Twenty six strangers met in Kalispell MT, on August 5, 2001 for a Smithsonian Study Tour and left friends on August 15. Here in words and pictures is our story.

This tour to Glacier National Park and Waterton Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada, is the third in a series of progressively more challenging hiking trips I've participated in over the last three summers. My pre-vacation walking paid dividends as I took all the long hikes, but there were still a few evenings when walking to dinner was a chore. I chose to walk with the "look at this nice flower and/or rock" folks. The zip-off-the-legs pants were very comfortable as the weather was warm most of the time. Jeans all day would've been very uncomfortable.

We traveled from Whitefish first to the Lake McDonald and then the Many Glacier areas of the park then on to Waterton. I took many more pictures than will fit on this site. I hope though that these will give you a taste for the Parks and will induce you to make your own visit.

The group threw me a birthday party on the 11th, complete with a sparkler on my dessert, cards and gifts. To top if off mom left me a birthday greeting at the front desk.

I ate more food in a week than I'd eat in three weeks at home, including desserts! Breakfast buffets were my downfall and portions at the dining rooms were enormous. I had to swear off trail mix after the first few days as the cargo pockets in my pants made it too easy to gobble it nonstop. I'm up a few pounds in spite of the miles we walked. Ate along the trail too, the Thimbleberries were the best, very much like tart red raspberries but with more fuzz. We were a bit early for ripe ones and the fast bunch picked most of those that were in reach :-)