Yellowstone Trip Part 8 - Helena, Montana to Pincher Creek, Alberta

After leaving our Super 8 Motel (after an exciting breakfast of egg disks, super gristly bacon, and waffles- I actually just had toast) we headed onto I-15 which was a pretty nice road, considering that it was an Interstate highway. There were a fair number of bugs that squashed themselves on my visor but there were good curves and changing scenery as we motored along the road.

After the interstate, we took 287, which was a smaller highway, and we were blessed with more of the same, wonderful curves and interesting scenery. It was, however, quite windy. At Choteau, we took 89 and, again, enjoyed the road. There was nothing spectacular (which is why I don't have any photos of this part of the ride) but there was good scenery and it was an enjoyable ride. We would have had great scenery but there was a lot of smoke in the distance, obscuring the majestic mountains.

Smoke in the distance on a rural Montana highway

At Browning, we took the 464 diversion , which was an old highway, and then rejoined 89 at Babb. We took that until we hit 17 and saw a corner of Glacier National Park. We had originally planned to go through the park but the smoke looked pretty thick and I had already done that last year - it is much more spectacular when there isn't a bunch of smoke covering up the mountains!

We crossed the border back into Canada at a little border crossing called Chief Mountain. The border guard was OK - not too crabby - and a lot friendlier than the guard on the way down. We also entered into Waterton Lakes National Park and decided to stop.

I rode through Waterton Lakes on my bicycle several years ago but didn't recall going into the actual townsite. This time we did, and it was very nice.

We stopped for a beer at a restaurant and then went for a walk.

We saw a deer unfortunately trapped in an enclosure that was meant to keep it out.  it did not look all that concerned as there was plenty to eat.

We also went onto the dock and had a great view of the lake..

The rest of the day, we headed north on Alberta Highway 6 until we got to Pincher Creek. We were pretty tired by the time we got to the motel. There was a promising restaurant called Luigi's which was recommended but, when Dale saw the cooks outside having a smoke, he nixed it and we ended up having a bland dinner at Boston Pizza. As we walked back to the motel, the smoke was thick in the distance.

But we were home - well, sort of!

Waterton Lakes Prince of Wales Hotel - we did not stay here...