Glacier Waterton International Peace Park

Waterton to Waterton River Campground

10 miles

Sage and I tried to sleep as long as possible. I also wanted to call home in the morning so had a reason to leave my comfortable bed around 7:30 am. Afterwards we went for breakfast at the Pearl’s Cafe and I had a lovely croissant followed by an avocado tomato toast.

Back at our room I locked into the US border app again to declare my arrival in the US today. I had tried the night before and was told it was too early. This time it went smooth and ten minutes later I was allowed to cross back into the States on the hiking trail. It was around 10:30 when we dropped our keys at the front desk and I said goodbye to Sage. It was really nice to have some company for a couple of days. Actually I would enjoy having company every day but it would have to be someone who hikes at my pace. Sage had been slightly too fast for me. It left me wondering if I would meet a lot of fellow hikers on the PNT.

Technically I had already hiked some miles on the Pacific Northwest Trail by going to Chief Mountain. I had also skipped some miles by leaving out Stony Indian Pass and done a lot of additional miles by hiking through Glacier and along Waterton Lake in Canada. It’s just my own hike!

I started my hike today along the shore of Waterton Lake leaving the buildings of Waterton behind me. But before I left Waterton had another sweet special for me. Look at that!

These deer just walk around town as if it was normal. Even with kids they are not at all afraid of humans. It was nice to watch the mother deer for a while. It was quite a business for her to keep her two kids together.

From the lakeshore the trail climbed up a little bit and I had the company of some day hikers heading towards Bertha Lake. But as soon as I took a turn off towards Goat Haunt and the US border I was on my own again. Of course it had started raining as soon as I left town and my feet were all wet when I hiked towards the border. I was curious what to expect. Arriving there I surprisingly found a pit toilet on the Canadian side. It just showed up at the right time! A welcoming sign gave some information about Waterton Park while on the US side a big stop sign and some information about the use of the mandatory border app catches my eyes.

I met a Canadian couple who have come over by boat and so I managed to get a shot of me next to the border monument.

After a little chat I hiked further to my defined home for the night. I had a permit for Waterton River Camp and arrived there way too early before 3pm. What to do?

I looked around for the perfect spot and saw some food and gear other hikers had left. They must be out for a day hike and come back later. I used a rain free period to set up camp and have a late lunch. When it started to rain again I went into my tent to write this blogpost and wait for my neighbors for tonight. Hopefully it stops raining and we can sit together in the food area for a while…