July 30 and 31st ~ Waterton Lakes and Pincher Creek
Driving near Lower Waterton Lake
Time to explore more of the surrounding area, so we loaded into the car and headed toward Pincher Creek. Suddenly we noticed cars stopped in the road. A young bear was moving off into the bushes. I was too late to capture much of a shot, but Karen managed to get this one.
Young bear (Picture courtesy of Karen Theil)
They say that you can identify the type of bear by their ears, back hump or rump, shape of the nose and claws. Since I don’t have much to go on here, would love any bear experts to chime in to let us know if this is a grizzly or black bear.
We took a slight detour to drive through the Bison Paddock that is still within the parks boundary.
Bison Paddock
Bison Paddock
The bison paddock was really nothing more than a large fenced in area with a few small lake ponds and maybe twenty head of bison. Having seen so many of them in Yellowstone, this was a bit of a disappointment. Still if someone had never seen them before, it might have been a thrill.
Now if these had just been moose…
More Bison in the distance
After we left the park, we climbed the hill for a fabulous view of where the mountains meet the prairie called Waterton Park Front
Where the mountains meet the prairie
Pincher Creek
Pincher Creek
The small town of Pincher Creek has a funny story behind its name:
“The town received its name in 1868 when a group of prospectors lost a pincer in the small creek at this location. These pincers would have been used as a mechanism for trimming the feet of the horses and thus had some value to the group. In 1874, the North-West Mounted Police came to southern Alberta. One of them discovered the rusting tools in the creek, and they named the area Pincher Creek.” ~ Wikipedia
The old section of town had several buildings sporting wall murals.
Telling a story of life in Pincher Creek
War time scenes
Waterton Village
Sleepy village meets tourist hangout. And what could be more appropriate than having a chat with the local Mountie. He was so excited when he found out we were from California. His daughter went to college in San Francisco, and just took her bar exam a few days ago. Now the long wait for the results. He was such a proud dad!
This Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Mountie) dwarfed me.
And another typical scene in and about town – deer can be found most anywhere.
Just making itself right at home on someones front lawn.
Our time was coming to an end with Dick and Karen as they were planning on departing early the next morning. But before they left, we decided to have an early joint birthday celebration to honor our guys. Tim’s birthday is August 2nd, and Dick will hit a special milestone when he turns 80 on August 18th.
GRATITUDE MOMENT: Today I am grateful that we got to have two fabulous weeks together with dear friends exploring both Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks. We figured out that Canada was the sixteenth country that we have visited together.
A Note From Abroad 
Happy Birthday, Tim, today!
Happy 80th Birthday, Dick!
Best,
Linda and Paul
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Thank you Linda and Paul ❤️
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How beautiful, love the wall murals. Happy Birthday Tim! And have a wonderful 80th birthday Dick!
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Thank you for the birthday wishes!
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Reading this on the 2nd, Happy Birthday Tim.
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TY Terry
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Happy Birth Day today, Tim 😀 .. and happy Birth Day in a couple’a weeks, Dick 😀
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Thank you very much
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Reading today, so my best wishes to Tim on his Birthday!! many many ahead , a lot of safe and enjoyable traveling!
Happy future Birthday to your friend Dick!
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Thanks Mila. Much appreciated.
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Love these pix!
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Thank you very much.
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That’s a black bear – we saw quite a few near the roadside when we were in Canada. The grizzlies are the ones with humps (and much scarier I believe – I’ve never seen one of them in real life, thankfully). I continue to get more and more envious! Definitely, Waterton is on my list. And happy birthday to both gentlemen.
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Thank you Anabel. How were you able to identify it from the way it was turned and being so young? Thanks for the birthday wishes for the guys!
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We’ve seen a lot of black bears over the years in various parks so recognise the general shape. There’s no sign of a shoulder hump – also I don’t think grizzlies are so likely to be near the road. Again, that goes only on what I’ve read, but I’m a bit nervous about actually meeting one so I study it all VERY carefully.
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Well it was sure nice of you to wear our Canadian colors when you had your picture taken with a member of the RCMP 🙂
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Wish I could say I planned it that way 😬
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Wishing you a very happy birthday, Tim! What a great way to spend your special day. I’m rather partial to the Royal Mounted Police in uniform…When we lived briefly in Toronto years ago, two of them (sans horses) arrested two guys in the house we were staying in, for drug running…(great drama!) Lovely to see so many deer!
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Thank you for the birthday wishes for Tim. The RCMP look so impressive in that uniform.
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This looks so fun! Hope you had a wonderful time.
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Thanks, we did!
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Beautiful area. I enjoy learning how towns got their names – Pincher’s is very interesting. Love the murals on the buildings. Certainly makes for a unique setting.
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Those murals were so well done. I too think that they give a certain charm to an area.
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And, Happy Birthday to the guys. Coincidentally, my birthday is August 4th, and my mom’s is August 15th.
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A very happy belated birthday to you! And my dad would have been 92 on August 15th.
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That’s cool. Mom turned 82.
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How wonderful to have such dear friends to travel with! And happy belated birthdays to both guys! My husband’s birthday is Aug 4th. 😀
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Another Leo! Happy belated birthday wishes to your hubby as well. We are fortunate to have great friends to travel with. It is not always easy to find others who have similar travel styles, but we have found some good matches.
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