Today I drove to Waterton Lakes National Park. And by "drove to Waterton Lakes National Park," I mean I drove to Waterton Lakes National Park in the rain, drove around Waterton Lakes National Park in the rain, and left Waterton Lakes National Park in the rain. At this point, I am beginning to suspect the clouds have been following me across state and international borders.
My first stop was the Red Rock Parkway, which ends at Red Rock Canyon. Despite the weather, it was absolutely beautiful. The drive itself was spectacular, with mountains, forests, mist, and dramatic scenery around every corner. Even with the rain and low clouds, the views were incredible. In some ways, the fog and mist made everything look even more dramatic, almost mystical.
At the end of the road was Red Rock Canyon, complete with colorful rock formations and several small waterfalls. The combination of rushing water, red rocks, and misty mountains made it feel like something straight out of a nature documentary or a bad horror movie.
Next, I drove the Akamina Parkway to Cameron Lake. Once again, the weather was less than cooperative, but the scenery still delivered. The lake was surrounded by snow-covered mountains, and the mist hanging over the water gave the entire area a mysterious, almost magical feel. I'm sure it would have looked even more spectacular under blue skies, but there was something pretty special about the fog rolling through the mountains.
One of the highlights of the day was seeing the iconic Prince of Wales Hotel. Sitting high on a hill overlooking the lake, with mountains rising behind it, it looked like something from a postcard. Even through the rain, it was hard not to stop and admire it.
Then came the biggest disappointment of the day. The Bison Paddock Trail. I drove through it once.
No bison.
I drove through it a second time.
Still no bison.
In fact, I didn't see much of anything except a squirrel. How do you have a place called the Bison Paddock Trail and not have any visible bison? That makes absolutely no sense. That's like going to a beer festival and finding out they're only serving bottled water. Or going to a hockey game and the game gets canceled because they didn't have any hockey pucks.
I may have seen a couple of deer or elk running in the distance, but they disappeared so quickly that I couldn't be sure. Other than that, wildlife sightings today were basically limited to one squirrel that was probably laughing at me for expecting bison.
After leaving Waterton, I drove through the rain to Lethbridge, where I'm spending the night. On the way, I stopped at Costco for gas, which was conveniently located near my hotel. After doing the conversion from liters, the gas worked out to about $4.07 per gallon. That is one of the cheapest prices I've seen on the entire trip, second only to a stop in Utah where I paid around $3.84.
Then I made the mistake of going inside Costco. It was Tuesday afternoon around 3:00 p.m. The parking lot was packed. The store was packed. The checkout lines were packed. It looked like a Saturday afternoon before super bowl Sunday. My first thought was, "Does anybody in Alberta actually work during the day?" 😎 I managed to escape with my protein bars and my sanity mostly intact.
Tomorrow should be another fun day. I'll spend some time exploring Lethbridge, meet up with a few friends, and then continue north to Canmore, where I'll be meeting up with a good buddy of mine and his wife.
The forecast is actually giving me a little hope. They're calling for temperatures in the 50s and mostly sunshine, with only a chance of rain around 11:00 a.m. After the amount of rain I've driven through the past few days, I would be thrilled if that forecast is even halfway accurate. At this point, seeing the sun would feel like running into an old friend I haven't seen in weeks.
Hopefully the weather gets the memo that I'm ready for at least one day without rain. If the sun actually shows up tomorrow, I may stop and take a picture of it just to prove it still exists. 😎
