Editor’s Note: This post is a transcription of a diary written while on-site at Glacier National Park. The diary has been lightly edited for readability.
7:30 PM: Back in my futon bed after what has been without a doubt our busiest day yet. It all started for me at the same time that it did for everyone else – at 6:30 am. It’s a small cabin and I’m a light sleeper. I tried to stave off the inevitable for a while, but then gave up and got out of bed to have an apple fritter with everyone else.
Our destination today was Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta. Elizabeth and I visited back in July of 2022 and absolutely loved it. It was the top item I suggested to my parents for this week.
Today, we planned to take the lake cruise offered by Waterton Shoreline Cruise Company and then go for a hike either at Bear’s Hump of Red Rock Canyon. Because it was then end of tourist season, the only lake cruise times were at 10:00 am and 2:00 pm. Conversely, because it was the end of the season, the US-Canada border crossing is only open 9:00 – 6:00. A needle had to be threaded to make the 10:00 cruise.
Everyone did their part. We were packed up and moving from the cabin by 8:30. The GPS didn’t know that the Chief Mountain Border Crossing was open. Fortunately, I did. As an added bonus, this took us down a road I hadn’t traveled on before in 2022, and the Chief Mountain Highway is beautiful. The aspens were approaching full color at the foot of the mountain.
We reached the border crossing at 8:55; 10 cars were already in line and seemed to have been car camping overnight.We got through in 10 minutes – just enough time waiting in line for my mom and I to hop out of the car and get a picture at the border crossing sign.
Driving into Waterton felt like a homecoming of sorts. Everything looked exact the way I remembered it.
Time of arrival: 9:40 am. Maybe we could sneak onto the 10:00 boat? My mom and I stood in line only for the ticket agent to sell out on the guy in front of us. Even though it’s not peak tourist season, the lack of tours probably still contributes to scarcity.
I wasn’t much put-off by the setback. The cloud cover from yesterday was quickly lifting, and it was a sunny if somewhat cool morning. Perfect hiking weather, in other words. My mom was excited about the Bear’s Hump, a secondary favorite of my 2022 trip. At 700 feet of elevation gain across just 1.6 round-trip miles, Elizabeth and I had been gut-punched by the hike a little bit. Granted, that had come a day after Piegan Pass and St Mary/Virginia Falls, so fatigue probably played a big role in that.
After hiking a second time, it definitely was fatigue in round 1. The fearsome Bear’s Hump was much tamer the second time around. This is easy for me to say, because I wasn’t lugging Wyatt on my back like Kyle was. And I’m sure my parents would disagree with the premise that we crushed it given the five or six rest stops it took along the way. But I remember stopping at each individual switchback on a sweltering July day, so this crisp September morning was a cakewalk. The highlight of the ascent was a mule deer that took a selfie with me.
We summited the Bear’s Hump after about 40 minutes. The Meisters didn’t grace the summit for long, in part because the breeze was coming in fresh from the south which was chilly on everyone’s sweaty cold-weather gear (should have worn shorts with me, guys!)… and also partially because Wyatt has reached his fill with this hike. When you’re one year old, you get to call the shots. That was fine with me; I’ve seen the view verbatim before and this is a family trip. Kyle and Taylor hustled back down with Wyatt while I stayed back to shepherd my parents down to the trailhead.
It was almost lunchtime, but since we were already out at the outlet of the upper lake, I suggested a quick stop at the Prince of Wales Hotel before heading into town. My mom was very excited to see the Prince of Wales, and justifiably so. The view from the hotel is really unmatched, and the architecture is beautiful. The only drawback is that the southerly wind was howling across Upper Waterton Lakes and anyone upwind of it. Nobody was eager to give me much time to take pictures.
From the Prince of Wales, my great Waterton Lakes Tour moved on to Wieners of Waterton. I assumed everything around here was seasonal, but I guess since Waterton is a permanent townsite, they stay open all winter long? It was busy for late September. My local smokie with special sauce, mustard, coleslaw, pickled onions, and dill pickle was excellent and worth the wait though. Everyone else seemed pretty happy with their meals too, especially my dad. Taylor had a decent vegetarian option which is a nice thing at a hot dog restaurant. Having everyone be happy with their meal was a contrast with Elizabeth’s distaste for smoked hot dogs. It’s cool having my taste buds validated.
There was still a little bit of time to kill before the 2:00 boat tour. The Waterton townsite has some pretty good gift shops down by the lake if you’re just browsing to kill a little time. This is pretty beneficial for those of us who are looking to put together some gifts for your wife who was back home (editor’s note: she never ate the maple popcorn I bought her. It’s the thought that counts, right?)
My mom and Kyle were in line for the Waterton boat cruise by 1:30. Downside: that was a lot of time for Wyatt to get into trouble, especially if you’re standing on a dock above a freezing lake and he’s shorter than the railing. Upside: we all got seats at the top of the boat! Although Wyatt may disagree with the notion that the topside seats were an upside: he was vociferous in a 1-year-old’s special way in expressing his displeasure at the situation. Taylor and Kyle took him to the bottom level to try to calm him down. They were eventually able to buy his acquiescence with the power of the almighty snack. That little guy loves his yogies.
As for the rest of us: the boat tour was awesome. The guide was knowledgable, engaging, and had an obvious passion for the Waterton Lakes area. He was enjoyable to listen to, in other words. The wind wasn’t quite as much of a deterrent as I’d feared, especially when the boat wasn’t chugging straight south down the lake. Everyone in my family seemed to appreciate the novelty of crossing the international border into the US via boat and back. We even got a relatively close-up sighting of a bald eagle!
I’m running out of writing time tonight, so to keep it brief: we did stop at the Visitor’s Centre and Cameron Falls on the way out of town. I don’t think either were world-shakers to any of our group (except for maybe Wyatt. It turns out he LOVES waterfalls. Not so much a fan of the mule deer that walked within 10 feet of him in the park), but they were fun, low-effort things to see.
Taylor and Kyle saw a black bear on the side of the road just short of the border crossing. By the time they relayed word to my parents and me (which of course required both of us to have good enough cell service to actually see the message) the bear was gone. Dinner tonight was spaghetti at the cabin.
It was a really, really good day.
