slash fundas: Canadian Rockies Day 4 (Glacier National Park)

Friday, September 22, 2017

Canadian Rockies Day 4 (Glacier National Park)

The Waterton Lakes Lodge resort looks like a lodge. Small cottages with a few rooms each and spread over a large acre of land, the rooms give a woody and mountainous feeling rather than the glossy feeling that city hotels give us. The morning was very crisp and light layering was required. The sunrise cast its golden colours on the mountains behind the resort very different from the pinkish hue of sunsets. Stray deers- whole families- can be seen all over Waterton and I saw a whole pack pass through, just outside our cottage corridor. People had got up early either to watch the sunrise or to simply take cup of coffee and go out on a morning leisurely stroll.

Columbian ground squirrel at Logan pass in Glacier National Park

After a decent breakfast, we head off to the Glacier National Park. The Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, where the American and Canadian Rockies meet. In 1932, the U.S. and Canada joined these two national parks as a symbol of their longtime peace and friendship. In recognition of this historic agreement, the parks were officially designated as the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We had to cross over the US border. Here's where Gate1 Travels, my tour group, erred, but luckily it didn't hurt us. Since we cross over to the US territory, we need valid US visas. Fortunately, all us Indians who were on board the bus, had one. But it could have boomeranged us, if we hadst;t had US visas. We would have had to sit in completely wilderness, as the border check-post was right in the middle of a forest area. The immigration told us to get off, took our fingerprints, checked our passports, travel history and issued a temporary entrance. He was intrigued that my friend had visited Iran. When she explained to him about Zoroastrianism, he said he knew Zoroastrians. That intrigued us more than anything. It's always a pleasant and most welcome surprise when the otherwise stiff Visa officials are well-read and aware of the world and understand and appreciate free movement of people for valid reasons.

The lake on which the Many Glacier Hotel stands

Our first stop was at the majestic, Many Glacier Hotel on crystal-clear Swiftcurrent Lake. It's in the middle of nowhere, so any dreams of coming here sometime in future get dashed unless you are ready to drive in foreign land. After a hurried, but very awesome hot chocolate (it was the right amount of cold here), we watched the solar eclipse. The total solar eclipse was seen in many places in the USA that day; where we saw it was 90%. Not quite the same as 100%, but very exciting nevertheless. Next time, i think i will be better prepared. The two Indian couple from New Jersey, USA had got special Eclipse glasses and we all took full benefit of them.

We then proceeded to a place were we boarded an open-top red bus (bus no. 84) to go to the Logan pass, which is at a height. We passed by yet another lake whose name I don't remember, but since there was some smog due to the forest fires in the region, I wasn't much enchanted. A small island, called the Wild Goose Island, though in the lake looked pretty. We also saw a herd of Big Horn sheep rushing down the hill and then crossing the road. Some confidently crossed, others hesitated. They were the cynosure of everyone's eyes and complete traffic stoppers too. We had a lovely group dinner at the hotel.