Three bears, two waterfalls and it is only our second day!

What3words: cutlets.verge.punks

Picked up the hire car from downtown Calgary. Not gonna lie, it was a bit daunting driving at first, but we soon got the hang of it and we shared the driving down to Waterton - Glacier National Park. The plan had been to drive across the US border and spend the night on the US side of the park, returning to Canada via the ‘Going to the sun road’ - but, alas, the border is closed. We knew this before we came so we booked a motel on the Canadian side (Blue Mountain Motel), and headed into Waterton.

We were gifted a Canadian sim card with unlimited data and calls, as well as an old handset, intending tp tether our own phones to the Canadian handset - this did not work out so well as we kept getting cut off, but the canadian sim in my phone works just perfectly - and thank goodness because without google maps we would literally be lost!

To use my own data from the UK would have cost a fortune, so well worth getting a Canadian sim if you plan to be here for any length of time.

Entry to the National Parks costs $21 per day ($10.50 pp), or $145 for a full year’s pass - this is the cheaper option if you will be entering National Parks for more than 7 days - which we will.

Pass in place we headed off to Red Rock Canyon (what3words: toxicology.tournaments.composers) - the rock formations are stunning, and so colourful. Heads up, I already know I will not have enough superlatives for the trip - I will have to draft in Emily to help.

We saw a sign for a waterfall (Blakiston Creek) and just followed our noses till we got there (what3words: recruitment.duets.inelegant) - silver lining to being frightened of disturbing a bear while hiking, was that it is recommended you make noise on the trail - I was lucky enough to hearing Emily singing the whole way there and back - I don’t get to hear that enough so, yeah!

The whole of the area was decimated by a fire in 2018, and there are dead trees everywhere - whole swaithes of them. I mentioned how sad they all looked, but Emily completely reframed it by saying that if the trees were in full greenery we would not be able to see the mountains so well - I love that!

After that we braved a long drop, no-flush toilet….. Enough said. They were clean, but phew!

We were so lucky on the road back from the canyon - we saw a young mumma bear and two cubs, just busy getting their lunch close to the side of the road. At one point they were only about 10 feet away from us - thankfully we were safe in the car, but we got some great pictures and felt very honoured that they allowed us to watch them as the cubs climbed trees and generally frollicked about while mumma bear munched along.

We headed out to Cameron Lake next - not huge, but so pretty. With a backdrop of the first real snow we have seen since being here, the water was very cold. Glacial and so clear!

From there we swung by Cameron Falls, which given all of the rainfall they have had over the last 10 days, was in full flood - spectacular, but my pics just do not do it justice. (what3words: reassign.captive.serves)

The whole town of Waterton was very quaint - lots of clapperboard houses etc., and we popped into the Rockies General Store to buy bear spray……then ate dinner at a roadside place, Pizza of Waterton (what3words: corns.prod.wirelessly), the food was great, but the view was even better!

Things we have learned today:

It is a pain in the bum when your mum needs two pairs of glasses and never has them to hand.

It is tricky trying to use new technology when your daughter is driving on the highway and cannot tell you which button to press.

All that being said - what an incredible first day on the road!