Part 3-After spending almost two weeks in the Canadian Rockies, we decided to head south across the US border to Glacier National Park. We drove through picturesque Kananaskis Country via the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Trail gravel road to Highway 40. This road less traveled rewarded us with views of bighorn sheep, mountain goats, bald eagles, coyote, moose and pica along the way. We made a quick stop in the town of Pincher Creek to load up on groceries for the remainder of the trip at a budget-friendly Walmart.   We continued south to Waterton Glacier International Peace Park. Unfortunately, we were just a little late for the wildflower festival, which occurred late June. This National Park is home to more than half of the wildflowers found in Alberta, including beargrass. We made a stop at the impressive Prince of Wales Hotel, which offerred a lovely afternoon tea. However, after a brief tour inside, we decided the five star façade only housed a two star interior. Before heading out, we hiked the Red Rock Canyon and saw beautiful colors of bedrock layers.

After a relaxing time at Waterton, we arrived at US Customs at the border. I would not use the word friendly in describing this border patrol. The experience was quite intense as they barked out orders and confiscated our recently purchased fruits from Walmart. Despite our kids trying to eat some of the fruit as they searched our car, the border patrol removed every last bite. Moving on, we made the remaining winding leg of the trip to East Glacier Park for our last home rental. We grabbed dinner at the Whistle Stop Café’ and went to a very pricey small grocery store to repurchase our fruits.

The next morning, we were thrilled to hear that they had just opened the East to West Road Drive across Glacier National Park.   It had remained closed longer than normal due to a high snowfall during the winter season. This 50-mile drive from the East to West entrances of the park is known as the Going-to-the-Sun Road and is considered one of the most scenic drives in America. The drive offers spectacular scenery as it winds through the park with portions of the road hugging the mountainside. We spent most of our day traversing across the park with multiple stops. Sunrift Gorge had a nice hike with beautiful waterfalls. We stopped at Logan’s Pass for a lunch break and the kids enjoyed carving their name in the six-foot snow banks. We returned home south of the park and stopped at the Goat Lick Overlook to watch a multitude of mountain goats.

The next day’s adventure began at Many Glacier Hotel, a Swiss inspired historic hotel, located on the east shore of the Swiftcurrent Lake. We decided this was a 2 star façade with a 1 star hotel inside. At the dock, we caught the first wooden boat ride across the lake. The scenic boat ride offered great commentary on the geology and geography of the area. After disembarking the boat, we hiked 0.2 miles to the shores of Lake Josephine to board another wooden boat. After the second boat ride, we departed to hike the last trail to Grinell Lake. This hike was a bit more adventurous as we passed over streams, a suspension footbridge, and a boardwalk. We stopped along the way at Hidden Falls for a picnic lunch. The sun peaked out for our return boat rides revealing the beautiful turquoise colors of the lake. We rewarded our hikers with some huckleberry ice cream back at the hotel. Several of the tourists mentioned they had run into grizzlies nearby. Apparently this is a common occurrence in the park, which explains why many of the hikers carry bear spray. With the hopes of a grizzly sighting, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the dock gazing at Atlyn Mountain behind the hotel until we had all seen a grizzly, thankfully from a distance! On the way home, we stopped to tour the Glacier Park Lodge. We were thrilled to finally give a 3 star rating to the interior and exterior of this lodge!

The next morning we left early to make the drive back to Calgary for our return flight home. We left behind acres of untamed wilderness yet to be discovered. There is something about viewing glaciers that have been formed over centuries of time that puts your own life span in perspective.

“A man who keeps company with glaciers comes to feel tolerably insignificiant by and by. The Alps and the glaciers together are able to take every bit of conceit out of a man and reduce his self-importance to zero if he will only remain within the influence of their sublime presence long enough to give it a fair and reasonable chance to do its work. “ -Mark Twain