... and a little more cool green Canada before heading home ...  |
| I remember it being very, very green; 2013 |
We had booked a room at the Waterton Glacier Suites for two nights in the town of Waterton at what I thought was a ridiculously low rate for a generally expensive resort area. It was a gorgeous hotel with a huge suite comprising a living room, bath and bedroom.
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| Our hotel and the welcoming committee |
Plus, it had an absolutely fabulous Italian restaurant, Red Rock Trattoria, where we had a wonderful dinner. So why so cheap?
We soon discovered some of the reasons (and this falls under the “I shoulda known” category).
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| What was happening here? |
#1, it really wasn’t season yet. The town was very empty. It seemed like just us and lots of Bighorn Sheep (that would peek into our hotel room window and the window by our table as we were eating dinner).
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| It was like a ghost town |
#2 (and possibly the reason for #1), Waterton Lakes suffered devastating damage from a wildfire in 2017.
Exceptionally hot weather, strong winds and extremely dry conditions (a common theme) fueled the extreme Kenow Wildfire over the first weeks of September.
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| Five years later and it still looks like this |
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| Burned trees everywhere |
By the time it was over, 75 square miles -- 38 percent -- of the Park burned, including almost everything you can see from the Park’s two scenic drives. Another 60 square miles burned adjacent to the Park.
The Waterton townsite, which was evacuated, was spared through the use of high-volume water pumps and sprinkler systems installed around the edge of the community and the removal of trees, shrubs, grasses and other flammable items.
The iconic Prince of Wales was also saved.
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| Still standing |
It also appears that much of the vegetation along the shores of the three Waterton Lakes (Upper, Middle and Lower) survived.
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| So, at least that view is still pretty (that's Waterton on the shore of the lake) |
The fire affected the Akamina Parkway, the Red Rock Parkway and associated bridges, guardrails, signs, picnic areas and parking areas as well as 80 percent of the hiking trail network.
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| Now, all the pavement, guard rails, signs, bathrooms and picnic areas are new |
Plus, the Visitor Centre, Crandell Mountain Campground, many buildings at Canyon Youth Camp, the Alpine Stables, staff housing and associated infrastructure such as water and electrical systems were destroyed.
And, as one would expect, the fire and associated loss of vegetation drove out many of the animals that survived the blaze.
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| Terrible and heart-breaking |
Because it was fast-moving, many animals were injured and had to be later put down by Park Rangers.
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| Little guys, like this Richardson's Ground Squirrel, fared better than Bears and Moose |
So, here we were in an almost empty Park with a beautiful hotel room attached to a nice restaurant. But, there were no animals ...
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| Ok, we saw a Deer, some Ground Squirrels and the Bighorn Sheep |
... and the landscape was some of the most depressing scenery you can imagine ...
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| It will be years before it grows back |
We did some exploring when we got there, driving both Akamina and Red Rocks ...
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| Red Rocks |
... and, checking out the lakes ...
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| Some of the prettiest lakes anywhere |
... but, we decided to move on after the first night.
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| What was the point? |
We had time in the morning because the Carway border station, which was an hour away, didn’t open until 8:00 a.m. So, we stopped for some photos of the lakes …
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| A nice calm morning |
And, then pulled off in an area that was actually hopping with birds.
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| The burned out area was full of birds |
I saw my second Common Raven nest of the trip (and my life)!
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| Another nest! |
There were Eastern Kingbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds and Tree Swallows …
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| Three familiar birds |
Lots of Brown-headed Cowbirds ...
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| A nice pose |
And, I picked up a new one for me, a Clay-colored Sparrow!
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| Lifer! |
A pretty good stop.
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| I loved those little Ravenettes! |
And, then on the way to the border, we stopped to investigate a Red-tailed Hawk on a fence.
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| Very cooperative |
I slowly advanced toward it, snapping pictures and expecting it to fly away. It repositioned, but never vacated the spot. I probably could have petted it.
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| Moving to a new post |
Then, we headed on down the road, viewing Glacier National Park in the distance, and crossing back into the good old USA.
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| Border crossing |
While we drove right past Glacier, we didn’t go in because we didn’t have entrance passes (the area seemed empty, so I am not sure what they were required). Instead we continued on south to our final destination.
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| Glacier is over in that direction |
Originally, we planned to go straight home after Waterton Lakes. But after all our Bear success in Yellowstone and because we had not seen any of the Grizzly COYs that we kept seeing people post on Yellowstone Bears, we were going back to Yellowstone for one more night.
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| Hoping for more |
Maybe we’d see some of those cute babies.
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