WATERTON LAKES NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA, CANADA

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Well I finally got my passport card and headed for the north end of Glacier in Canada.  It is about 90 miles from East Glacier where I am staying.  I didn’t have any problem going through customs into Canada but I did leave Dexter at home just in case.  I did have a little issue coming back into the US.  The custom's agent saw a deer rack in the back seat of the truck and got a little upset with me claiming I cannot transport animal parts across international borders. 

Excuse my attitude and language but I think he is full of crap and was just jerking me around.  Hunters and fishermen do that all the time!  Anyway....I had the deer rack because my friend up here, Bob, gave it to me so I can mount it in my trailer.  It will look real nice.  The young smart ass agent said it didn't sound like I was lying but he could sure make it a bad day for me if he wanted to.  I don't care for people with big egos, especially people of authority.  Had he looked for weapons or illegal immigrants under the cover of my truck bed, as I expected him to, he would have found two other deer racks....but he didn't even look.  Not so good border security in my opinion.

Waterton is a very pretty area and I have some pictures of the boat ride I took on Waterton Lake.  Unfortunately, my nice new expensive Cannon EOS camera let me down again.  I was driving up a canyon known for the wildlife viewing and saw a bunch of folks looking over the side so I stopped.  There was a big black bear swimming in the creek below us.  I got some great shots and continued on through the canyon looking for moose and bear.  The next time I tried to take a picture the camera card was not accessible so the camera would not work.  The screen told me to format the card, which is what happened before when I had pictures of the mountain goats on it. 

Since I had other pictures on it I decided to not use it and try to recover the pictures by downloading them to my computer when I got back home.  That didn’t work either so I lost the pictures of the bear and some great shots of three loose horses running free through the neighborhood and my  front yard where I am staying.  First it was dogs and now it is horses…….can’t wait for the cows and buffalo's and wild pigs!

Anyway, I had tickets for the boat ride so I took my little Nikon Coolpix.  I got some nice pictures but missed my chance to capture a bald eagle in its nest at the top of a tree because it was bright and difficult to see on the screen what I was shooting.  We didn’t see any other wildlife on the boat ride.

When I got home and was trying to recover the bad card’s pictures I discovered I could have switched the two camera’s cards and used my Cannon on the boat ride.  Live and learn.  I am going to buy two new cards and carry a spare so I don’t have this problem again.  

Here are some pictures of the area.  Been there….done that….not going back.  It is no better than down here and the cost of everything is very high.  I had a tall beer and some chicken wings after the ride at a local place in the village and it cost me $35.00 Canadian….not sure of the exchange rate but that is a little over my budget for lunch!

Prince of Wales Hotel.  The winds actually knocked this hotel off it's foundation a few times.

Our group disembarking the boat at Goat Haunt for a look around and break.

Upper Waterton Lake view from Goat Haunt

We were on the Canadian side but one can hike a trail to Goat Haunt and has to pass Customs.

This could be the most boring customs job in the world!  Those are custom agents sitting there checking hikers in and out of the two countries.

Very interesting rock formations along the shore line.

Looking toward the customs station from the  boat dock.

I only have two more weeks here so this will be my last blog for awhile.  I intend to find a very quiet and secluded forest service campsite somewhere in Idaho on my way to Washington and Oregon and just hang out and decompress for a few days.  My ears are ringing from all the noise around here or maybe I'm just getting old!

From there I am heading to Prineville, Oregon for a short visit with my new friends I met in Rockport, Texas (actually they are from Georgia), Don and Margie, at their new home.  They bought a home on nine acres near Prineville and I can't wait to see it.  That's an area I am considering for a small home or cabin someday.  I will tell you all about that later.  From there I go to Portland and hang out with my family for a few months.   

Happy Trails......