Oh Canada, Bye Canada!

'There's something on the wing'

On Tuesday, August 14th, we left the RV park and drove south toward the town of Vulcan, Alberta, the official Star Trek Capital of Canada. True to name, everything is Star Trek related, from the Starship Enterprise shaped Vulcan Tourism and Trek Station to the brass bust of Spock on a side street. Clearly Albertans take their kitsch seriously.

We entered the visitor center and walked into the late 1960s when Star Trek was king. Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock stood nearby and figurines, keychains and plastic Vulcan ears awaited purchase. Yikes.

We wandered back into the 21st century outside and found the model Starship Enterprise just beyond the visitor center. With plaques bearing greetings in Vulcan, Klingon and English, we're sure that visitors from every corner of the galaxy will feel welcomed.

And true to the other themed towns we've visited, the businesses and government continue the kitsch. We saw Starship Supply (perhaps a hardware store), as well as the Planet of Vulcan Authority, Administration Building. Evidently the Town Council members even wear Starfleet uniforms. Nice.

From Vulcan, everything was downhill. Well, it was south anyway. We drove out of Canada and along the way saw the grass prairie lands of southern Alberta give way to the Canadian Rockies until we reached the border. Our friendly border patrolman only asked what we had bought in Canada ('Umm, some yarn at a thrift store?') before waving us through the gate. Nice.

The Waterton Lakes National Park on the Canadian side and Glacier National Park on the U.S. side make up the world's first international peace park, established in 1932. About 20 miles or so from the border, we drove into the St. Mary entrance on the east side of Glacier National Park, considered the 'Crown of the Continent'. The visitor center there is outstanding and the ranger offered information on the free shuttle bus service along the Going-to-the-Sun Road through the park. We hopped on and watched the beautiful scenery roll by us.

St. Mary Lake

Along the Going-to-the-Sun Road

The shuttle bus service provides access where the RV can't go, namely along the narrow winding roadway that hugs the mountains on one side and the cliff above the deep canyon on the other. First we saw the deep blue of Saint Mary Lake, a stunning body of water 10 miles long and at an elevation of 4500 feet. We caught a glimpse of a tiny island in the middle of the lake.

Jackson Glacier

Columbian ground squirrel

The bus stopped at several points along the trip and we saw huge cliffs of rock formed by the scraping of long ago glaciers. Waterfalls cascaded from high above us and misted the front of the bus as we drove past them. Oddly, despite the park's name, we saw very little snow or ice. We learned that the park has 25 glaciers, though none are visible from the roadway except for Jackson Glacier. As we passed the overlook we spotted Jackson Glacier through the trees in a far valley. Like all the others we've seen in our travels, these are rapidly retreating with the warming of the planet as well.

Horn of Mt. Reynold on right

Scarlet paintbrush

Eventually, we reached the Logan Pass Visitor Center. Logan Pass is the highest point in the park at 6,646 feet in elevation and it straddles the Continental Divide. We climbed the steep walkway to the visitor center and out the back door to take in the majesty of Mt. Reynold. Formed by glacial erosion on three sides, the steep horn shape left behind indicates that only the top portion was exposed when the glacier filled the canyon thousands of years ago.

View of St. Mary Valley from Logan Pass

We peeked over the edge of the deep U-shaped canyon in front of the visitor center and marveled at the former depth of the ice, now only a few specks of white high on the cliffs behind us. Rivulets of unseen melting glaciers gathered momentum below us and tumbled to the bottom of the valley in pretty waterfalls.

Along the Going-to-the-Sun Road

With an ominous warning of torrential rain and damaging winds coming in 5 minutes(!), we waited anxiously for the shuttle bus to return us to the RV. Thankfully, the storm clouds rolled away from us and nary a drop fell, though the wind did howl at us. Back on the bus, we sat on the cliff side this time, and saw the chasm of green sliding away from the edge of the road. Our bus driver narrowly avoided several poorly parked cars as we careened around the tight corners.

Across from St. Mary Lake

Safely back at the St. Mary visitor center parking lot, with still sunny skies filled with puffy white clouds, we made our way to the RV for dinner. Without warning, the wind began buffeting the coach and we watched as several wind blown tourists ran for their cars, clutching at their hats and brochures. Apparently, winds approaching 60 mph were reported in the area as a severe thunderstorm rolled into town. We ate dinner while the RV rocked back and forth in the strong gusts. After dinner, we remained in the parking lot patiently waiting out the storm.

After 8pm, we drove eastward, and eventually stopped for the night on a side street in Shelby, Montana. Hello, good ole USA!