Waterton Lakes National Park Day 4

Early morning is my favourite time of day to take photos, in fact it is my favourite time of day in general.  I always sleep so well out in the wilderness in my tent and sometimes I miss sunrise but not today.  I made my coffee, which is an absolute must first thing, and took it with me as I checked out the very early morning sights close by.  Just on the other side of the trees from my tent, I caught the alpenglow performance.

Across the meadow, the sun begins to light up the peak.

I had my bear spray with me, prepared for any encounters. What I did not expect to see and what startled me when I heard the rustle in the bushes, was a baby moose running behind Mommy.  A little later in the morning, upon our return from the washrooms and without our bear spray, we spotted a black bear feeding in the bushes a mere 25 feet away.  We believe it to be the resident black bear and it may have been the same one I had an encounter with here two years ago.  I did not get to see its teeth, so was not sure if it was the same one.

After coffee,  photography, breakfast, and taking down the camp site, I hit the highway for home.  I had to stop at my favourite stop first.  Anytime I go to Waterton Lakes National park, I like to pull in here on the way home and have one last look at where I was.   It is always a beautiful scene and looks different every time I take a photograph here.  Yes, that is the moon in the top right corner.

I still have an $80.00 gift certificate to spend at a Restaurant in Waterton so I will have to go back another time.  (As if I need an excuse to go there.)  I have never been in autumn!  Hhmmm!!!

Waterton Lakes National Park Day 3

Day 3 arrives in Waterton Lakes National Park and we are up the creek without a paddle!  We had to check out of the hotel with no place to stay for tonight.  We had a plan in place though.  Last night we packed up our stuff and put it in the vehicle to assist with a quick get-away this morning.  We hit the road at 6:00 am with hopes of being early in the line up to secure a Sunday night camp site at the Campground.    I couldn't help it, I had to stop along the way to take a photo of the alpenglow  

We arrived at 6:15 am to find we were first!  Fifteen minutes after we arrived, a car left and the passengers deposited their receipt in the drop box which meant we had a campsite and a place to lay our heads tonight.  Even though, we still had to wait for the attendant to start work at 8:00am and assign us the site.  

We passed the time making coffee and breakfast and getting our gear ready for today's hike.

By 8:30am our campsite was set up.

Our intentions were to hike Linham Ridge but we ended up doing Linham Creek Trail instead. Thank goodness it worked out this way.  With today's blazing heat (already mid 20's by mid morning), it was not the day to be on the wide open Ridge.   We reached the trails end, had a snack, admired the flowers and the view and then did an about face and retraced our steps back to the trailhead.

We drove down the road and found a shaded spot by a creek to cool our feet and have lunch.

By late afternoon we were back at our campsite enjoying snacks and drinks, socializing with other friends then having dinner and more drinks, sitting by the campfire, then ending our day watching the stars come out. 

Waterton Lakes National Park Day 2

We knew this was going to be a fabulous day when 15 minutes into our drive to the trail head for the Akamina Ridge hike, a young black bear jumped out from the bushes in front of our car.  We did not pull out to pass because he was wandering around on the road and we thought maybe Mommy would jump out also. The little bear looked lost and didn't know what to do.  It eventually climbed up and over the guard rail and off it went.  We never did see the Mommy.  We took this as a sign that we were in for quite a day and also this was our reminder to put our bear aware knowledge to work as we hiked.

Our hike began in Alberta and shortly thereafter we  crossed over into British Columbia.   

The temperature was rising quickly and it was nice to arrive at Forum Lake to cool off by the water.

It wasn't far from here where the climb started and then the climb turned into easy scrambling which I was fine with.  It was the moderate scrambling section which came next that I wasn't fine with and needed assistance.  That assistance came by way of pushing, shoving and pulling from my friend and two elderly ladies who happened to have a  wealth of scrambling experience and patience. I have no photos to share of this portion of our hike, my mind was elsewhere!  But I have this photo, our view once reaching a safe flat area.  That is a portion of Akamina Ridge that we will be hiking along and Wall Lake down below where we will eventually end up.

Once safely above and beyond the rockband, I was able to fully enjoy the views around me. I was realizing now why this is rated as "Premier" by the Copelands in their book "Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies."  The summit of the Ridge is on the tip of that redish pyramid shaped thing.

My summit shot proves I made it to that redish tip only to see we needed to loose elevation before working to gain it again to reach the next redish tip which is behind me to the right in this photo and is the second of four bumps that we need to ascend.  Before heading there, we settled in on the side of this peak to enjoy snacks and scenery.

This is our snack time view.  We started our hike in Alberta, Canada, crossed over into British Columbia, Canada and then ascended to a height where we had a view into Glacier National Park in Montana, United States.

A glacier view.

We were fortunate to experience only warm breezes up here.  I hear this is not normal. This Ridge is known for very strong cold winds.  But like I said, that baby black bear was a sign we were in for a spectacular day. Akamina Ridge went on and on and on, and up and down and up and down and up and down all the while having views of forever.   This photo gives an idea of the angle of the slopes that we hiked up and down.

After coming off the fourth and final bump, we had an amazing view of Wall Lake down below.   

You can also see the beige line along the edge of the bump, that was our hiking trail.

From Bennett Pass, we could see the whole length of Akamina Ridge behind us.

We made our way off the Ridge to the valley below to finish off the hike which was still many kilometers to go.   The wild flowers were in abundance but I didn't spend much time capturing physical images.  I had a mental image of the trail head and that was the only place and thing I wanted an actual physical image of and I wanted it sooner then later.  When we had our visual of the end, we went for a high-10 instead of a high-5.  

I was quick to collect my Peakery badge for Akamina Ridge.   Some of these badges come easily but this was one I truly had to earn.  I proudly display it here!  I have completed many amazing hikes in my life and this one has taken over the top spot.  Getting through that moderate scrambling section and finally standing on the summit, I felt like I was over the moon, my stars had aligned and like I was "on top of the world!"

Waterton Lakes National Park Day 1

It pays to be resourceful, flexible and determined.  After arriving in Waterton at 10:00am, we headed straight to the campground only to find out we were #33 on the wait list for a campsite.  The Warden said it would be in our best interest to immediately get going in search of another place to stay other then any close by campgrounds or hotels in Waterton.  We figured it didn't hurt to check out Waterton first,  lucky for us we were able to secure a room for two nights and I could use the certificate I won in February to cover a portion of the cost.  

We quickly checked in and then just as quickly, headed out the door to begin our hike .  We picked an easy hike as by now it was already noon time.  We hiked across the town site then started up the trail to Bertha Lake.  By now the rain turned to drizzle, the temperature began to rise and the sky started to open up but only a tiny bit.  The trail in areas was lush, over grown and by the time we got to the other end of this section, we were totally soaked from the moisture on the bushes.

Bertha Lake

We veered towards the right side of the lake to an open area with a view to have our lunch.  We did not proceed beyond this spot nor did we hike around the lake nor follow the left side.  All folks returning reported brand new bear scat and prints.  We put our bear aware knowledge to work.  This was our very late in the afternoon lunch time view at Bertha Lake.

After lunch, we returned to our room, cleaned up, and headed off in the early evening to secure a dinner site.  This is it!  We toasted to our day and to the days to come then settled in to enjoy a fine dinner with a fine view.

The Prince of Wales Hotel sits on the hill just behind us.

We watched a rescue off Bears Hump.

We enjoyed the sights as the sun set.

I was thankful for my friend being relentless in making sure we found a place to lay our heads tonight.  

We did some pre-organizing for our big day tomorrow, then called it a day.