The day we left Glacier National Park it was pouring rain and in the mid-30's. We awoke to find we had another flat tire on the Volvo, so went back to the place we had had it repaired the day before. We ended up having to replace all four tires. While various people were involved in getting the tires changed, I sat in the house of the grandfather, James, talking for about 2 hours. He is a Chipewa who married a Blackfeet and has lived as a Blackfeet ever since. He is the Topknot, one of the four persons who takes care of the bundle (in this case the Medicine Pipe bundle). These are sacred bundles which the tribe received from museums in Canada (the Smithsonian has not released any of its bundles). The bundles contain the pipe and various skins. A couple cares for the bundle, but if they leave it must be taken by the Topknot and cared for. This bundle is used specifically for curing and treating people who are ill. We talked a lot about issues on the reservation, the Indian Health Service, the relationship between the Blackfeet and the National Park Service, his recently-deceased wife and many other things. It was a fascinating experience. He has loaned me two books on Blackfeet traditions. We drove 45 miles north to Waterton through the sleet and snow and set up Snoopy in the campground right in Waterton and hunkered down for the afternoon. The next day dawned sunny and promised to be warmer and Bob and I set off for a serious hike. The first photo is looking back towards the townsite. Waterton is spectacularly located.
This view is south down Upper Lake McDonald towards Goat Haunt in the US.
This slot is the canyon which we climbed up to Bertha Lake (about 1300' in 6.5 miles round trip). The beginning was quite gradual.
Lower Bertha Falls is reached pretty easily, but the trail then starts to switchback up (with a sign warning that the trail goes up 325 meters). Though it went steadily up, it was well engineered and not too bad. It went through Lodgepole pine with occasional views of the lake and waterfalls.
Eventually the trail went past Upper Bertha Falls.
Here is a view over Upper and Middle McDonald Lake.
We finally reached the lake where there was a stiff cold wind blowing off the ice field. We started to walk around the lake (4 km), but after going about 1/4 of the way around decided we needed to find a sheltered place to eat lunch and that we didn't really want to walk the additional 4 km. There was a group of 5 French tourists who followed us (because they didn't have any bear spray). 
We finally found this slightly sheltered bay and ate our lunch.
We got back around 2 p.m. and decided to drive the Redrock Canyon Road with Joe and Vera. First we stoped at the Prince of Wales Hotel (closed for the season). It too was built by the Great Northern RR and sits on a promontory above the townsite with a stupendous view down Upper Lake McDonald.
Due to the cold weather the day before, the mountains were all dusted with snow. This was the view as we started up the Redrock Canyon Road.
The canyon is indeed red. The red and white rocks are ancient muds. The gray gravel is washed down from higher up. It is spectacular, though not terribly deep.
On the way back we saw this grizzly in the same area where a black bear had been feeding on the way in. We couldn't figure out what they were eating. It didn't look like berries and they weren't digging things from the ground. This bear had the most gorgeous coat that was blowing in the wind.
No comments:
Post a Comment