Day 13: Waterton Lakes NP to Glacier National Park

On August 12^th, we wake up at 6:20 am, have breakfast, fill the water tank, and dump our waste water tanks. We leave Crooked Creek campground as soon as possible. Why so early? You will know soon. Read on. We arrive to the border between Canada and the homeland. There is an RV in front of us in line, and we are sure they are going the same place we are. They had just passed us before the border. The tension is thick. The border guards are probably asking the usual questions to the RV owner, but suddenly they are searching the RV. A minute late they come back out. That is when a container full of firewood falls out of the RV to their feet. Our surprise is growing bigger when we see firewood being thrown from the RV. That is when a small woman from Montana emerges, throwing a fit. She is told to bring the wood to a container back at the Canadian side of the border. It is strictly forbidden and well known to move firewood between borders. It is actually very restricted between states too. While the small from Montana is walking her wood back to Canada, one of the border guards is following her with the rest of the wood. The other guard moves on to us and asks us the usual questions. We don't have any wood, but we do have some Canadian tomatoes that we need to discard. We hand them over. Well... most of them. When the small woman comes back from her trip, we can hear her jeer at the other guard because he is taking even longer than her. Long story short, we enter Montana before her, but she does end up passing us a few miles later while Yellow is stopping once again to take pictures of the scenery.
 

We meet this small woman and her RV again at the Many Glacier Campground in Glacier National Park. This is why we had to wake up early: the campsites are claimed on a first-come, first-serve basis. So, we stop at the ranger station to claim a campsite. No, no, no. We have to drive around the campground and find an open campsite that has not been claimed yet. We find ourselves in a frenzy in the middle of a group other cars and RVs doing the same. We are saved from the confusion by several campers who are giving us precious hints on how to solve this puzzle. We finally arrive to campsite #97, where the campers tell us the place is open and not yet claimed. We claim it. We fill out our papers, stick one to the post, and put the other with cash in the correct box. Done. We should have campsite #97 tonight and tomorrow night. At 9:30 am the Many Glacier Campground is full.

We take off for the St. Mary visitors' center, where we take the free shuttle through the Going-to-the-Sun Road to Logan Pass, the heart of Glacier NP. The drive is spectacular along the shores of the lake to the huge cliffs just below the Continental Divide. We hang around the visitors' center, getting to know some very tame ground squirrels. Then hike the Highline Trail for about 2 miles round trip. The first part of the hike is right in the middle of the cliff, while the second part is surrounded by the richness of wildflowers, called the Garden Wall. The view is stunning, but there are tourists everywhere.

We grab the shuttle again and take it to St. Mary Falls bus stop. Then we walk 3 miles, first to St. Mary Falls, then to Baring Falls, and then to Sun Point on the St. Mary Lake shore. The scenery is magnificent along the whole way. And we get to pick some thimble berries here and there. Unfortunately Red is so focused while looking for red ripe thimble berries, that she rolls her ankle badly on a stone in the path. It takes her several minutes to pull herself together, but she is able to walk okay the rest of the way.

We take the shuttle back to St. Mary visitors' center and drive back to Many Glacier Campground.   As not mentioned before, the road is awfully rough, and we find driving quite the challenge. We also hit a traffic jam. Most of the time traffic jams in national parks have to do with wildlife. This is one no exception. A bear has been spotted. Silly tourists, stopping recklessly on the side of the road. So we stop on the side of the road and see the distant bear, take some pictures, and go. We find our lovely campsite and notice right away that it's surrounded by thimble berries. We eat some dinner and go to sleep with the sun.

Days 10 to 12: Waterton Lakes National Park

On our way to Waterton Lakes NP, we stop at Lethbridge, Aberta to check out the High Level Bridge, which is the larges trestle bridge in the world. After taking a lot of pictures of it from all angels, we finally have the opportunity to see a train crossing it. Woo!! After a shopping trip to the Real Canadian Superstore to get some groceries, we head west to the Rockies that are emerging on the horizon.

 

That is when we start to have trouble with the overdrive. It starts randomly turning on and off before it finally just stays off. We stop in Cardston, famous for its Mormon temple, to see what's going on after calling Joe our mechanic. We finally figure out where the transmission is located and where its dipstick is. The transmission fluid level is REALLY low. We buy a stock of transmission fluid and replenish it. This is the last “big” town before the wild Rockies. We are sure the transmission is doing a bit better, but the overdrive is still not working, which is okay as we will be driving through the mountains anyway.

The roads are slowly going up. The Rockies are getting closer and cultivated fields are disappearing. Before reaching the national park, we check into Crooked Creek Campground. We head into the park to check it out. We stop and take pictures here and there. The mountains are impressive, like a mirage after spending days in the flat lands. The lake shores are fully of dry wood, and we see a black bear from a distance. The famous Prince of Whales Hotel overlooks the lakes and the village of Waterton. We go back to the campground to cook the sausage and make some potato salad for the next days that will be filled with hikes. The whole mountain skyline is in front of the campground, and when the sun disappears behind them the temperature drops drastically.

We wake up cold the next day at 7 am. We leave the campground an hour later to reach Cameron Lake in the national park. We start our day long hike on the Carthew-Alderson trail around 9 am. It's 8º Celsius (46º Fahrenheit). Cameron Lake is beautiful and still. We hike to Summit Lake through a zig zag trail that climbs the mountain through the forest. The scenery is amazing with the immense peaks overlooking the lake. We continue to hike toward Mount Carthew, slowing inching above the tree line. The climb involves walking along a gravel trains which has quite a steep incline. The view is spectacular from the summit. We descend to Carthew Lakes where we eat lunch and rest. We keep descending to Alderson Lake. Our feet are starting to ache. The lake is such an intense blue. The last stretch to the Waterton Falls alternates between a slow and steep descent. We are starting to hurt quite a bit more, especially our toes. As we finally have the village of Waterton in sight, we catch up with an older couple from Michigan and walk the last kilometer with them. The show some edible berries called thimble berries, which seem even more delicious than raspberries (if you can believe that). We arrive to Waterton falls, the end of the trail, after walking for more than 20 kilometers (12. 5 miles or 7 and half hours). Exhausted. The older couple gives Yellow a ride back to Cameron lake to pick up the RV, while Red explores the village and rests.

We arrive to the campground around 6pm and extend our stay another night. After taking refreshing showers, we treat ourselves to a delicious dinner featuring a salad, some Wisconsin cheese, and a bottle of St. Emilion red wine that we got from Nath and Marie. We play some Banana Grams and chill out outside watching the sunset over the mountains. We sleep like babies.

On Saturday we take it easy, which isn't such a bad idea because it's really cloudy. We cook, make some bread, write some thank-you letters, remedy our few sunburns and aches, and relax. We end up doing a short hike at the Red Rock Canyon in the NP. It is exactly as its name says, a canyon with red red rocks and LOTS of tourists. Back at the campground we cook again, write more thank-yous, and relax some more.

Day 8 to 10: Manitoba to Alberta via Saskatchewan

We drive through Manitoba, surrounded by rolling fields and encountering Ukrainian orthodox churches every town we pass. Then we enter eastern Saskatchewan where the silos are the kings of the countryside overlooking their cultivated fields that extend over the horizon. And parallel to the road the long double stacked container trains of Canadian National inch straight across the landscape.

 From Yorkton to Regina, the land is a gigantic plateau that has carved out valleys. We drive through the downtown of Regina, Saskatchewan's capital city, stopping at the Bushwakker brewery for some beers and a Saskatchewan hot plate (featuring sausages, pierogies, sauerkraut, and buttered beer bread). After Regina, we drive another hour to reach Moose Jaw where we feel almost at home due to the fact that one of the city's nicknames is “Little Chicago”. It seems that our local Al Capone did some shady business in the tunnels of this city. We also feel at home because of our hosts, Len and Marj and their good friends the DuMonts. We enjoy some homemade pie and interesting talks that go late into the evening. The talks continue in the morning with some waffles and homemade jam. They send us off just as warmly as they welcomed us with fresh cucumbers, potatoes, and cookies.

 

And so we drive west again through western Saskatchewan, The “Land of Living Skies”. The land gets more desolate and the hills are grassier. The hay bails are rolling all around us. The ranches and their cows are increasing in number, and metallic birds are mechanically pumping oil out of the soil. The RV is being shaked a bit too much on the road, which can have some unfortunate consequences. While opening a cabinet on a short stop, the barley and roasted sesame seeds spill out all over the ground which requires a good 15 minutes of cleaning.

We finally reach the province of Alberta where the rugged landscape gets even more desolate. After passing Medicine Hat, the sunniest city in Canada, we are surrounded by irrigated fields and vast plains. We also pass through Bow Island, the “Bean Capital”, and Burdett, who claims to have made the first irrigation pivot in Canada. We end up in Coaldale, Mennoniting our way to Elizabeth and Henry's place. They have prepared a feast for us which ends with the fireworks of a gooseberry-saskatoon berry-raspberry pie. This is accompanied by a great conversation of course.

After sleeping in lovely room, we have a big delicious breakfast with amazing homemade cinnamon rolls. After packing and getting ready, we are sent off with some Premium Sausage from Seven Persons, Alberta and the leftover cinnamon rolls. And off we go.

 

Days 6 to 8: Riding Mountain National Park

Sunday morning we go to church with our hosts where we make some more connections. After sharing a delicious lunch with our hosts which is of course accompanied by good conversation, we say goodbye to the Klassen family and Winnipeg.

We drive through Manitoba to reach Riding Mountain National Park. The towns are spaced out and so are the gas stations, which we learn the hard way. Our tank is on “E”, so we check our GPS and see there isn't another gas station for 22 miles. We're counting down the miles and watch the needle drop without compassion. We finally arrive to the gas station with a tank that is emptier than empty. The rest of the trip is pretty low key. We pass through Arden – the “Crocus capital of MB”, Neepawa – the “World Lily capital”, and Erickson where there are surely some Swedish folk who couldn't find Rockford. We get to Riding Mountain early enough to set up camp and see the “after” sunset at the very touristy Wasagaming Beach. This is where all the Winnipegies must have been. 

In Manitoba, a mountain is a large plateau that is just a little bit higher than the surrounding plains. That is exactly what Riding Mountain National Park is.
 

On Monday we prepare ourselves to do a little bit of exercise. After driving 15 miles on a dirt road and scaring some Bison with our loud RV, we arrive to the beginning of our chosen bike trail. It's a beautiful ride on a bumpy trail. We mostly encountered boreal forests alternating with birch trees, opening sometimes into marshy grassland areas with a little creek chilling out here and there. The yellow fear of bears was so large that he didn't stop whistling, singing, or honking his bike horn the whole time. The only survivors of those noises were a couple of running deer, a skunk – that quieted Yellow down a little bit, some lovely butterflies, and a bird that looked like a chicken. After 10 kilometers, we arrive to White Water Lake. We spend some looking for this lake without success, but instead we find the former location of a WWII German prisoner camp. On the way back, right after noticing that we didn't bring any of our bike tools, the yellow rear tire starts to make a dull sound. The tire is flat, and we still have 10 kilometers to go. He rides on the grassy area, but it's tough. The last kilometers are finished by walking. When we finally arrive back to our camper, we are exhausted. We treat ourselves to some German style pâté from Wisconsin, some garlic dill pickles, and some cold New Glarus Beer. We go back to the campsite and relax. 

The next day we leave the campsite quickly after waking up. We dump our gray and black water for the first time, and then we have breakfast on Aspen Beach on the very still Clear Lake. Going to the north exit of the park, we stop at several short hiking trails. That is where we encounter the terrifying vampires of the Lands-that-are-humid-and-shady: The Mosquitoes. We manage to do these trails by walking briskly and agitating them with our hands.

Out of the Riding Mountains we go.

Day 5: Steinbach, MB to Winnipeg, MB

Breakfast is one of the three most important meals of the day.  And this breakfast is similar to its proceeding dinner in its greatness, featuring again the delicious farmer's sausage and a great discussion. 

After leaving our host, we try to get a Canadian SIM card without success, as our cell phones are locked.  We decide to stay with T-Mobile.  The next errand includes refilling our LP tank for the first time, which happens with its share of confusion.  By the time we get back to the road, the blue skies of the morning have clouded over with heavy rains and gusty winds bringing some water into the RV.  Thus we arrive at our host's place in Winnipeg. 

After a very warm welcome and a good connection, we are given a ride into downtown Winnipeg.  There we walk around the Forks, a historic meeting place, vibrant with its green space and numerous shops.  Through the Esplanade Riel across the Red River, we enter the St. Boniface French quarter, rich in history and in French-speaking population, and that's pretty much it.  We are getting back Downtown through the same Esplanade Riel and we browse around the Exchange, which includes North America's most extensive collection of early 20th-century brick and cut stone architecture. Plus the alternative culture inside and outside its walls. 

We come back into the empty downtown, desperately searching for some restrooms. We finally arrive in a more animated area, that, it's not a surprise, happens to be the big mall. Maybe the reason people hang out at the mall is because of the proximity of the restrooms. We then walk to VJ's drive-in to get their famous chili burger and browned french fries, before heading to our host's place on the city bus.

Day 4: Grand Forks, ND to Steinbach, MB

The first night in the RV was great. Travelling is so tiring that we are sleeping like babies, especially with eye masks and ear plugs. Of course, it happened: a thunderstorm rocked the RV in the middle of the night, but we barely noticed it.

So off to Canada we go! But before Canada we encounter miles and miles of corn and soybeans. Suddenly, as we are crossing the border, it all changes: we encounter kilometers and kilometers of corn and soybeans, along with canola, sunflower, and other UFOs (Unidentified Farmed Organisms). There is definitely more diversity on the other side of the border.

We forgot to mention the presence of Drayton along I-29 in North Dakota, also known as The Catfish Capital of the North. North of what? Louisiana probably. Who would have guessed?

Happenings at the border:
- Do you carry some alcohol or cigarettes?
- Mmmm. We do have some bottles of wine.
- How much?
- Mmmm. A couple.
- You need to be more specific.
- Mmmm. 2-3.
- Do you carry any other alcohol with you?
- Mmmm. Some rum. Some vodka.
- I don't like when you use "some" in your sentences. Be more specific.
- 500 ml of rum and 500 ml of vodka.

We finally arrive at our final destination of the day in Steinbach, MB, one of those areas filled with Mennonites. After meeting Mark, our Mennonite host for the  night, we go to the Mennonite Heritage Village by bike. Good timing as this week-end is marked by the Pioneers Day festivities, which makes our visit rhythmed by the sound of a country band and the smell of warm waffles. While we're going through the old houses and shops in the preserved village, the sky turns black and 56 seconds later, it's raining like cats and dogs, and a bunch of other animals. We find ourselves trapped inside an old farm building with no lights, along with some insects and a mice that are seeking shelter. It's 6pm and the village is closing. A man stops by the building to close it up, and brings us back to the main building until it gets better. We have just enough time to chat and find some common acquaintances with an older lady that is closing the counter at the village shop. Jared, the man that saved us from the furious rain, offers to give us a ride back to Mark's place, with our bikes in the back of his pick-up truck. He gives us a small tour of town, talking about the famous local farmer's sausage and showing us the best place in town for coffee.

Back at Mark's place, there is a feast waiting for us at the table: a local Mennonite feast with farmer's sausages (Mennonite AND Hutterite style), pierogis and verenikis smothered in Schmauntfatt, New Bothwell cheese curds, butterhorns, veggies and fresh fruit. All of that accompanied by great discussions and lemonade.

Days 2 and 3: Minneapolis, MN to Grand Forks, ND

After a chill out morning, we start the day going on an 11 mile bike ride around the three lakes: Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun, and Cedar Lake. How smart it was to reserve the lakes' shores as a park and recreational area! It was a pleasure to make this ride between the lakes and the surrounding beautiful mansions. We can't forget to mention our stop to Sebastian Joe's for some homemade ice cream with very original flavors and a small children's bookshop with chickens and other animals roaming free between the bookshelves. In the evening, we had some burgers on the rooftop terrace at Joe's Garage right in front of the skyline in downtown Minneapolis with the whole Liesch family. On the way home we had a tour of the downtown by car checking out the animated Target building, the old mills that have been renovated into lofts, the theater district, and the cherry in the sculpture garden.

On Thursday morning, we borrow some kayaks and go for a little ride on the Lake of the Isles. A tiny little ride, as Yellow is still terrified from his kayaking experience in Sweden. After cleaning up, packing our things, and saying goodbye to the last bit of family we will encounter in the next month or two, we hit the road again. And then between Minneapolis and North Dakota we find corn, soybean, and wheat fields; silos; farms; a couple of lakes; and Fargo – the city immortalized by the Coen brothers.

We end up in a RV campground on the side of I-29 just south of Grand Forks. This is going to be the first official night in the RV. And to celebrate that, we are savoring some Comté cheese and Vin de Paille (= straw wine), the best cheese and wine you could ever meet, from the yellow countryside in France. And it is with the campground wifi that we are sharing this lovely experience. Good night.