25 August 2016, Thursday

We are up just before sunrise at 6 am. It is a cold 5 degrees C this morning. We warm our apple pastries and saskatoon pie (which turns out to be blueberry pie) on the Coleman stove. We make coffee with our new pour-over carafe. It’s very good. We clean our campsite carefully and return everything to the car. Just as we are about to walk over to the washroom to brush teeth, the bear pays us another visit. This time I get a pretty good photo. The bear is only interested in the surrounding berries and soon wanders off.

By 8 am we are on the road back to Lethbridge, about a 120 km drive. We arrive before 10 and our oil is soon changed. We run several errands in town including finding another box of wine, replenishing our jerky supply, getting some extra brownies for hiking and stopping by a bank for more loonies for laundry. By the time we are finished it’s time to return to the Coulee Tap and Grill for lunch.

We are back at Waterton about 3:30. At a little cafe we buy some bagel sandwiches for tomorrow’s lunch. We stop to view Cameron Falls in town and then drive up Red Rock Parkway towards Red Rock Canyon. Half way up the road is a clot of cars. Some people are hanging out their windows and others have set up tripods in the middle of the road to photograph a black bear enjoying berries in a hillside meadow. I don’t see what all the fuss is about after our experience this morning. We carefully thread our way through the maze of cars and arrive at the canyon. There is a short walk along the creek here. The rocks show layers of red (oxidized) and green (unoxidized) argillite. It’s a pretty walk and we photograph the creek and craggy Mount Anderson in the background. I also take some photos of Doug fir pine cones with their tell-tale “squirrel feet and tails” sticking out from beneath the scales.

Now we are back at camp waiting for the latest shower to pass so we can get our daypacks ready for tomorrow.