Glacier/Waterton Lakes National Park

How does one describe the adventure of a lifetime? We fell in love with Glacier National Park last year in the fall, and someone on the net told us: "if you loved Glacier National Park, then Waterton Lakes National Park will take your heart away." So for my birthday trip, I decided that we should visit Waterton Lakes National Park

And sure enough it did. Look at these beautiful views.

First, there's knight's lake on a still day:


That's Dad on the left, me in the middle, mom on the right.		That's my youngest brother

Then, there's views from near the top of Alderson-Cathrew trail:


Far away into the distance, you can see the Great plains of Canada				How many Alpine lakes can you spot in this picture?

It's kinda cool to be standing at the top of the trail, near 7000 feet:

But the route there wasn't easy:


That's dad in the picture, descending from the vantage point that gave us such gorgeous views				We camped at the edge of light and shadow.

"The day after it snows, the snow will sit softly on the ground. If you then hike up on near the top of a mountain and its sunny, then strange things can happen. The wind can blow from the other side of the slope, for instance, and since the snow is so loose, it will blow the flakes up into the air and the flakes will float again in the clear sunny sky..."

"So that it looks like its snowing?"

"No, not at all! The flake's melted a bit, you see, so all you get is a clear particle of ice in the air, catching the sunlight. It looks like a spark. When you first see it, you think, `oh, petals blowing in the wind`, but then you realize its snow, and what a wonderful feeling it is!"

conversation with a friend

And finally, don't forget the Bighorn Sheep:

If you're in Waterton Lakes National Park, don't forget to spend a couple of days or so backpacking and camping. If you have time, going 60 miles East to Cardston brings you to a wonderful restaurant called the Stone Manor House Diner. If you have even a bit of a chance, don't miss it! It really is a wonderful place. Cardston has B&Bs for those cold days when you're sick of camping out.

Scott Bialecki has contributed a map of the area to assist in trip planning.

John Irwin has two pictures from 1980 at Waterton Lake to contribute:

This is what he says: "Enclosed are two pictures taken in 1980 at Waterton Lake, showing my wife Marylyn Irwin of Spokane, Washington holding our daughter, while a herd of female bighorn sheep milled around. Two came over and looked at our baby. One nudged her gently as though kissing her. I took their picture but was slow in capturing the event. The herd of sheep was about 6 or 7 miles NW of Waterton. Although wild, they seemed domesticated… Marylyn is a nurse and I'm retired." The Baby's name is Shari L. Irwin, and she is now 17.

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