Today it was cold in the morning. We headed to the trail to join the Peace Hike along Waterton Lake to Goat Haunt, MT. It is a nine mile hike which we thought was going to be along the water's edge. There were two leaders, one a Parks Canada ranger, the other a National Park Service ranger. We gathered in a circle for an icebreaker, which was putting together a quote by John Muir. Then we had a quick run down on the trail and off we went at a furious pace-uphill. Lots of uphill and down and not much time to look at the lake when it came into view.
By lunch time we had reached the US-Canada border. We lined up in two lines, one side in US and one side in Canada. We reached across and shook hands with someone we did not know. Two obelisks marked the spot but there was a twenty foot swath cleared into the underbrush up the mountain.
The pace picked up after lunch . The leader would stop and identify a plant, shrub flower or tree to the person behind her and that person in turn would give the identification to each of the other hikers and would then fall in line at the end. It was an interesting way to pass the time and learn about the flora at the same time.
At the end of the hike was a suspension bridge. Not too bad. We then arrived at Goat Haunt, where, can you believe it, the border patrol was waiting to see our passports. We got on the boat back to Waterton Townsite, just as the weather started to spit rain. Unfortunately the hike was not friendly to my left knee and I was limping around all evening.
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