Waterton Lakes and Entering the USA (almost!)
Now we are nearly finished in Canada and are heading South to Waterton Lakes National Park - which is conjoined with Glacier National Park in Montana, USA.
Having overnighted at the Hard Knox brewery in Black Diamond (there are some great place names out here!) we get breakfast butties at the food truck beside the brewery and pop in to the brewery for a couple of samples and purchase a few tins. It’s Sunday and there is the opportunity for live music beside the brewery from 2pm but we resist the temptation (Sunday joke!) and head for the long drive down to Waterton.
The drive parallels the Rockies and is through the rolling prairie countryside - very open cowboy country but beautiful in its own way. We chance upon a sign advertising meat products from a ranch so after a quick U-turn we head down the ranch road to the little shed. And inside … a little emporium of wonderful meat and meat products. After a little discussion we take away steaks, sausages, salami, ribs and beef jerky - Pioneer Ranch meats are very well recommended but a bit of a stretch from England! Be careful about the shelf life though as we (Emma) found out that the jerky doesn’t last long, about 10 miles after we leave!!
Eventually we arrive in Waterton, and manage to get the final pitch in the town campsite for 2 nights - the Ranger is so helpful. The Pioneer steaks and ribs are grilled and just wonderful.
The following day we drive, early ish, to Cameron Lake and undertake a spot of fishing off the pontoon pier - but no success. Emma and Alex do some paddle boarding but the big paddle board is too much for Alex so Emma had some personal time paddling around. Picnic lunch is consumed beside the outfall river, whilst spotting little fishes in the shallows. Then on to another area - Red Rock canyon.
How do you explore Red Rock canyon? On foot, straight up the riverbed through the running water - which is about a foot deep! So refreshing on the feet and body with Alex leading the way as a professional canyoneer! But as we explore there are rumblings of thunder so we head back towards the car park - and get rather soaked over the last hundred yards. Better than being in the canyon with the potential for flash flooding. And of course about 1 minute later the sun is back out again.
Returning to the campground we cook great homemade burgers plus sausages with bbq asparagus and corn to accompany. Yummy! We walk off the dinner in Waterton village itself and end up on the beach talking to a local and watching his daughter fishing (nothing caught) and learning that good fishing is at Bertha’s Bay.
The following day we move off the campsite and then head for Bertha’s Bay along the trail. We walk through the devastation that was the 2017 fire but are amazed with the way nature fills a void with beautiful wildflowers and the emergent new growth of shrubs and new trees. The park authorities just let nature do its work with no cleanup of fire debris or re-planting and over 20 ish years the forest re-emerges… fire is just part of natures way here.
We get to the wobbly pontoon at the beach, cast out the lines and … nothing! After exploring the beach and a picnic then it’s time to hit the trail back. After walking 10 minutes, “Bear!” calls Emma. Crossing the trail about 10m in front of her is a small grizzly bear!! Emma backs away quietly and the bear ambles over the trail intent on consuming the copious berries on the bushes. We move forward ever so carefully but the bear is only interested in the berries. We watch, photo and video him for 5 mins, he just throws us the occasional glance back but berries are most important.
We work out that this golden, shaggy animal is just an adolescent so there must be a much bigger mummy nearby - time to move on. Alex warns other hikers about its presence and we head back - what a magic encounter!
A quick report at the Ranger station about our sighting and a discussion about colour leads to the conclusion he is actually a black bear and not a grizzly. Black bears aren’t just black, they can be brown, golden, ginger but the key feature is long tall ears, which our bear had. So no grizzly for the tick list but a Close Encounter of the Animal Kind!
As we are heading into the USA then we round up all our Canadian Dollars and spend them, just where Alex wants, in the sweetie shop!
At the border we check in with the Canadian border service to get Wendy’s paperwork stamped as exiting Canada. “Do you have eSTA?” they ask? No, don’t need it for land crossing we respond. Go check they say so we walk up through no-man’s land to the USA border post (this crossing point is not busy!) and first question is “Do you have eSTA?”
Transpires that the rules changed last October but only publicised on one Government web site so we have a problem! Back to Canada side, onto their WiFi, do an eSTA application there and then (takes about 1/2 hour ish) and expect response in seconds (normally). After a couple of mins get a “we cannot decide your application immediately” response. Panic! What’s causing the problem? Not been refused before, but perhaps we don’t quite fit the perfect profile - computer says what on earth is a retired 66 year old, a 40(ish) non working lady (don’t understand sabbatical) and a 6 year old child wanting to come to the USA for? Job hunting? Illegal immigrants? Ner-do-wells? Please refer case to a human!!
So, we can’t go to the USA now, it’s 6pm local time, so we have to come back into Canada and drive an hour to the Walmart at Pincher to stay overnight. Of course, what happens as we are getting a pizza (really really good) the email goes ping and our eSTA is now approved! Thank you human processing in the middle of the night on the East coast xx Too late to go to the border as it will close in less than an hour - but at least we can sleep knowing we can continue the Adventure!
Guy
STAY IN CANADA!