Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada

After walking around picking up my jaw around Many Glacier Hotel…

… we headed out for an epic bike ride from Chief Mountain in Montana…

… to cross the Canadian border on bikes…

(obviously not the border, but that IS Steve with his bike)

… and coast past majestic mountains…

… to roll onto the plains of the Waterton Lakes region -

As we cruised along this lakeside bike trail…

… a black bear, barely off the side of the road, ambled into the brush, but it was so close and so quick that I couldn’t get a picture, so you’ll just have to believe me!

We got to stay at the Prince of Wales hotel…

… which is perched on a bluff overlooking Waterton Lake -

Apparently, the picture above is exceedingly rare, as there is always wind in Waterton. It was a beautifully calm morning as Steve and I set out for a solo hike starting across the lake, while the rest of our tour group rode bikes, kayaked or had high tea. :)

We had bought tickets the day before in “downtown” Waterton for the ferry that would take us the 15 minutes across the lake to the trailhead for Crypt Lake. It was to be an 11 mile roundtrip hike with 2600+ ft of elevation gain. We had to complete it in 6 1/2 hours to get the return ferry back to Waterton. The picture above is Waterton Lake as we climbed up and out of the surrounding forest.

We passed waterfalls and craggy ridges…

… and looked back on the valley we had climbed up through -

As we hiked ever higher, I was certain that the massive waterfall was coming from our goal -

Do you see the tiny people in the next picture, on the rock face? They are walking along the trail (really not all that narrow), passing through a natural tunnel, and walking up an angled rock face with the help of chains bolted into the rock -

This was a really unique trail for us…

(the dark rectangle in the rock face is the tunnel)

… and we enjoyed the variety of challenges…

… with the tunnel being quite new to us (and very low at times) -

I had walked along ledges with chains on Angel’s Landing hike in Zion, but this was new for Steve. It didn’t really faze either one of us -

We crested the lip, and there was Crypt Lake!

We sat and had a nice lunch, admiring the reflections…

… before walking around the lake some, for a different perspective -

On our way back down, the waterfall was in better light -

We returned to the lake edge as the dark clouds were gathering…

… and with 30 minutes to spare before the ferry arrived. Whew!

For my closing picture, I’ll share the last waterfall we visited on our final afternoon of our tour - Running Eagle Falls:

(it may not look like much at first, but I loved the curving, upthrust rock, the smooth water, and even a hint of reflection in the stream)