside the park.  I don't think they are too concerned though because you have to hike through at least 32 km of bush to get to the closest road and I'm guessing it isn't a really big populated road.  And it is in the middle of the national park.

 The boat ride was really nice.  It was a fabulous view from the water and they explained much of what we were seeing.  The mountains were all so different looking, there was even one with purple hues.  It was highly amusing to pass along the border.  They actually do maintain the cut lines along the international border and you can see the straight line.  Which according to the guy doing the talking makes for a really nice hiking trail!





After our exhilarating boat ride we headed to Red Rock Canyon.  It's a bit of a drive but a nice one through the mountains.  It's a really short 20 minute loop around the canyon.  Many people chose to climb down and play in the water.  Where the path begins it's an easy climb down and the water isn't too rough.  I did see some sort of warning sign but it was a warm day out and I imagine the water was nice to cool off in.  The canyon is an impressive bright red color, which looks more pink in the picture.  You can see little outcroppings along the way but it seems to be all confined in the one location of the park.  In the other direction you can hike up to a waterfall but after Bear's hump we decided to save that for another day.