CHRISTY HIKES CRYPT!

The last week of July Marissa went to Magrath to be a helping hand/nanny for Craig and Stephanie.  Bruce and Ross were working, and I went hiking on the Wednesday with some friends while Lisa looked after Emma and Erica.  Thanks Lisa!  The girls were so excited to finally have some time to play with the Dunhams since they were gone for the 4 weeks prior to that.

Missy with Cache

Cache and Cheyanne

They love having Marissa come - she's so much fun! and Missy loves going too!  (I think Steph enjoys the extra set of hands too)

Hiking buddies:  Rachel, Jeanne, Rachael, Jessamie, Jonica, Sarah

Crypt lake is in Waterton - a 15 minute boat ride across Waterton lake.  The hike is about 17km round trip, with an elevation gain of about 2300 feet.

It was a drizzly light rain as we started out, but oh so pretty.  And at least we wouldn't get too hot.

so many beautiful flowers along the way

snack time

so pretty, I wish I had one of those filters to capture the colors better

In the middle you can see the shadow of the entrance to the cave we are headed for.  Right after this picture, the rain started to pour, it was some of the heaviest rain I've seen in a long time.  Luckily we were well prepared.  We stopped and put on our rain ponchos, and made a mad dash for the shelter of the cave since we had no idea how long we'd be in this for.

Once we reached the cave the rain only lasted about 5 more minutes.  As we were running across the tiny ledge you see there on the side of the mountain, the rain was pouring like a river down the mountain and across the ledge, plus we had the rain that was falling down on us.  We were wet!  Luckily the rain took our minds off the fact that it is a very skinny ledge, with a steep drop to the valley below.  No fear! (If you are prepared you shall not fear)

Crypt Lake!  Time for lunch!

Coming back down we had better weather for enjoying the scenery and taking pictures.  The Bear Grass was in full bloom.  I've been told that you can only find bear grass in the higher altitudes of Waterton and Glacier National parks, and nowhere else in the world (I did not verify this info though).  It was beautiful.

On the way up the mountain, after the tunnel, is a steep climb up over jagged rock.  The trail is narrow and steep, and dangerous - so there has been a large cable bolted into the rock to assist climbers in navigating this section.  I've decided that being able to see out of only one eye isn't all bad.  On the way up the mountain the steep drop off was always on my blind side - across the skinny ledge, and while climbing up this little section.  A nice handicap to have here.  Coming down the steep drop was in full view, but since I had done it once before (coming up), I wasn't even nervous.  Obviously I was OK, 'cuz I even got the camera out to snap a few photos.

Back up into the tunnel

Going in...

60 feet long, but not high enough to stand up in

Crossing the river is nicer in the sunshine

Funny story (but perhaps only if you were there...).  On the way down (and up), we had had a few discussions of the various wildlife in the area, and what to do if we saw any.  Bears were the main concern, but we didn't see any of those.  However, as we were getting lower down the mountain, Sarah was in the lead and as she turned the corner on one of the switchbacks in the trees, she came face to face with a HUGE male moose.  I wish I had a picture of that!  She stood frozen not sure what to do, by the time we got to her the moose was trudging off thru the trees.  Some of the girls were a bit shaken, and worried about what we should do if we saw the moose again... play dead, run, look big and be noisy....nobody tells you what to do if you see a moose.  Personally I thought it was kind of neat, maybe I should have been more scared, but honestly it didn't make me the least big nervous.  When you are in the mountains I'm convinced you're ALWAYS close to wildlife, you just don't usually know it.  So we continued down the path, and maybe 5 minutes later we suddenly hear the thumping of running coming down the path behind us.  The 2 girls behind me screamed and charged, pushing me over into the bushes on the side of the path.  They were sure that we were being charged by a large angry moose.  I turned around, somewhat dismayed at having been sacrificed to the moose, and looked up to see a nice looking gentleman hurrying down the path.  It turns out he was running to catch the ferry back to waterton, and had no idea about the moose.  So funny!  His english wasn't very good (he's from Montreal), so when we explained why the girls screamed and ran, he felt bad.  When we reached the bottom of the hill he posed for a picture as the 'scary moose'.

Headed home.  What a great hike.  Thanks for organizing Sarah, and Lisa for watching my girls.  I love the mountains!!!