Day 68, Monday, August 22

Today I did a hike to Iceberg Lake. The hike was beautiful. The trail head is just behind the Tourist Center at Many Glacier For the last two days there has been a grizzly bear and her cubs inhabiting the slope way above the building and people have been crowing the parking lot to look at the bears through their spotting scope. When I say the slope “way above” the center, I really mean it. These bears are so far away that you can’t even see them with the naked eye. It makes me wonder how they were spotted in the first place. Maybe some unfortunate hiker came across them and reported them to the rangers. What ever the means of publicizing their presence is, it’s definitely been successful. As I headed out on the hike at 8am that same crowd of people was already gathered there in the parking lot staring up at the sow and cubs. I’ve got to imagine that the only reason they’ve been so stationary up there is for a lush crop of huckleberries.The hike to Iceberg Lake, unlike I’d been told, was relatively easy. I got a few good shots on the way there but didn’t go crazy taking pictures because the scenery is so similar to the scenery from the Grinnel glacier hike. The lake itself is in a huge glacial bowl. Again the lake is a silty turquoise color which must be a common attribute of glacial lakes and rivers. What I failed to notice at first but quickly had pointed out to me is that the sheer walls of the bowl were littered with mountain goats. . It’s really a testament to their climbing ability. Looking at the pictures I took of the bowl, you can see the walls are damn near vertical. Unfortunately the goats were too far away to get a good picture of them.This afternoon I just did prep work in advance of my run across the Canadian border and up into Banff National Park. I think I’m going to skip the Waterton side of Glacier/Waterton park in favor of just heading North into Calgary and Banff. I’ve been warned that the winds in Waterton are especially strong and gusty right now and aren'te expected to subside any time soon. The Prince of Wales hotel that was built there on Waterton Lake in the 1920’s was actually blown out of alignment twice during its construction by the high winds!Also I did some Chicago trip prep work this afternoon from a local KOA…an easy choice seeing as the “internet café” in town wanted $5 for 15 minutes and would only allow people to use their computer. The KOA just asked for a small donation for a cancer fund and allowed me to use the internet for a couple of hours. Gotta love KOA service!