Waterton Lakes NP, Lost wallet. and drive to Malta, MT

After the breakfast buffet at the hotel, which was actually pretty good, we drove down to Waterton Lakes NP. 

Almost every search for Waterton Lakes has results with people raving about the Bear's Hump hike, so we had to do it.  It is short, but very steep, it does have steps which made it easier. But the air is pretty thin and it can be rough for people with asthma.  The area had a forest fire a few years ago so all the tress were burned out.  This was kind of interesting but also meant there was no shade, which made the hike that much hotter.  There is a great view at the top which made the hike more than worth it.  A lot of wind too, which felt really good since it was pretty warm on the way up.

We then ate "linner" in town at Zum's and there was a Beaver Tails right next door.  So we had to get that as well, very good linner.  Only bummer was when I went to pay at Zum's I realized I lost my wallet at some point.  After retracing my steps to the car and a thorough search of the car we came to the realization I must have lost it on the Bear's Hump hike, as I remember having it in the parking lot before we started.

So we went back to Bear's Hump and I started to hike it again, while looking for wallet, which really wasn't on my list of things I wanted to do, as I said it is a pretty steep hike and it was pretty warm out. Luckily, Deb found a young guy parked next to us who was willing to RUN the trail again, which he has just finished doing. So he caught up to me real quick on the trail and moved on ahead of me.   He talked to people just a little farther up who told him they remembered some other people saying they found a wallet and would try to get a hold of me. So he told me this and headed down ahead of me (once again running).  By the time I got back down he had remembered seeing a piece of paper on the trail sign.  It turned out to be a note for me that said the wallet was at the hotel.  The Prince of Wales Hotel is right across the street from the trail so we figured that must be the one they were referring to. So we went there and sure enough they had my wallet, thank God, and big thanks to the "running guy" and whoever found my wallet and took it to the hotel. What a big relief to get it back!

After that adventure we drove around and did a short walk to Red Rock canyon on the way out of the park.  Pretty canyon and a nice casual hike around it.  We would have liked to spend more time exploring the park, but the wallet fiasco really ate up a lot of time and we still had a long drive ahead of us.  We then drove 320 miles, mostly on what may be the straightest road for that long of a distance I've ever been on, Rte 2.  Our destination was the bustling metropolis (pop 1876) of Malta, MT. Due to the wallet delay and a slight re-route to find a border crossing that was still open, we didn't get in until 1 AM. The Country Inn was the motel, and it was very dark and the entire situation had an American Horror Story vibe to it as I left Deb in the car and went into the empty lobby. My only companions in the lobby were some taxidermy animals.  Had to call the guy to come down from his apartment upstairs and give me a key. This was definitely not a Marriott property. We survived and really the guy was very pleasant and helpful in the end.  He even got the breakfast foods (cereal and toast) back out for us when we finally got up the next day.

Just another day on vacation for us.