We set up camp and headed for the shores of St. Mary Lake where we picked up the nearest trailhead. With questionable weather, we thought we would do a short hike and doddle at our campsite for the evening. However, the skies cleared as we walked and we ended up hiking for about seven miles to see Virginia Falls on the opposite side of the lake. It was an impressive waterfall along with St. Mary Falls and Baring Falls that we saw along the way. We had mostly unobstructed views of the surrounding mountains as we hiked through the recently burned forest. We returned to our campsite for the evening and munched on quesadillas for dinner.
After arising in the morning, we drove the jaw-dropping Going to the Sun Road which was so much more stunning than our last trip when we drove through the snow and rain. We enjoyed the lack of traffic and stopped to gawk at many of the scenic overlooks. Naturally Lisa was doing all the driving with two hands on the wheel and all eyes squarely focused on the road ahead.
After our Logan Pass venture, we parked the car and hiked to Avalanche Lake where we had more quesadillas for breakfast at the trailhead. It was a well maintained trail through large pine and cedar forests. The lake was at the bottom of a giant glacial cirque with six waterfalls cascading the cliffs. We enjoyed the view, but it was evidently a very popular trail based on the busloads of humans on the beach with us.
Heading back over to the eastern side of the park at mid-day was a bit more busy and we were not able to stop at the Logan Pass visitor center due to lack of parking. Instead, we grabbed a quick lunch at our campsite and headed to Many Glacier, a part of the park accessible from a "road" leading from the town of Babb.
We followed the "road" along Lake Sherburne and parked the car in a pothole before hiking to Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine. The walk was easy and afforded great views of the peaks surrounding us. On our return trip, we pulled our guitar and mandolin and played tunes at the picnic area. We met a part-time nature photographer that set up his scope to clearly see grizzly bears at a 60x distance. That might still be a little close for Lisa...
We dined that evening at the Two Dog Flats Grill near our campsite and went to bed early (and still in bright daylight until after 10:00) since we had such a busy day.
The next morning, we packed quickly and left Glacier National Park to drive north - dodging cattle that was seemingly fenced into the roadways. We entered Canada and immediately went to Waterton National Park, the Canadian portion of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. The views of the lakes and mountains were just as stunning as the American side. However, we learned that most of the park was closed for construction including the Redrock Canyon that we hoped to see. Instead we hiked along the shore of Upper Waterton Lake to Bertha Falls. The views were unobstructed due to a large fire that swept the park in 2017 which happened to be the reason for the massive construction within its borders.
Heading north, we made our next stop at "Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site." Despite the crazy sounding name it was an amazing museum that was set at the site of a cliff that had been used for six thousand years as a place to hunt bison by native people. They would trick the herds into running over the cliff and have enough meat and pelts to sustain themselves through the winter. A cruel trick maybe, but pretty darn clever!
We finally got sick of driving in Calgary where we are spending the night. Tomorrow morning, we will be off to see Banff - one of the prettiest places known to manff.
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