Day 35 Waterton Lake National Park

When we got up this morning, though the rain had stopped, it still appeared quite dull and foggy. As soon as we stepped outside the tailer to hook up for leaving, we quickly realize there wasn’t any fog. We were blanketed in wildfire smoke. While we are quite far away from any active fires, and shockingly have not even smelled smoke since we left Mississauga (we did have some there), today the smoke caught up with us and was palpable.

The smoke stuck with us for our ride through Saskatchewan and into Alberta. It was thick enough that it burned my nose and throat and made picture taking a useless endeavor. It wasn’t so thick though that we couldn’t appreciate the beautiful scenery as we travelled along. The farms were dotted with their orange and blue tents that house hardworking leafcutter bees. The cattle ranches that housed massive herds too plentiful to count. The antelope wandered at will, hawks and eagles surveyed for critters that couldn’t make the cut here in the sprawling landscape. Windfarms and the scattering of farm or ranch homes were the only signs of “people stuff” until we reached Lethbridge. A stop for supplies for the coming week and we caught our breath as we approached the campground.

Our first view as we travel toward our next stop.
We are back in bear country and bear lockers are plentiful
Crooked Creek runs through the campground
It also has it's own beaver dam - will watch for inhabitants!

Our backdrop for the next five days,

The Rockies are awe-inspiring. Even here in the foothills the grandeur of presence is arresting. Hopefully in the next five days that we are here the air will clear enough for pictures that are worthy of beauty that is currently our backdrop!

Our after-dinner drive was supposed to just be a little drive to get our bearings. I lost track of the number of times one of us asked Jonathan to pull over! Each stop was a place I could happily spend the next five days.

The first stop was not two minutes into the drive!

As we enjoyed this spot, sandhill cranes were making themselves heard from the island in front of us.
Check out the whisps of mist between the mountains.
Look at those reflections!



 The entrance to Driftwood Beach
The rainbow of rocks in the lake was beautiful!
Imagine just how beautiful this would be blue sky and sunshine.

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