We drove into Waterton Lakes-Glacier International
Peace Park. Waterton Lakes is right on the US border with Montana at
Glacier and this park is to celebrate the cooperation of the two parks in park
management. We walked around the town (while Andrew complained again about
a town in the middle of a National Park) and found a place for lunch.
We next crossed the border back into the US and entered Montana and Glacier
National Park. This is when we nearly ran into a herd of free-range
cows! They were all over the road, just staring at us like it was OUR
problem. I guess it was.
We found a nice drive thru Glacier, the "Going
to the Sun" highway. We stopped for a short hike out to Baring
Falls. The start of this hike was poorly marked, people had made too many
trails along the overlook, but we finally found our way on the trail.
There were quite a few people, but not too bad. This hike overlooked the
beautiful St. Mary's Lake and was surrounded by several mountains, including the
Going to the Sun Mountain, named from Indian lore.
We finished the 52 miles of the Going to the Sun highway with a few million
others. The views were incredible, deep into the valley below, giant peaks
towering above. The crowds were also incredible.
We continued to Kalispell, MT and found a hotel to crash in for the
night. We had dinner at Barley's Brewhouse, but shortly after we ordered
beer and before we ordered dinner, we were informed that our waitress had just
walked out. We had another waitress for the night. She told us that
the place was in trouble. We just wanted to know if it would still be in
business for the rest of the evening. We saw the owners cleaning
tables. The beer was just OK.