Crowsnest Pass and on to Great America.

Our journey south from Paradise Valley through Plains country to Crowsnest went uneventfully but gave us a real experience of the prairies. Seriously flat land but presumably not very productive as we saw very few animals or crops. Surprising that these guys aren’t good at cricket but I guess their summers aren’t long enough. Sure is plenty of room for a pitch and an oval. We enjoyed the drive through this part of the country with the long straights at 110km per hour and Blairs Mazda keeping up with the best of the Dodge Rams.

Arriving in Blairmore in Crowsnest Pass we met up with Maureen and Greg again (who we stayed with in Paradise Valley) and they had their grandson Colby with them, Tracey’s middle boy of three. 

Our first mission from Crowsnest was to the “Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump”. This was a sort of abattoir used by the Blackfeet Indians over 6000 years ago. Here they planned to herd buffalo over a vertical drop of some 30 metres but not before they had checked the phase of the moon, gathered enough young chaser recruits to dress in wolf skins and got the blessing from the Medicine Man. All going well the muster took 2-3 days of slowly gathering the herd together then speeding up the chase toward the cliff. There is 10 metre pile of bones at the base of the cliff so they had some success. This took place in the Fall (Autumn) so saving the meat through winter was little concern as air temperatures rarely rose above zero.

Our next visit was to Frank Slide and this is worth a google. (Not to be confused with a giggle – but sometimes I wonder) In 1903 the top fell off Turtle Mountain and hurtled down onto the town of Frank at 4.00am in the morning, temperature was a chilly -20degrees. 90 people were killed under the 80 million tonnes of rock and the scar is still quite evident. We had the pleasure of being adopted grandparents for the day of Colby as Greg and Maureen had another errand to take care of. We had a wonderful time with this little guy and he no doubt wondered where on earth these strange people came from……but he didn’t say! A well-mannered chap for sure. Hopefully we will see him again in New Zealand, perhaps in another 10 years time.

We took a short walk around a mountain lake with Cam and his family, wife Marnie and son Logan. Each evening in Crowsnest we retired to Cam and Marnie’s house for dinner and a sat around their fire pit. It seems standard practice in Alberta to have a fire pit and no matter the weather, a fire can always be lit. Not sure how many forest fires started from them but sure as one thing, they have had plenty of wild fires. They were warm family gatherings as the sun slowly wandered off over the horizon around 10pm.

We finally, sadly, said farewell to Maureen and Greg and couldn’t really thank them enough for the hospitality that they afforded us. So many relatives were visited, dined with, conversed with and said good bye to. We are hopeful that they will visit us again but like us, the years are running out and the steps into the aircraft are getting steeper! However, we have hopefully left a positive impression on their grandsons (of which we think there are 8) and our extended Canadian family that one day they will come knocking on our door to give us an opportunity to repay some of the wonderful hospitality that we received.

After Crowsnest we are heading south across the border into Great America, a land of miles per hour, gallons of fuel and a currency of dollars and cents. But we divide the dollars up into quarters! Interesting place.

Our aim was to visit Glacier National Park in northern Montana. We had two ventures into the park and enjoyed the amazing scenery. A walk into Avalanche Creek was spectacular but then everywhere we look the scenes are those seen on jigsaw puzzles.

Yesterday we took a free shuttlebus to the top of Logan Pass in the Park, walked to Hidden Lake, hidden because the mist was down low and we could see nothing. But….almost as if a miracle had happened  a gap in the cloud gave us a view of, now named Unhidden Lake and a grizzly bear 200metres away. These critters are quite a nasty beast but so long as you are no less than the second slowest runner you should be okay. I stationed myself next to a 6 year old who I think I could outrun if necessary, but that might have been a close a run thing. 

We walked on in the afternoon on Highline track (actually a Trail here, with a Trailhead…but no Foot) which was serious goat country, check out the track! Then we encountered a massive Mountain Goat, a billy which was a great sight.

We have been careful not to mention politics, especially here in Montana, presuming it would be a Trump stronghold. On arrival last night we met a guy in the motel unit next to ours, he was tuning his fiddle at the time. Clearly not the sort of a guy to open with a fake news Trump story but he opened with a tirade of derogatory comment that took us by surprise. Where he lives the farmers all grow wheat and barley. Apparently they grow crops and freight it to Mexico so the Mexicans can put it in their tacos etc. Well, that trade has stopped and they have to grow something else. I asked just how many Mexicans there were and how many tacos did they eat. “Truckloads”! my new friend said, “Trump has stuffed that”.

We were lucky to meet up with Peri Sasnett and her man Kevin, at the pub next to our West Glacier Motel. Peri studied in New Zealand and we met her through a mutual friend, then she and Kevin came and stayed with us for a night last April. Peri and Kevin both work as Park employees here in Glacier NP and Tetons NP. They have been a wealth of information for us about the hikes and everything local.

Tomorrow we intend to drive the Going to the Sun Road, world famous here in Montana, and providing nothing goes amiss the sun will rise and we will be well into it by 6.30am to avoid the queues of traffic. Main hope is that we see a moose, or a bear, or something with antlers.