Tuesday, July 14 Into Canada; Waterton & Beauvais Provincial Park

 Tuesday,  July 14

We fill up with gas at nearby St. Mary's at $5.14/gal Yikes!  Find some nice fresh pastries including a huckleberry scone and turn north towards Canada.  

Only a few motorcyclists in front of us at the border, where once again they see Texas plates and expect that we'll have firearms.  The officer is friendly and polite and we pass easily after assuring him we aren't and never are armed.  

It is a short ride to the town of Waterton.  Waterton is known as "where the prairie meets the mountains", as this picture of a field of cannola shows.  

We stop at a Visitor's Center in town to get a map of Waterton Lakes National Park.  In 1932 Glacier in the US and Waterton were joined in the world's first International Peace Park.  Called Waterton-Glacier  International Peace Park, it symbolizes peace and good will between the two countries (faltering a bit with Trump).  

We first visit Cameron Falls, which is right at the edge of town. And nearby is Parka - the Park or Town Mascot?

 Waterton Lakes is a rather small park with basically 2 main roads.  We opt to take the one to Red Rock Canyon, which passes several of the lakes. 

Lots of standing dead trees in areas from the devastating Kenow fire of 2017,  but many small evergreens and grasses and ground cover. We visited once before the fire, and it is sad to see how long recovery takes.  Makes today's horrible fires even more heartbreaking. 

 The purple/pink fireweed is flourishing. They say it is the first thing to grow after a fire.

Lots of other wildflowers as well; some familiar, some new.

Quite a few people at Red Rock Canyon.   I have to laugh at someone's dog who plops himself down in the cool water. 

  We decide to take a trail to Blakiston Falls, a nice hike amongst the standing deadwood and the new growth.  Pretty wildflowers and fewer people.  Pretty in its own way as a sign of hope and regeneration.

We even spot a stump bear - at first glance thought it was a bear, complete with ears!  (We spot these every now and then lol!)

The stream and the falls are a lovely destination a a rocky canyon.

This park has very little camping, so we've decided to continue north to Pincher Creek and try one of the Provincial Parks in the area.  Beauvais Lake looks promising (and sounds so Canadian, oui oui!) so we call and make a reservation with a really lovely, pleasant lady.  $25 ($36 Canadian Dollars) and it has 30amp electric. Over 75 sites and only three were open when we called.  When we arrive, someone shows us to the campsite, and as far as we can tell from license plates, everyone is Canadian!

We talk with Allen, our next door neighbor who is familiar with Tomball, Texas - a small town only 10-15 miles from our house, as he had work-related travel there!  Small world! He and his wife live about an hour and a half away.  

 I ask them about all the little ground squirrels we've been seeing everywhere.  They are Richardson Ground Squirrels, they say, but people also refer to them as gophers.  They are about the size of our squirrels, but have a shorter, slimmer tail and burrow into the ground rather than live in trees.  They can be quite annoying in people's yards, they say (which makes me think of both Caddyshack and Pop-a-Mole.) I look it up later and they are similar to but not the same as prairie dogs too.

Greg goes for a walk and discovers the lake while Beth plays with pictures.  We'll check it out again in the morning.  Then we have dinner and relax.  Sunset is notably later here so we end up closing all the curtains to make it dark enough to sleep!    Greg's turn to win at cribbage.