Day8 Mon, Aug 6, E Glacier, MT to Waterton, AB CAN

  Waterton Park, Alberta, Canada
Monday, August 6, 2007

Day8 Monday, August 6, East Glacier, MT to Waterton Park, AB Canada
Miles: 100
 

SUMMARY
-Couldn't it have been just a bad dream?
-Looking for Comfort at Park Cafe /sighs
-Maybe Leaving the Country will Bring Relief...But Not on Our Pocketbook
-We Return to the Living
-A Worrisome Campsite.
-A Chance to Stretch Our Legs
-Stories from the Blackfeet Culture


DETAILS
Couldn't it have been just a bad dream?
We surveyed the damage to the front of the Sienna when we got up in the morning. 
It drove OK last night and there was no apparent damage to the underbody. 
The fairing around the bumper shows some breaks in the grill work. 
If this costs as much as we think it will to fix we may just leave it as is. 

Rory is concerned that it may lead to early onset heapness on a late model Toyota. 
Chere says if you can't see it until your nose is against the grill, 'who cares'. 
It will be quite a while until we can get on a high speed highway to see if going 80+ makes any difference. 
If it rattles or whistles in the wind, we will want to change it.
 

Looking for Comfort at Park Cafe /sighs
We drove very carefully back to St. Mary for another dose of good Park Café food. 
This morning's waiter did not come up to the mark of the previous waitresses. 
We are pretty sure he tried to poison us by giving us decaf coffee. 

After a restless night's sleep Rory certainly needed hi-test and Chere was just not the Chere we like to see. 

Despite this we took care of some on the road house keeping in St. Mary and Babb and then headed up the Chief Mountain highway to Canada.
 

Maybe Leaving the Country will Bring Relief...But Not on Our Pocketbook
"Any fire arms, ammunition, bear spray or explosives?"
"No Ma'am'
"Any tobacco or alchohol?"
"We have a couple of beers."
"That's all?  Enjoy your stay in Canada"
 
The Waterton side of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park may prove more expensive for us than the Glacier side did. 
Our USA Federal Lands Pass is no good so we are out 40 bucks in day use fees for three days.  Camping is nearly 80 bucks when in the states it would be about 60. 

We signed up for the Peace Hike so we are out another 36 bucks for the boat ride back to Waterton from Goat Haunt in Montana. 

On the bright side we have good hot showers in the camp which the NPS camps do not seem to have. 
And Canadian bucks are still a little lighter in value than American bucks but with the credit cards putting on a 'foreign exchange fee' some of that difference is taken back. 

Waterton itself is one of those out of the way places where things are going to cost more. 
Kind of like Key West in that respect. 


We Return to the Living
Having endured the entry queue the campground queue we sought sustenance. 
The Kilmory Lodge Lamp Post restaurant was in the AAA guide and it proved a good value. 

Quiet. 
Real coffee and ale on draft. 
Friendly folks to chat with. 
Good food and service. 
The Chere and Rory we like to see magically returned to their bodies.
 

A Worrisome Campsite.
We set up the tent in the afternoon. 
We are about 100 yards off the lake with a good view of the mountains down in Montana. 
Upper Waterton Lake is about four and a half miles long, bounded on both sides and the south end by very tall mountains.
An incredible view of Rockies.

The summer sun heats the air and it rushes out through Waterton and onto the prairie. 
You could hear the wind laughing as it tugged at our big old dome tent. Testing it for the windy fun it will have while we are away.

Fortunately the glacial moraine that dams the lake into the valley contains plenty of good sized rocks to hold down your tent. 

While there are tons of plump, friendly Columbian Ground Squirrels and their burrows make the site look like swiss cheese, they could not be enticed to help weigh down the tent.


A Chance to Stretch Our Legs
We headed out the scenic Red Rock Parkway past the Crandall Campsite to the end at Red Rock Canyon and Blakiston Falls. 
The drive was relaxing and gorgeous. 

The late afternoon light made interesting shadows on the huge peaks. 

Blakiston Falls

Rory looking over the falls

Our shadows on the Red Rock Canyon

The road was much wider and easier to drive than the Going to the Sun Road. Instead of looking down precipices or across deep valleys we looked up at gorgeous mountains. 

Walking Red Rock Canyon and Blakiston Falls took a bit more than an hour. 

We slowly cruised back toward town stopping at Crandall Campsite for their evening lecture.
 



Stories from the Blackfeet Culture
The speaker for the evening was a Montana Blackfeet Indian named Charles Eaglespeaker. 
What a mesmerizing talker.  His relaxed manner was very engaging. 

He just sat in a chair telling us old tales and answering questions about Indian ways and history.  We could imagine someone like him telling stories all night around a winter fire.
 
The Blackfeet Confederation is five tribes and their allies in Canada and the US.  In Canada they prefer to be called Blackfoot. 
They are plains tribes who hunted buffalo and warred with the Crow and the Lakota. 

Like many cultures, his stories emphasized generosity and kindness to those less fortunate. 
However, stealing was OK if you were stealing from a more powerful enemy who should have worked harder to keep what he had. 

One story told of how the Blackfeet and the bears became brothers. 
"Wonderful. I've killed your brother" passed through Rory's mind.
 
The program ended at nine PM.  We headed through the twilight to our tent and rest.