2024 - National Park Trips from Aug 16 to Aug 24

We have been planning to visit Glacier National Park since 2019.  Due to the pandemic we had to cancel the booked trip in 2020.  Finally, we got another chance in 2024 to visit it.  Based on the recommendation from one of our travel friends Phil, we added the Waterton NP in Canada to this trip.  He also highly recommended the Prince of Wales Hotel for lodging, so we took his advice.

Aug 16, 2024 - Flew to Calgary

Since Calgary is close to Waterton NP in Canada and the Waterton NP is adjacent to the Glacier NP, we decided to fly to Calgary and rent car to drive to both NPs.  

Flight to Calgary is uneventful, however, the Avis Rental counter in Calgary Airport had some major issues to get the cars ready for rent.  We had to wait for about 90 minutes to get our car.  With the issues they had, they gave us a free upgrade to BMW X3.  It turned out to be a good thing to have this upgrade while we drove in these 2 NPs later.

Originally, we planned to check in the hotel first and then drive to Red Rock Canyon to visit this beautiful geographic wonderland. However, with the car rental delay, we did not have enough time to do it.

The Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton NP is a major landmark in this NP and it is located at the most beautiful spot of the whole NP.  After we checked in and got into our room, then we realized that it has lost a lot of their glamour throughout the years.  The room was small and lacking of upgrades.  The whole hotel still has the tremendous location, however, its maintenance has a lot to be desired.  It has no landscaping at all.  Painting on the exterior is fading and the grasses are in sad condition.  However, their lobby still has the grand old glamour look and has been attracted a lot of visitors (non-customers) to browsing around.  

The hotel situates at the tip of Waterton Lake looking over the clear and beautiful lake and surround mountains.  Again a lot of tourist just came to view the wonderful scene from the back of the hotel.  We had a lake view room with picture perfect view of the whole lake, mountains and the nearby Waterton town. We did not stay in the room for long, we just went out to scope out the hotel and to enjoy the surround views.  

The we drove to Waterton town to have dinner at Waterton Pizza as some readers’ recommendation on Tripadvisor.  Their pizza and nachos and we had good time there. It felt strange to order nachos in pizza restaurant, however, the recommendation was not bad and they do have very nice and tasteful nachos.

After dinner, we stalked around the town visiting some of the souvenir shops, however, we could not find anything worthwhile to purchase.

Aug 17, 2024 - Hiking in Waterton Park

There is a short 1.2 miles Prince of Wales Loop Trail starting from the back of our hotel and we planned to hike this trail first.  At spilt spot, we did not pay attention and we got on the Townsite Loop Trail (2 miles).  Turned out it was a beautiful trail and we had many wonderful angles to view the hotel, lake, mountains and the township.  On this trail, we were able to view the Princes of Wales hotel from different angles over the lake.  It was magical and wonderful Kodak moments for us.  Then we got the International Park portion with a lot of landmarks to highlight it.

We stalked along the lake and found that there is a lot of lodging options in this area.  They are all have lake front accommodations and easy access to the lake and beaches.  

We also visited the newly built Waterton NP Visitor Center.  It was nicely designed with a lot of educational and interesting displays.

When we passed the Marina, we brought course tickets for Waterton Lake cruise in the afternoon of Aug 18.

After that wonderful hike, we got back across the hotel and got on the Bear’s Hump Trail.  Is is a moderate trail with 1.8 miles continuous uphill climb. Luckily they have a lot of rest points with benches or large stones  (used as bench) for resting.  It took us about a whole hour to reach the top.  

The 180 degrees view at the top provides an unforgettable views of the lake, mountains, waterfront township and the amazing hotel.  We stayed there for quite a long time and just click away our cameras. 

Since there is an Afternoon Tea in the hotel, we pre-booked it for 3PM.  It was in the Royal Steward Dining Room.  It was a typical and traditional afternoon tea.  Their charge $59 pp for a 3 tiers desert tray for selection of Tea Forté varieties and the carefully-crafted squares and sandwiches.  It did provide a taste of royal for us. We had a table next to the window overlooking the lake.  It was magical for us.  The only regarding part was that there were flies flying around out table.  We had to constantly to swiping them away.

After that we drove to Red Rock Canyon to visit this different part of park. We drove over the Red Rock Parkway to the northwest part of the park to visit it. It was created due to water erosion, and this canyon delights visitors with an array of red and green colored bedrock, called argillite, further accented by the surrounding lush vegetation, wildflowers, and mountain peaks in the background. An excellent place for photos, and stalking on the trial along the both sides of the canyon.  

There were a lot of visitors there with bare foot or some sort of crotches to walk in the canyon stream water.  We just walked on the trail and found a nice quiet spot for trying to step on the rock and touch the water.

We also added the Blakiston Falls Trails (1.2 miles) to enjoy the Blakiston falls. It was an easy trail with a boardwalk that leads to two beautiful recently built metal viewing platforms extending out over the gorge. We enjoyed both viewing platforms and just sat there for quite a while to soak in all the natural beauty.

On the way back we ran into a lot of cars in front of us stopping to watch animal.  Turnout it was a Grizzle Bear.  It was in distance, so we did not have any chance to take photo.

Aug 18, 2024 - More Hiking and Boating Tour

In the morning, we went to Cameron Lake Trail (2.4 miles) along the Cameron Lake.  We got there quite early and there were very few visitors there.  The reflection of the lake attracted us immediately for a lot of Kodak moments.  

There were one canoe in the lake which make our photos looked even better with it as the backdrop.  

Then we hiked along right side of the lake.  It was beautiful, however, it stopped us at about 1 mile with board message saying "it is discouraged to hike beyond this point due to the frequency of encounter the bears at the end of the lake".  Of course, we did not want to risk it, so we turned around.

The we went to the Prince of Wales Loop Trail and this time we did make the right turn and got on the right trail.  It was beautiful trail along the edge of the lake most of the way.  We enjoyed this trail very much.

We were planned to get on another nearby trial Linnet Lake Loop Trail, however, we found out that it was closed due to the recent encounter of a den for bears.

It was a beauty but a little bit hot day, therefore we went back to our hotel to cool off a little bit before we go onto the lake cruise.  When we got the marina, we found a lot of people were in lines and there were 3 different lines.  Finally we found the line for our cruise boat.   it was a narrated tour to tell us about the lake and the surrounding.  The cruise is called Waterton Lakes Cruise with Goat Haunt Landing with 2 hours 15 min boating and a 30 min at Goat Haunt Landing stop.  A US Park Services Ranger stationed there for the summer and provide us some information about the Goat Haunt Ridge, the nearby Continental Divide and the International Peace Park.  

After we got back to the Waterton, we went to the Waterton Pizza again for dinner.

Aug 19, 2024 - Drove to Glacier NP and Drove the Go-to-the-Sun Road

We started early in the morning and drove to Glacier NP.  From Waterton NP it is only an hour drive to Glacier NP St Mary Entrance.  We took our time passing the International Peace Park and then US Custom to get into to US.  When we got to St Mary Village, it was too early for us to check into the hotel, therefore, we went to Glacier NP St Mary Visitor Center to get my US NP Passport stamps, and checking with Rangers there for their recommendation regarding attractions and hiking trails.   The ranger we talked to told us that there are many viewpoints along the Go-to-the-Sun Road and his personal favor is the Wild Goose Island Viewpoint. 

We finally on the famous Go-to-the-Sun Road,  the St Mary Lake is on the left side of the road along with the majestic mountains as the backdrop.  No wonder people said this is the most beautiful road in US.  At the point, we already started to stop and click our cameras away.

When we got the Wild Goose Island Viewpoint, we ran into one of the famous Red Shuttle stoping nearby.  They brought a lot visitors to this viewpoint.  However, we ventured out further from the crowd and got some wonderful photos.

Next stop is Jackson Glacier Viewpoint.  We were lucky to find a parking spot , so we stopped and take some more photos.  This is the only spot along the Go-to-the-Sun Road one can spot glacier.  

Next we stop at Bird Woman Falls to take some photos on the mountains, valleys and the Bird Woman Fall.

We went thru two tunnels on the Go-to-the-Sun Road.  The first is the the East tunnel which is a short one.. The 2nd tunnel is the West Tunnel.  We stopped at the overlook area to have some photos on both sides of the tunnel and used it as backdrop. We even walked into the tunnel and found there are 2 caves for looking out from the middle of the tunnel.  In between, we passed the Logan Pass Visitor Center.  Since it is very difficult to find a parking spot there, we just drove by and tried our luck.  Surely we could not find any, therefore we continuously drove to the west.

Then we drove by the huge Lake McDonaldll on its south bank. We were able to stop by the McDonald Falls Overlook.  There is short walking trail led us to the McDonald Creek and we were able to view the falls in close distance. 

Then we came to Lake McDonald Lodge next to the Lake McDonald, we parked the car and went into this classic old hotel.  It was like the Prince of Wales Hotel having a lot of tourists just browsing around, We did the same and we also went to the back of the hotel and walked around the lake and the hotel to stretch out legs.  

The we got Apgar Visitor Center and had my NP Passport stamps.  Next we tried to go to the Apgar Village to look around, however, we could not find any parking spot, therefore we turned around and start to drive back to St Mary Village.

On out way back, we passed by the parking area for the Trail of the Cedars, luckily we found a parking spot and we took it and hiked on the Trail of the Cedars.   It is a very popular trail with boardwalk on most part of the trail, lush green of ferns and mosses growing along the forest floor, and lot of western hemlocks and red cedars.  Some of the trees in this area are estimated to be more than 500 years old. 

About half way of the trail, there is a footbridge over Avalanche Creek that provides commanding views of the lower Avalanche Gorge. At here one can enjoy a front row view of the amazing power of glacially melted water as it cascades through the narrow gorge. 

After that there is an Avalanche Lake Trail junction, however, it was too late in a day, so we just completed the Trail of the Cedars and heading back to St Mary Village. On the way, we did spot some deers next to the rest area which took us some more time for photos.

On the way we did stop by the Heavens Peak overlook.  

When we passed Logan Pass, the clouds started to come down on us quickly, for the last part of the Go-to-the-Sun before we get to the St Mary Village, it was pulling down heavily.  Luckily, the upgraded rental BMW X3 help use in this extreme weather condition.

We finally got to the St Mary Village, which is just outside of the park’s east entrance.  They gave us a room just above the check-in office which is the same building with the restaurant and shops.  It is convenient, but the setup is old and has not been updated.  It was even worst than the room we had in the Prince of Wales.  But this was the best we could do, so we just used it for sleep and planned to stay most of our time outdoor.  We just had dinner in the restaurant downstair.