Western Adventure #32: Waterton

Day 32–9/3/2024

Today, we are going to Canada!! The Crafts drove. We left early in the morning. We have to drive all the way around the east side of Glacier. We stopped for fuel and restroom in Browning. After that, we saw our first cow moose. She was hanging around some cows and horses in a field. Vince found her, so he got to take pictures of her. We let him out while we turned around and picked him up. It was very cool.

                                              Mrs. Moose, our first moose sighting

When we got to the border, it wasn’t open yet, but it would be open in 15 minutes. We took advantage of the restrooms and took pictures of the US side sign. We had no problems crossing the border. We chatted a minute with the Canadian border agent about what to see and do in Waterton. We stopped briefly for pictures on the Canadian side sign. Then we were off to Waterton. 

One thing that struck me was that the trees had been cleared on the border as far as the eye can see—up and over the mountains.

Waterton was fantastic! We first stopped at the Prince of Wales Hotel. It was in a beautiful spot right next to the lake and in proximity of the mountains. It's definitely an iconic place to visit in Waterton. Here are some of the photos we took outside and inside this hotel. 

Outdoor pictures of Prince of Wales Hotel ⬆️

                             Indoor pictures of the lobby of the Prince of Wales Hotel ⬆️

The little town of Waterton which you can see from the hotel, is very cute. We enjoyed the visitor center and talked to a friendly ranger there who gave us good information on what we could do in our time there. 

                                                A mule deer grazing in Waterton

Our next stop was to take a hike to Blakiston Falls. We ate lunch and used the restroom before our hike. It was a bit hilly, but the view of the falls was amazing! The falls were enhanced by the observation decks. We ended up enjoying that hike so much. Here some scenes from along our hike and pictures of Blakiston Falls.

                                            I think these were creeping mahonia.

We went back to the town of Waterton to walk around the town a bit. We found a chocolate shop run by a very sweet lady who was severely lacking in help. She gave Vince and Linda coffee. Most of the other shops were closed, and we found out that since it was the end of the season, most staff had left for warmer climes.

This is an insect we've been seeing all over the place up here in Montana and in Canada.  I looked it up, and it's called a sawyer beetle. 

After enjoying talking to a lady on the porch of the chocolate shop, we took ourselves to another waterfall down the street called Cameron Falls. It was an interesting waterfall that had a split.

Cameron Falls

We took the boring way home, crossing the border with no problem and arriving home in time to make dinner and wind down for the day.

PS. The weather looked pretty rough at the beginning of the day. But we had no rain, and it cleared up to be a beautiful afternoon.