June 12 Waterton, Canada

Tuesday, June 12

A chilly 35 degrees this morning as we head towards Kalispell.  Several more deer along the road.  We do a quick coffee stop and then continue a few miles to Columbia Falls where there is a Jiffy Lube waiting.  Nice, efficient folks.  In talking with them, we hear that it snowed pretty heavily in the mountains last night, so it doesn’t look good for Going to the Sun Road to be completely open for a while.

Going to the Sun road runs across Glacier National Park from West Glacier to St. Mary’s in the east, over Logan Pass. We have been here twice before during which it was closed for snow and for mud slides.  Maybe this time?!

Columbia Falls is very near the Glacier entrance and has grown quite a lot over the past few years. Mostly every service a traveler could want plus, Greg notes, selling and repairing chain saws seems to be a big business!

Since Going to the Sun is closed, we have to take Route 2 which skirts the park to the south, then goes north to St. Mary’s.  It is a pretty road with National Park on one side and National Forest on the other for much of the way.  We note several National Forest Campgrounds which may come in handy later.  

We take a little “short cut”side road, Route 49, which is closed to vehicles over 21’ because of the twists and turns.  We just fit! It goes through beautiful scenery but is pretty challenging due to uneven pavement, potholes, and the many twists and turns.  Lots of wildflowers in areas.

  
 It is crazy windy on route 89 – add that to driving challenges that Greg handles!  We stop for a few photo ops and the wind actually physically moves me, it is that strong.  No standing close to the edge or balancing on rocks today!

We pass the entrance to Glacier and continue north till we re-enter Canada at Waterton National   Park.  

We pass Chief Mountain, an important landmark for the Blackfeet and other travelers.

This is Blackfeet Country, part of their large reservation east of Glacier.  This was a rest-stop sculpture.

We have to surrender the few pieces of firewood we have stashed, but otherwise breeze through with the usual “Yes, we’re from Texas.  No we’re SURE we don’t have any firearms aboard.”

 We have fond memories of a previous visit here, but oh how things changed!  Remember last Fall when forest fires raged in the west?  Much of Waterton fell to that fire!  We pay our entry fee (which we feel is a charitable donation at this point).  

The two major roads into the park from the hub town of Waterton are both closed as they work to clear and clean, now that the snow is gone.  Dead trees are everywhere. I think we heard along the way that it takes about 3 years for a tree to fall after it dies.  

The town of Waterton was mostly saved due to heroic efforts, and the historic  Prince of Wales hotel as well. 

 We look at the falls on the edge of town, walk through town a bit and find the visitor’s center (the nice one outside of town burned) sharing space in the post office.

Almost 50% of the park burned but they are working hard to downplay it, we think in hopes that tourists will continue to come to support the businesses there.  (The red is areas of damage from the fire.)

  As we are leaving town we spot a mama bear with three cubs up on a hill.  A bear jam ensues with the rangers chasing everyone off.  Hard to get photos, but the mama bear and 2 cubs look cinnamon color and the third cub is coal black.

 A few miles outside of town we see another black bear hightail it into the dense brush.  Not many living trees till we are quite a few miles away.  It will take a long time for the area to recover! Still, grasses and flowers already abound.

We stop at Belly River Campground a few miles before the Canadian border.  Nice, fairly primitive campground with lots of aspen. It is easy to see why they are called quaking aspen as they vibrate and flutter in the wind.

  Standing by out campsite, we can hear the wind before it arrives in great galloping gulps.  We relax, walk,  look for the elusive (to us) campground fox which several people report having seen. Nice evening, the wind is still strong but lots of birdsong.  There are a pair of unseen but heard birds calling back and forth into the dusk.

 The clouds put on quite a show as the sun slowly sets.  We have been rising early, and often go to bed before the sun does (10:30 or so).

 Good night.