According to my notes I hiked the Bears Hump in Waterton National Park on June 29. I did it with my daughter's family, and my grandson. I was surprised with how strident my twin 5 year old granddaughters were at hiking up the trail. I look forward to many more hikes with them.
If you like small furry 4 legged creatures who are friendly then go to the top of Bear's Hump and ply the golden-mantled ground squirrel's friendship with nuts. Oh but I better add that feeding the wild animals in a national park is frowned upon.
Then on June 30, I was paddling my canoe with a friend on Islet Lake in the Cooking Lake Recreational Area. My I do get around.
Clearly a highlight of my summer was paddling the west arm of Myrtle Lake, BC with my brother and his grandson from July 2 to July 7. I now consider myself experienced as a kayak tripper.
On July 4, the three of us hiked up Central Mountain. The Central Mountain trail is rough at best but offers a great view of the Kostal Cone, a volcanic cone that erupted about 3000 years ago. We hiked until we encountered snow and that was as high as we wanted to go.
My notes from July 5, 2012 read:
Paddled the kayak past Leo island and then along, and into, every bay on the south shore of the lake. I came to a sign that says Hellset (a couple of days later I asked the park guy aboutthis sign. He said there used to be a trail to Hellset Lake but it is no longermaintained). Hellset is the last name of the guy who once had a cabin on thisbay.
An Osprey flew rightover me.
There was thunderin the south then it showered so I decided to return to camp. Left Hellset at 11:50 AM and got back to camp at 12:44PM. Less than 1 hour becauseof the threat of lightning and then near Leo Island a steady rain started.
On a rock south of Leo Island I observed a Barrows Goldeneye and a Common Merganser sitting on the same rock completely unconcerned with me as I silently glided by. Clearly scenes like this are why paddling is such a pleasure for me.
