Day 43: Canadian Rockies

 Monday, June 24

The sun was out today! We started the day on the Bow Valley Parkway south of our campground at Johnston Canyon, where I took a 4-mi RT hike to two waterfalls along the chalky teal colored stream. 

Then we headed west on Highway 1 to neighboring Yoho NP in British Columbia, where we were lucky enough to catch a long train at the Spiral Tunnel Overlook where the train heads east loops into the mountain heading west and then loops back out of the mountain heading east in order to avoid too much of a grade. Next stop was at a natural bridge. We also stopped at the beautiful Emerald Lake. Compared to previous trips, we have learned that every stop in all these Canadian parks is limited parking and mobbed with tourists, many from the Middle East and Asia.

We headed back east to Lake Louise (town) and then drive part way up the Icefields Parkway still in Banff NP. Stops here included Herbert Lake, Crowfoot Glacier, Bow Lake, Peyto Lake (my favorite), Mistaya Canyon, Saskatchewan Crossing, and Howse Pass before having dinner at a pub and then driving two-plus hours back south on the Icefields Parkway to the same campsite we had last night. 

Day 42: Banff National Park

 Sunday, June 23

We were up early in the Walmart parking lot in Calgary, where we stayed last night after thinking our first site was a bit sketch. I was excited to find that the local Tim Hortons (Canadian version of Dunkin) had my favorite donut Canadian maple. Then it was off an hour west to Banff NP in the Canadian Rockies. We stopped in the town of Banff at Surprise Corner for a great view of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel with the Bow River in the foreground. Then we pulled up the road a little to Tunnel mountain overlook and the hoodoos that Rachel climbed in 2010.

Then we drove north on Highway 1 and the Bow Valley Parkway to get a first come first serve campsite at Protection Mountain before catching our shuttle bus at noon to Lake Louise (you can’t drive right up there anymore yourself). And of course it rained and was mobbed by people, so we had to wait for some glimmer of blue sky. Then we caught the bus to Moraine Lake, where we also had rain and rock scrambled up the rock pile for views. Hunkering down in my poncho for over an hour, I waited for the skies to clear! It was worth the wait! Then it rained again as we made our way to camp.

Day 41: Glacier-Watertown international Peace Park

Saturday, June 22

A very happy birthday to my best pal, Dad!

Divide Creek campground last night was definitely a primitive campground with outdoor shower and pit toilet but friendly hosts. But it was very convenient—only a mile from the east entrance to Glacier National Park. We were very pleasantly surprised at 8 AM when we showed our park pass at the entrance station that as of midnight last night the entire length of Going-to-the-Sun Road is now open, so that meant we had free access to all areas of the park. Driving this iconic highway end to end is an experience in and of itself with narrow roadways lined in one side by rock mountain faces and the other by steep dropoffs and at its highest point at Logan Pass filled with snow drifts on both sides. We drove east to west, stopping at St Mary’s Lake and Wild Goose Island, Logan Pass, Weeping Wall, and ending at Lake McDonald Lodge. Then we reversed direction and went west to east, stopping for a picnic lunch at Sun Point.

 After a quick drive to the Many Glacier road looking unsuccessfully for moose or grizzly, we crossed into Canada and went to the Watertown Lakes Park joined to Glacier. Here, we parked at the magnificent Prince of Wales Hotel overlooking Watertown Lake and hiked to Cameron Falls and had a nice picnic dinner by the lake’s edge. Then we drove to Fort McLeod and boondocked. 

Day 40: Montana's Dinosaurs and Big Sky Country

 Friday, June 21 and the longest day of the year

We got up at 7:00 and were on the road by 7:30, heading north from Gardiner MT on 89N. Taking 90W we headed to Bozeman MT, where we toured the Museum of the Rockies, a very eclectic museum. They had a room for mythical creatures (which Jessica really enjoyed), another for MT houses and transportation to get there, another on Yellowstone Native American cultures, and then the gem for me—rooms full of dinosaur fossils including Big Mike the T. rex. Many dinosaur fossils were found in nearby Hell’s Creek Canyon, including several T. rex and many Triceratops. There was very interesting info with fossils and casts of fossils on how the jaws and horns of these two dinosaurs varied with age. T. rex only lived to 25 yrs old. Imagine how fast it must have grown! They also had fossils of dinosaur egg clutches of various sizes and even one of an embryo! And in one T. rex femur that broke open, they found soft tissue and were able to extract some DNA and proteins, to show how closely dinosaurs and birds are related. 

After the museum, we found a Jiffy Lube in Bozeman and had the oil changed, while Jessica went to CVS and then got us lunch at Chipotle while we waited. We then went across the street to Safeway to grocery shop. We drove on for 5 hrs or more north to Helena, where we gassed up. Then we were detoured due to construction and witnessed a thunderstorm in the area of Choteau where we were headed that reportedly had golf ball sized hail. We could see Montana’s big sky huge cumulus clouds in the distance and then the black dark storm clouds as we got closer and the heavy rain on the horizon. We missed the storm by about 30 min and only had mild rain and saw some hail on the side of the road as the sun came out. We continued on 89N to Browning MT and then 2W to St Mary and the east side of Glacier NP. We stayed at Divide Creek campground, site 8, a primitive campground with outdoor HW shower for $5 extra per person. Tomorrow, we will explore the east side of the park since the Going-to-the-Sun Road is closed in the mountains due to snow and will not open until mid-July!