We've just got back from a three day break down at Waterton.

Yes! We saw bears!

Admittedly the first were technically American bears, on the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier Park, but later that evening we saw one on the Red Rock Canyon Road in Waterton as well!

Has anyone else done the Crypt Lake Trail Hike from Waterton? Wow!

We were not really experienced hikers ... more park the car and go for a stroll type ..... but we did this "5.4 miles straight up a mountain", and it was absolutely stupendous!

If you read the reviews (like we did) http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...erta.html#TOPC you might be put off going, but the bit near the top is exciting rather than scary .... and it's so obviously dangerous that you just get quite careful where you put your feet (and hands), and apparently nobody has fallen off yet!

I can recommend the Road to the Sun trip too, but remember you'll need your passports and PR cards to cross the border. The Canadian border guard was so nice on our return, letting us off paying duty on the 6 bottles of beer we declared as having been bought in the US, and saying "Welcome Home" as he gave us back our cards!

yay - glad you broke yr duck

D'ya think the bears are posting in a bears website, saying "we saw a Morwenna?"

Congrats Morwenna.

So are those two 'merkan bears or Canadian?

Wow that second picture is neat but humongous (5 megabytes), I've reduced so it'll load quicker I hope you don't mind.

Perhaps if things work out well tickerwise I'll try the Crypt Lake thing sometime.

nice photo's I love wild life

OK you are now officially 'one of us'

Thanks Steve .... I hoped you would!

They were American bears. We actually stopped in an empty roadside turn-out (lay-by) to look at the lake views on our left, and I looked up the slope to our right and just spotted them! We got out to take photos (they were over a hundred meters away) and another car stopped to ask what we were looking at .... soon the turn-out was full, so we guiltily moved on!

The crypt lake hike is certainly strenous .... at this time of year there is only one drop-off and one pick-up, so we felt a little pushed time-wise ... though in the end we got back to the beach with 45 minutes to spare!

Alan really struggled on the way up .... he said he thought he was going to die! , but I felt it much more on the way down, and the last couple of k my knees were really stiffening up .... unfortunately by then "turning back" was not an option!!!

Oh the other excitement we had up by the lake was seeing fresh cougar prints, an adult and a cub together. Thankfully we didn't spot the actual animals, but I'm sure they knew about us!

thanks steve, that one I could not get to see. wow looks lovely, yous are so lucky

Quick load version of the cougar prints.

Really neat picture. I've added a little contrast to make them stand out a little better.

Great pics thanks for sharing

YAY! Morwenna!

We like the Going to the Sun road too. It was closed when we tried this year - we wanted to do the whole lot, we only did the 1st half last year There is always next year though!

That hike looked a little nerve wracking

They are doing maintenance work on the Going to the Sun Road. It was built in 1952 or such-like, and is badly in need of repair! We were intrigued by the free shuttle buses that troll up and down the road. You can hop on and off at any point (assuming they are not full of course) and I guess it takes some of the traffic off the road, so is a "good thing"!

Our host at the B&B told us they had wanted to close the road completely for 3-5 years for repairs, but I guess the demands of the tourist season prevented that, so now they manage to keep most of it open for most of the short season, although sometimes it's closed in one direction or the other. It is the only road across the Glacier National Park.

Visitors should check the web-site for up-to-date info on closures. By mid-October the road is often impassable due to weather for the winter anyway!

The hike was exciting and fun, although we did wonder if we'd bit off more than we could chew at times! It'd be great for teenagers, but probably too much for young kids, and you do need to be reasonably able-bodied to cope with the scrambling bit. It's not recommended as a "first hike" PHA!!

Not a walk for dogs either. Bear encounters are quite frequent we hear, and some Parks Canada guys who were camping up there and working on the trail warned us there was a black bear at their camp we went past. Didn't see it, but we suspected it might've seen us!

We were warned that the biggest cause of death is people slipping and falling off waterfalls (about 12 fatalities in the park), and the one at the end is about 160 ft high, so care is needed if folks want to peer over the top for the view!

I'll pass thanks................................
















But I can think of a few people I would take up there just on the off chance

I'll decline your invitation.

Hi Steve,

Seriously we must get together within the next 12 years. and no I dont mean for hike to the top of the waterfall.

BC