Gone Exploring!

Waterton Park in southwest Alberta and Glacier National Park in Montana are connected and only separated by an international border.

“It was the Rotary Clubs of Alberta and Montana that proposed, in 1931, uniting Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta and Glacier National Park in Montana as the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, the first such park in the world. It was intended not just to promote peace and goodwill between nations, but also to underscore the international nature of wilderness and the co-operation required in its protection.”    From the Parks Canada page

Before COVID, Ron and I would make regular trips over to Glacier National Park.  The views are spectacular and there are lots of hikes to try.  When COVID hit, the border closest to us was closed and stayed that way for three years.  It reopened in May and so today we headed across.

The Going to the Sun road is an amazing experience.  Due to the high elevation, snow removal is usually not completed until later in June and it can stay open into October depending on snow fall.

As you drive along the 80 km of winding road, you continue to climb up.  The roads are narrow and the views are spectacular.  There are many waterfalls beside the road and then flow under it to continue down the mountain.

There are really not enough words to describe the scenery and pictures don’t do it justice.

We needed to get some steps in and so we did a little hike.  It was all down hill, which may sound nice until you turn around to come back.

There was a little suspension bridge, and if you know me, this was a challenge.  

I faced my fear and slowly maneuvered across realizing that I would have to do it again on the way back.

The hike was quite overgrown but in the open areas, the wild flowers were beautiful.  

Why is it that I have to work so hard to have a nice garden and then there is a beautiful flower bed in the middle of no where?

We didn’t make it to the end of the hike as I noticed reason evidence of a bear in the area.  I was almost at my 10,000 steps and so it was a good turn around point.

It was nice to be able to spend the day in Glacier again.  We bought our season pass, so we will be back as much as we can.  I’m living with a retired guy now so there should be lots of opportunities to do some more exploring.