O Canada!

Left Idaho and entered Canada. The scenery markedly improved after our interminable 2 hour wait to pass the border. Did you know they shave the border?

Drove along beautiful rivers through the beautiful mountains. Arrived at Kinbasket Lake, where we pitched a tent near the start of the Columbia River. Kind of weird to think that we watched it empty into the Pacific a few weeks ago and now here it is at the start. The next couple days we spent in Glacier National Park. What a magnificent park! We stopped in the info station for a trail map and some recommendations, then set of for Asulkan Valley. The trail was "moderately difficult" with a 13 km round trip and 940 m of climb. About 600 of those meters came in the last km or so, where we were practically climbing up the gravel switchbacks. Totally worth it; probably the best hike of our lives. Every view was more spectacular than the last. We finally wound up at the base of the Asulkan Glacier and watched it melt in a trickle that picked up water falling off the mountain as we descended. Technically it was a "brook", though by the bottom you'd be hard-pressed to call it anything other than a river.

The next day we were a bit on the sore side, so we chose a less steep trail that led to the bottom of the Illecillewaet Glacier. The trail ended at a stream not quite high up enough for the spectacular views, but it was still a good hike. We moved the tent to Golden, right between Glacier and Yoho parks. Last night we had some local beer at a pub down the street (don't ask what kind, we'd never heard of these beers before). Today we took a walk in Yoho near Takakkaw Falls. Yoho is more beautiful than Glacier, though Glacier is more magnificent. Having a chill afternoon now, and tomorrow we'll be back in Yoho for a longer walk.