June 30 – More beautiful Canadian scenery on our travel day to Waterton Lakes National Park.
We arrived at Crooked Creek Campground just outside Waterton Lakes National Park. Thank you, Gerlind for this recommendation–although we did not see bears near the campground as you did a few years ago.
We were told to drive to Cameron Lake an hour or so prior to sunset to likely see bears along the road.
No bears tonight. But we saw a couple deer at the lake.
On the way back down the road we came across these two bighorn sheep prancing down the middle of the road – at times as if walking the yellow line for an intoxication test. They were quite entertaining.
We followed slowly behind for quite a ways. Even a car came slowly from the opposite direction. The sheep had us both stopped at one point, but the oncoming car was able to carefully pass them.
Once it seemed clear the sheep had no intention of leaving the road, Barry was able to slowly and carefully pass them when they went into the oncoming traffic lane and the road had a small straight stretch.
July 1 – HAPPY CANADA DAY!!
In support of our Canadian friends, I wore my red Canada shirt today! It was quite nice being a Canadian in spirit and attire today, greeting people with “Happy Canada Day!” It felt really good. 🙂
Heading into Waterton in the morning about 7 am.
The water is so blue!
Barry saw a bear while I parked Sadie in the Bear’s Hump trail parking lot. The mama bear was out of sight – along with her cub when I got back to him. The bear was in the hollow between the road into Waterton and the hill behind the Prince of Wales Lodge and Restaurant.
Evidently, we were about 15 minutes late for the best video opportunity. A lady showed the video she just took before Barry walked up. In the video the mama “hugged” a tree and proceeded to rock it back and forth, then pushed it down to the ground! Wow. We missed that, but here’s what Barry saw. Be sure to watch to the end where you can see the little bear cub.
BEAR’S HUMP and the Bear’s Hump Hike
This was a decent hike. It was rated “Moderate, short but very steep”
It was recommended as THE hike to get the most bang for your buck as a relatively short hike with spectacular views of Waterton.
The views of Waterton, the lakes, and the mountains were great.
Yes, it was a constant uphill that was quite steep in sections. Overall ascent was 235.2 meters (771.7 ft) climb within a distance on the trail of 1100 meters (~0.7mi). It took us about 45-50 minutes to go up and about 30-35 minutes to descend.
We were glad that we did the hike as early as we did. Many others were arriving to hike it as we finished. I would not want to do any hike like that in the heat of the day. Full, hot sun while going up hill in high altitudes doesn’t work for me.
From here we went into town. Waterton is a quaint town on the Upper Waterton Lake. A nice reprieve from the hustle and bustle of Banff. I shopped a bit (two stores). I saw a mug that I really really liked, but I don’t need it, so I took a picture of it. The lovely artistry spoke to me and felt nice. I could picture myself feeling warm and cozy while enjoying a morning coffee in it. But when I’m in Yuma, I’m usually heading out fast to the pickleball courts. LOL
While in one store I asked a salesclerk where she would have lunch. Without hesitation she said, “Trappers! Their fish and chips are to die for!”
With that incredible endorsement, Barry and I went to Trappers for their fish & chips. OMG-the salesclerk did not exaggerate. These were the best we’ve ever had! The fish filets were quite thick and moist, with a lovely crispy coating. The coleslaw was delicious, and the fries were crunchy on the outside just like we like.
Since lunch was so good and I saw that they offered two different homemade pies for dessert, I inquired about them. I thought I’d get a slice to go for us to share later. Because they were so different – Key Lime or Saskatoon Berry, I got one of each!
Once I cut both desserts in half, the slices were not very big, so we agreed to eat both the Key lime and the Saskatoon Berry slices now! Best way to compare preferences, anyway, right!? Both were really good, but we both preferred the Key lime. You don’t see that much outside of Florida. I actually liked this one better than the ones we tried when were in Key West over Christmas 2019. Those were sweeter than I liked.
We thought it would be cool to get a postcard mailed to the grandkids from Canada. Since this is our last night in Canada, we got right on it. We picked out one at a cute little store where we could also purchase the proper postage for CA to USA. When I went to pay for it, the lady at the checkout smiled when she saw the card I selected. She told me that her niece took the pictures and the bear featured had 4 cubs last year! That was pretty cool.
Finding the Post Office in Waterton was a bit of a scavenger hunt! LOL It would have helped if it had looked more like a post office from the outside. It of course was not open today being Canada Day, but we just wanted to put it in the outgoing mail slot. Done!
We enjoyed the remainder of the afternoon down at the lake’s edge on the rocky beach. So beautiful and peaceful–in fact, one of us was able to take a little nap!
This lone deer seemed to like the beach, too. He startled me as he came up behind our chairs. A couple rangers tried to gently guide him away.
I can see why Gerlind and Harald like it better here than in Banff. Waterton is significantly smaller and luckily doesn’t have near the crowd of people. It has a wonderfully quaint, easy-going vibe–which we embraced. It was time to head back to our site at Crooked Creek Campground.
July 2 – Prior to making the relatively short drive to Glacier National Park, we went for a quick drive to the Prince of Wales Lodge and Restaurant for bears nearby on a morning stroll for berries.
The following intrigued me when I saw it yesterday. I managed to get a picture of it and later looked it up to satisfy my curiosity. It is a Blackfoot greeting!
OKI (pronounced OH-kee) is the word for “hello” in Siksikai’powahsini, the language of the Blackfoot. It is much more than a greeting. It’s an expression of respect, connection, and community. In Siksikaitsitapi culture, saying “Oki” is a way of acknowledging others with kindness and openness. How nice!
I thought there was a road that looped around the Prince of Wales Lodge along the water, but it only went to the parking lot.
The views were beautiful!
I noticed three people with huge long distance camera lenses on tripods! Hmmm… wonder if they are “wolf watchers”? I asked them that and they said no, but they were watching a couple of bears on a hill off in the distance – the road we need to head back on! Off we went. We hoped they would come down the hill a little more. They did come down but not enough. The video is the best we could do from the distance from the road. Nice to see them though!
More Waterton National Park pictures on our way to the US Glacier National Park. Canada and the United States recognized the worldwide importance of these two national parks early in the last century. They created the FIRST International Peace Park in 1932 to share responsibility for its care and protection. I think that is really cool!
Made it to Johnson’s at St Mary’s Campground.
Johnson’s of St Mary Campground has a restaurant – Johnson’s Cafe. We walked down to it to check it out. People leaving were raving about the food, so we went in looking forward to a unique home cooked meal here. We ordered the family-style dinner special.
The story of the Johnsons was pretty interesting. They are Blackfoot Native Americans. St. Mary is on the Blackfoot Reservation.
The tables were decorated with Ruth Johnson’s old recipe cards between the table cloths and a glass table topper. Family pictures and information also were part of the table decor.
Our meal began with Bison Barley soup which was amazing. We almost licked our bowls clean. LOL I could have just had the soup for dinner! The bread was OK, but not what I was expecting from the rave reviews. We didn’t eat much of it.
We were excited for the main course. Huckleberry bison with mashed potatoes, gravy, and coleslaw. The meat was nice and tender.
Unfortunately, the coleslaw was drenched in poppyseed dressing. I tried to “drain” by using my fork to dish some out onto my plate. The mashed potatoes disappointed us because they were really thick and pretty dry. I guess it was expected to put a lot of gravy on them. We prefer creamier mashed potatoes. We aren’t big on gravy and rich sauces.
A customer was leaving with a huge slice of carrot cake. I’m pretty sure the carrot cake was super sweet and rich. It looked very moist, but we were full and not up for something that sweet even “to go”.
Wall decor was unique with several painted animal skulls.
This was pretty cool – a movie prop antique bag signed by Nicolas Cage when he was there filming “Butcher’s Crossing”.
I liked this display of Ruth’s baby bonnet, their daughter’s moccasin booties, and little moccasins of Ruth’s grandson, Nathan. Nathan runs the cafe. He is the main cook.
Downstairs was a bit much with the taxidermy animals. Would be a bit creepy to us to eat in that room
We headed back to the campground.
Pictures from the crest of the hill of the campground…
Tomorrow will be an early morning start as we explore from the Many Glacier entrance.
We love your travelogs and beautiful photos, Nancy! Many thanks for sharing. 😊 C&C
Thank you. Makes me smile. 🙂