Then Todd took us to Sproule Agro Feedlot, where he worked for 10 years. We had talked the night before about the fact that I used to work for the company that manufactured and sold RALGRO, an implant for cattle, and Todd said he still uses RALGRO. This feedlot also uses RALGRO, and it was fun to talk a little bit about that, since I had worked for that company for 18 years (16 in Indiana, 2 in Phoenix).
Todd gave us a full feedlot tour. This feedlot owner leases most of the Indian reservation ground around here, and is a huge rancher in the area. There was lots going on today. Joe and I had toured Monfort of Colorado Feedlot in Greeley a long, long time ago, and it was all very interesting to us.
We got back to Todd's ranch, and then got ready to head to Waterton National Park.
It was only about an hour's drive, and although it had been sunny at Todd's, the closer we got to Waterton, the cloudier it got, and sure enough, it was sprinkling by the time we set up camp. Just after we drove into the park, we saw our first deer, right beside the road.
We camped at the Townsite Campground, which is right in town. Deer roam freely about this little village - we saw several in yards and even in the campground itself, and we had to watch where we stepped in the campground because there were lots of piles of deer droppings all over the campground. The hook-up for the sewer at the campsites was in the middle of the road of the parking spot, and one-legged Jerry had to crawl under his fifth-wheel to get hooked up. Joe gave him a hard time about that.
There's a huge "Prince of Wales" Hotel, which is a National Historic Site, that greets you from atop a hill as you drive into the little town. Collins, Marilyn, Jerry and Judy went to there for drinks, while Joe and I went for an evening drive, scouting for bears (unsuccessfully).
Joe and I drove back to Cameron Falls, which is very pretty, then we drove out to Cameron Lake. Marilyn's sister had told us we had a good chance of seeing bears at this lake, but there were none around. It was misty rainy, and I think they must all be fair-weather bears. But there was beautiful scenery, and we saw a dozen deer along the way. We had seen a dozen deer in town too, so that made 24 for the day.
The lake was pretty, and the water was crystal-clear.
We got up Wednesday morning and decided to take a cruise on Upper Waterton Lake, even though it was cloudy and chilly. We saw on top on the ride down, but all except Joe wimped out on the return trip and sat inside.
The international boundary has a swath cut through the forest, so it was easy to see when we crossed into Montana.
We had a pretty good narrator on the boat so we learned a lot about the lake. And there was pretty mountain scenery as well.
We came back to the camper and had a quick lunch, then Joe, Jerry and I took off for a drive again. We had not seen any deer when we went to the boat dock, but we did see 6 in town as we drove through this time.
We made our first stop back at Cameron Falls to get some pictures.
We took a slow drive on the Red Rock Canyon Road, and on the way back out we saw a deer walking beside the road. By the time we got up to where we had seen it, it had disappeared, so Joe and I took a little hike and found it lying down in a small grove of trees.
Joe hiked up a little higher because we thought there were two of them, but he never did see a second one.
Then we drove out of the campground to the bison paddock, where we saw a coyote on a little lake, and then found the herd of 8 buffalo.
On our way back to camp we took another side road, Hay Barn Road, and came upon two piles of bear droppings, but still no bears. Todd and his family were driving down for dinner, bringing home-grown steaks with them, so we gave up on our scouting and headed home. We had a great visit with Todd and his family, and had a great dinner.
As we finished eating, the sprinkles started -- first time today -- so we got everything put away and Todd took his family home so they could get the kids ready for school tomorrow. We are leaving Waterton for Glacier National Park tomorrow. Maybe there will be some bears there!
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