A Chance of Showers

This past week was very wet. With June comes the rain. The Glacier Morning Report sent out to everyone in the Park predicts there is a likely chance of showers. Every. Day. I heard that if you just get through this month, then it won’t really rain much again. And now I know what people mean when they say Denver has a lot of sun. I guess I’ve always known it, but I’ve taken my sun for granted. Boy do I miss it. At least I know why it’s so green here.

On a less gloomy note, I’ve noticed the snow receding on a mountain peak across from West Glacier. YEY! We’re heading towards summer. And it’s even crazier knowing that the sun sets at 9:30-9:45pm here and doesn’t get really dark until 10:30pm and we still have 20 days or so until the longest day of the year! I can’t imagine what it will be like when it's still light at 11pm. That makes for some epic BBQ time and endless summer nights. Can’t wait!

While mother nature still changes, I needed something more to explore. Something more to do. Luckily, a free summer yoga class started up on Mondays at the Community Center right across the parking lot from me. The class is taught by a park employee and sponsored by the Employees Association. About 16 people showed up this first Monday and it felt great to start off the week all stretched out and ready to go! And Tuesday, the Alberta Visitor’s Center was having an open house to meet their Canadian staff who hangs out and shows us all the glory of Canada. Basically to get people over to the Waterton side and into Canada. I met one of the staff members who created a giant rubber band ball that was pretty brilliantly constructed and in competition with another Alberta Visitor’s Center. I also saw another bear: 

Canadian Bear!

 

Work has been positive now too. I finally made a break through on the file unit I was working on and finished that up. While I was all happy in the middle of last week, then got the news that the files needed to be re-worked, I have put it all into good order. Karen, the archivist, tells me everyone struggles with these files the first time around. She said not to let the documents hurt my archivist ego. They’re just plain crazy and will get easier. Now I get to file all the misplaced or incorrectly filed documents that have made their way through the central files over the years! YEY! It’s like a scavenger hunt. 

Thursday and Friday I got to take a break from the documents and took some professional development classes on broadening my knowledge of the Park. The short talks were mainly intended for the interpretation staff, those working in the visitor centers, giving guided hikes, or ranger talks.  However, luckily they were also open to all staff and even park related concessioners like the rafting crew in West Glacier.  We got to hear topics on the Mountain Goat research up at Logan Pass, fishing/fish history in the park, plants and vegetation climates, geology, climate change, birds and bats, native perspectives, and wilderness management. Over the course of the two days I really came to appreciate and understand more of the reasoning behind making Glacier a National Park. I mean beyond its obvious beauty, I learned that Glacier is known as the Crown of the Continent. Glacier is the head of three rivers that lead to the Pacific, Atlantic, and Hudson Bay (Arctic) oceans. Also, Glacier has a unique climate like no other place in the world because of the surrounding mountains and the history of Glaciers that carved out the mountains. This explains the more rainy weather that gets stuck in the valley. The clouds have to drop water in order to pass into the valley. It’s all coming around full circle and making sense. 

Another important thing I want to highlight is the fact that Glacier is getting on the list to be a Dark Sky Reserve. This means it’s one of the places where light from cities doesn’t reach it; the International Dark Sky Association wants to protect the night sky. The Waterton side of the Park is already designated as a Dark Sky Reserve, but we want our side to be listed as well. This would make Glacier not only the first International Peace Park, but the first International Transboundary Dark Sky Reserve. To help promote this, the smaller sup-group has put together star gazing events throughout the summer from different points in the Park. Local astronomy groups get involved too and bring along their telescopes. I hope to attend one at some point this summer. To find out more go here.  All these different topics have helped me appreciate this place even more. I really am lucky to have this opportunity. 

Weekend adventure further up North!

For my weekend, I decided since the Park was still waking up, I’d check out British Columbia and the Kootenay Rockies. I am a hot springs fan and after some easy googling, figured out the Kootenay Rockies are the place to be for that. And lucky me, they’re only three hours away.  The biggest town in the Kootenay Rockies is called Cranbrook and this is where I found a hostel and made my home base. 

Iconic city sign.

And the biggest take away from the weekend, Canada was not overcast, rainy, or dreary. From Friday when I arrived, to this morning, it was sunny with a few clouds in the sky! I loved it. Friday night I explored Cranbrook, but most things close really early, like 8 or 8:30pm. Downtown main street was dead except for some restaurants so I wandered a little bit and then went back to the highway strip with stores. I can equate Cranbrook to Kalispell but a little smaller. It’s a ‘small’ town in the mountain valley, but big enough to have a movie theatre, Starbucks, and Target. Downtown has a lot of history as it was a hub for major rail transportation in the area. So the buildings are made up of the old shop fronts built around the train depot and an awesome water tower. I personally liked the rotary tower which is an iconic Cranbrook image. 

Rotary Tower.

Baker Street (Downtown).

Cranbrook is nice, but not really anything special here. It was the only place with a hostel in the area and is about an hour to two hours away from the string of hot springs and lakes I explored. Saturday morning I got up and went to Cranbrook’s farmer's market. I had googled things to do there and luckily my weekend trip fell on a Saturday when one of the Spring markets was taking place. It was tiny. Probably less than 15 booths. But still, some great arts and crafts, beautiful baked goods, and yummy early veggies to buy. Mostly you could buy your own plants rather than the market having produce.  I met a nice artist who travels to Spokane often and she told me a little more about the area.

Farmer's Market Saturday!

While this sign is from around Alaska, I saw something similar.

After the farmer's market I started my journey to the hot springs along a river. Free and not a resort. Just the way I like it. I knew the direction I should go in and what Provincial Park to turn off towards, so I adventured out. The hot springs was about a 45 minute drive from Cranbrook and then another 40 minutes on a gravel, logging, service road. Now signs here in Canada are clearly in meters and kilometers, so I only gauged things by time. At the border they had this sign for us Americans...

The very end of the logging road led to a lake called Whiteswan, but I didn’t get that far. Just before the lake was a sign with two changing rooms and a trail down to the river to the Lussier Hot Springs. When I got there around 10:30am, there was only one couple, but almost immediately after, people started to arrive. Right now, there is only one pool open because the river melt off is so high. I met some regulars who said usually there are five pools with varying temperatures. The pool we were in was the one that the spring was directly flowing into and so the hottest. It was a great temperature. Not super hot, but you did have to sit out of the water every once and a while to cool off. 

Trail down to the springs.

Lussier Hot Springs.

As I soaked in the springs, I met three great groups of people. A couple from outside of Calgary, a European couple who now live in Canada, and a group of Canadians traveling and staying at the campsites near Whiteswan Lake. I got to learn more about planning my Calgary trip and that I have to stop by Banff on my way up somehow. I also learned that I should keep going farther up the road and check out Fairmont Hot Springs as well as Radium Hot Springs. I knew I didn’t want to spend money on a resort experience, but at least to just drive further into the valley and to the little towns. I decided to take their advice.

Lake town with cool rock guy!

So around 12:30pm, I made my way up to Radium Hot Springs, the farthest North town I’d get to. I decided to take my time on my way back to Cranbrook to explore all these little towns; start at the town farthest away and work my way back. Radium was cute and had quite some charm and character as it was the portal to entering Banff from the British Columbia side. Very nice town. But, on my drive up I was intrigued by this town situated right by a lake. On the drive up, there were many beautiful lakes and I decided I wanted to spend my afternoon in that sunshine I so missed. I travelled back South and stopped in at Invermere. I love this town. Their main street is super nice. Reminded me of Santa Fe in Denver. Lots of art galleries, restaurants, shops, etc. Since sun was on my mind, I didn’t stop but kept on driving until I saw a sign for the beach. HECK yeah! I ended up out at this beautiful lake beach for a few hours and read, relaxed, and people watched. After, I wandered back into town and went store hopping. So relaxed and sun-kissed.

Beach!

SUNSHINE!

My lake view!

Main street Invermere.

Moose. 

Crazy place in Radium Hot Springs.

Continuing on my way back to Cranbrook, I stopped in at Fairmont Hot Springs, but it was mostly just a gas station and the resort. Not much there but still a nice place to relax in spring water, nestled right next to the mountains. Around 6:30pm I made it back to Cranbrook and boy was I tired. The sun and water had tuckered me out so I got dinner, took a shower, and went to bed. 

Cranbrook Rail mural.

Pioneer man mural.

This morning I knew it was Sunday, but wanted to see if any of the shops would be open on downtown main street in Cranbrook before I left. Otherwise, I still had to go grocery shopping and clean my little studio back in West Glacier, so it would be good to leave relatively early. Of course the shops were closed, but I got one last walk around of downtown and enjoyed the murals of Cranbrook history.

Canadian Lake view

Now back to Kalispell and getting ready for the week. This week I get bear training and a road trip with Deirdre to listen to her presentation on the Park history in East Glacier for a second week of interpretation classes. Next weekend is also the 100th anniversary of Lake McDonald Lodge and the Park is throwing a big party. So, I'll be sticking closer to home this time. The learning continues!