8/1/25 - 8/9/25 Waterton Lakes National Park, CA & Glacier National Park, Montana

Waterton Lakes NP in Canada is worth a drive through only. The highpoint is the Prince of Wales Hotel perched on a bluff overlooking the great lake. 

We left after a day and began our short route to the pinnacle of our trip, Glacier National Park for 8 days of God’s utterly awesome countryside. I've been to most national parks. Glacier is the best. I've been here four times!

We were so captivated by the beauty that we immediately did the 13 mile hike to/from Iceberg Lake (elev. 6200').

Can you see Gary and Chelsea walking toward the lake?

We were able to get a reservation (nearly impossible) to the very historical Many Glacier Hotel where we had the tiniest lakeside room with ONE double bed for the 3 of us!  Gary and I are good friends not looking to be a couple … so it worked. Chelsea loved sleeping between her favorite person (Gary) and same-old mom!  The view was stupendous and deer shared it with us.

Out this window is where our second 13 mile hike to Upper Lake Grinnell (elev. 7300') began a few days later and where the deer congregate at days end [more on this below]!

The 50-mile Going-to-the-Sun Road (GTSR) is the most amazing engineering masterpiece through the park from East to West, hugging the mountainside all the way up to Logan Pass at mid-point then back down.  Bighorn Sheep hang out at the Pass. We’ve taken the trip across 4 times now. Be sure to watch the video of the GTSR.

We encountered this buck family when we hiked at Logan Pass at the high point of the road. Too many photos but they were so lovely and very interested in Chelsea.

We spent a couple of days on the West Side of Glacier (the very busy side) in the cool towns of Whitefish and Columbia Falls, then back to the East side to do our next grand hike, the awesome Grinnell Lake and Upper Grinnell Lake. So gorgeoso ... We also saw moose, bear, deer and nearly became family to a foursome of Bighorn Sheep.

Lower Grinnell Lake, about half way up, just about the time it began raining. Yup, we did most of it in the rain!

... and on the way down ... we encountered many of God's creatures. First, this amazing ram who canvassed the path ahead before his family joined. What a handsome leader of the pack.

I'm the leader of the pack.

After checking us out for a while, he decided to move the pack down the trail directly in front of me (a must watch video)!

... and then we saw Mrs. Black Bear with her cubs.

And, Mr. Moose.

And a lovely deer with her fawns as we drove to our hotel.

Wow, what an incredible day! Thank you, Jesus.

Here's our hotel for a few days, Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park.

We still have another day here in Glacier before moving south to Yellowstone, then Tetons. Thanks for sharing our amazing journey with us! 💕