Sunday, August 22, 2010

Waterton Weekend Was WOW! HOLY WOW MORNING!

The next thing I knew after placing my head on the pillow last night was I woke and it was 5:15 am.  I slept through the night!  Amazing!  I laid there for about 45 minutes and just listened to the peacefulness.  I heard Agent-X rustling around out side so I came out to see what she was up to.  She was already starting her day.  I walked to the washroom to clean up then returned to have coffee and breakfast.  We began to clean up the camp site and put everything away but when we were just about complete, K2 who was at another camp site over, voiced a quiet urgent alert!  "BEAR!"  The black bear was smelling around the campsite next to ours and was starting to work his way towards ours.  Agent-X grabbed a few last things and said get into the car.  I got into my car and she got into the other car.  The bear came to the back of my tent and was sniffing around.  At this moment I was petrified alone in my car so got out and went to join Agent-X as she jumped out to grab another last thing off the picnic table.  What an adrenalin rush!  We sat in the car, the bear came over to my window, for a split second I couldn't look and then when I did, I swear the bear smiled at me!  It smelled around for a bit and then walked across the road.  I was snapping pictures now left and right but could not get a really good photo.  This was the best I could do. I could hardly wait to tell our other buddies whose base camp was down the road.  This was a definite high-light of the weekend!
Once he was out of sight and gone, we carried on with dismantling the tents and packing up the balance of the gear.   Some were heading off for another hike while others had their own plans, like me, I wanted to go to the Prince of Wales Hotel, walk around the town and along the lakeshore.  We said our goodbyes and continued on our separate ways!  My first stop was the the Prince of Wales Hotel.
This is Waterton townsite on a quiet, overcast, Sunday morning.  I took this photo from the lawn of the Hotel.
I walked for a bit along the shore of Waterton Lake.  I realized I didn't have my bear spray with me, so this was not a smart or safe place to be so I quickly worked my way up to the main street.  Only yesterday we saw a mamma bear and her baby playing on the opposite side of the lake on the boat trip back from our hike.
I walked along the main street, looked in some stores and then decided I should probably hit the road for the just under three hour drive back to Calgary.  I had a wonderful weekend in Waterton.  I could not have asked for a more fun experience with my friends!

3 comments:

  1. Holy doodle girl, you are amazing! I'm just now catching up with what seems likes months of posts (that I've somehow missed)...there is NO WAY I'd camp (even in my backyard), so good for you!!!

    I'm coming out in September, so I'll "hike" through the shops in Banff after the Melissa Race!

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  2. Looking at your pictures and imagining where you go I stay wordless. The bear, you were so lucky to get the chance to take a photo.

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  3. Congratulations for your self control while the black bear was near you! Wonderful photo of Waterton townsite, Alexandra. Thamks for sharing :) I built some houses like that.
    Have a relaxing weekend.

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