Waterton

So our spring weekend in the Rockies begun with something that has become very familiar over the last 7 months. It begins with 's' and you don't normally associate it with May. Can you guess what it might be?! Yes... more snow!

This weekend we're in Waterton International Peace Park close to the border with British Columbia and the United States. We have heard such fantastic things about Waterton and the incredible wildlife here that our visit is actually long overdue. We've been pleasantly surprised by the town too, which is on the edge of a large lake is wonderfully unspoilt.

The weather was fine when we drove up on Thursday afternoon, but when we awoke yesterday, the whole place was covered in a blanket of thick snow and it was still snowing. It snowed all through breakfast, all morning and all through lunch. We managed a brief walk by the lake first thing which gave the dog her first taste of snow (she loved it) but chilled us to the bone. By the afternoon when we went for a drive, conditions had improved and the sky was turning blue, but it was still very cold.

Today has been better and we've been out on the first boat trip of the season, which was two hours long and took us across the lake into Montana, US. In the summer this boat trip involves a stop on American soil, but today the upper end of the lake was still frozen.

Everything in Waterton seems to be opening up this weekend, but the town itself is still eerily deserted. The season is short clearly here, by October businesses that have opened their doors this weekend will be closing them again.

We love what we've seen so far of the park, but clearly we'll need to return to Waterton in a few weeks to make the most of the wildlife and the weather... our first bear sighting remains elusive!