Glacier National Park, USA and Waterton National Park, Canada                            21st to 25th June

The entire route for our RV trip revolved around the Glacier NP “Going-to-the-Sun Road” being open, which doesn't happen until the snow ploughs have cleared the metres of snow on the road.  The date for this is no earlier than June 19 and we had our fingers crossed that this year the road would open on time.  The road goes from one side of the park to the other, and is cleared every summer just for visitors to enjoy the park.  The National Parks in Australia could take a lesson from these guys - the parks in the USA and Canada are for visitors to enjoy and provide every facility they possibly can to make the visit a great one.

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We’ve done a lot of miles in a short  time, so we booked into the KOA just outside Glacier NP (again we couldn't get a spot in the park) for 3 nights so we could just sit back and relax with a view out to the Rocky Mountains. 

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Quite an amazing RV Park

They grow wild Huckleberries around here, so we enjoyed some home-made Huckleberry Pie. Yum.

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We did the Glacier National Park on the Red Bus, as they wouldn't let vehicles longer than 21" on the Going to the Sun Road, so this ruled out driving on it with our 29' motor home. Which wasn't surprising after we had driven on the Red Bus for a bit.

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Yet another Glacier.

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We enjoyed lunch at the Lake McDonald Lodge, where our tour turned around and headed back to St Mary.

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Waterton National Park, Canada

Waterton and Glacier National Parks are actually connected are are the same Park. In USA the park is called Glacier National Park and in Canada it is called Waterton National Park. Combined it's called Waterton Glacier International Peace Park.

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There's something small and alive in there, we could hear it making squeaking noises.

Prince of Wales Hotel, Waterton national Park, Canada

High Tea at Prince of Wales Hotel, and what a view.

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Campground at Waterton National Park, they do it so well over here.

Their National Parks here are really for the people. They go out of their way to make sure visitors to the parks have all the facilities they expect, including full hook up in the camping areas including, electricity, water & sewer. The sewerage hook up is so easy to use any there's no chance of getting dirty while setting it up or packing it away. No tanks to carry to the dump point. It's all right there at your campsite. Connect it up and there's no need to handle the waste!

Our motor home didn't come with the caterpillar stand that Jayne mentioned before, so we have to be innovative to make sure the flow is working ok. It's not a problem to do, just make sure the hose slopes downwards & it works fine!

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Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump is a World Heritage Site. The Indians used to make the buffalo jump of cliffs to their death as a way to kill them before their winter. Quite an interesting concept.

Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump.

The name doesn't refer to the Buffalo's head being smashed in when they fall, it comes from the Indian who was under the cliff when the buffalos fell. Silly fellow, why would you stand under a buffalo waterfall?

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What is Jayne doing in that Teepee?

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Soon in Canada we headed for Vulcan, a real town who after realising they had a famous name adopted a Star Trek theme. It was very cheesy but a bit of fun nevertheless.

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They oversize everything here. Look at the size of that camping gas bottle, and it is connected!

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