Crossing the Border via Boat

We decided to take the boat, the MV International, to the head of the Waterton Lake. The Motor Vehicle International is the same age as the park and the Prince of Wales hotel, having been built on the lake in 1932.  The previous day I saw these women getting off the boat.  I don't know what religion they belong to, but we saw a lot of people in religious wear throughout the park.

 It was a calm day, unlike the day before, which was cold and windy.  The valley is very hazy, and we are told it is due to wildfires in British Columbia.  Waterton Lakes Park sits at the border of BC, Alberta and Montana.

A unique feature of this boat ride is that you cross the international border and enter the US (Montana).  If you are going on to hike the area, you must clear customs.  On the way, we saw the obelisks designation the two borders, and there is a swath through the woods showing where the border is.  Apparently this is kept cut by hand, since use of chemicals in the past caused havoc with the runoff and the fish in the lake.

When we got to the end of the lake, we decided to cross the border and go through customs.  It was our first foray back on the continental US soil since May 14.

 And John went up one of the trails a short way to see what it looked like.

I saw a beautiful example of a cow parsnip, which is a plant we have seen along our entire journey.  When I looked at the picture later, I saw that almost every portion of it had a different kind of bug on it.  The pink one didn't have any!

Where we docked the boat, there was this sign indicating the word for peace in numerous languages.  (Hey my Swedish relatives, is the word for peace in Swedish really Fred?)

On the way back, someone spotted a black bear in the woods along the lake.  We circled back to watch him.  He was really a big bear, but it is getting near the end of the season and they have a short time before hibernation.    The guide tells us that these bears will eat about 100,000 berries a day, the equivalent of 43 Big Macs.  So, they have one thing on their mind, and this guy didn't pay any attention to us.  The fish around here are really deep water, and so these bears are vegetarians,  relying on the berries.