Antje and I went on an 8.6 mile hike (plus some extra walking to and from the car and around the lake) on this day. The hike started at a trail head in Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada and traversed into Glacier National Park in Montana. The crazy part about it: because the U.S. is so paranoid about people entering the country you have to have your passport with you and go through customs once you hit the Goat Haunt ranger station in Montana, just for your day hike! It upped the cool factor considerably. How often do you go through customs while hiking?
This is a picture at the start of the hike. The day started out kinda foggy and a little rainy...
And here is the international boundary. We learned that the entire border is marked because it's supposed to be easily identifiable. The line of bright green trees in the middle is the boundary between the U.S. and Canada. They apparently cut down all the trees in the middle every so often. We found this out by asking the customs guy at the ranger station.
Antje and me standing with one foot in the U.S. and one foot in Canada. I, of course, look much less like a dweeb in my picture!!
And because the U.S. doesn't really like anyone entering the country here is the first thing you see even while in the middle of a hike in the middle of nowhere:
Along with the requisite bear signs (which for some reason Canada doesn't really have although I think there just as many bears around).
Bear scratchings on the tree. We saw plenty of bear scat too.
We also passed through a bald eagle nesting area and actually found the nest! On the ferry ride back to Canada we also saw the bald eagle but I didn't manage to get a picture of it.
For the record, this bridge was not fun. It was one of those swaying suspension bridges that Antje said reminded her of Indiana Jones. It pretty much felt like it too! Only one person was allowed on at a time and it rocked and swayed a lot. I tried to go on it quickly but that just made it rock more. I have definitely come a long way in my fear of heights. A few years ago I never would have set foot on this sucker!
Me and Antje at Upper Waterton Lake at the Goat Haunt Ranger Station.
And to end an awesome day we saw a black bear and her two cubs while we were driving out of the park! These are the best pictures I managed to get of them.
1 comment:
Wow, that's really pretty! That bridge looks freaky. I would have hated it!
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