Mark

Day 6-Canada
First stop was Wieners of Waterton where Brian and Jack were immediately recognized like famous celebrities. Aren’t you Marius? And you’re the Bishop! Yes, we commoners are allowed to hang with them. May we sell you an autograph? 🙂 Anyway, Wieners is a tradition with them so we had to experience it. The place was started by a former employee of JDawg’s in Provo but is way better, according to Brian. It turned out to be super tasty. I had the gluten-free option which was a lettuce wrap instead of a bun and was quite yummy, and the sweet potato fries with exotic dipping sauces were great.

Brian and Jack wanted us to experience Red Rock Canyon in Waterton so we headed out from lunch prepared to hike. The locals had told them that they always saw bears on the road to the canyon but when they had gone previously they hadn’t seen any and their local friends were totally surprised. We went with hope in our hearts that a bear would show itself and kept our eyes peeled along the road. We came around a bend and saw several cars pulled off to the side so Scott screeched to a halt and swerved over. We jumped out and walked to the clump of people and there it was: a cinnamon-colored black bear cavorting in the field. We were all ecstatic! We stood there watching for quite a while until he disappeared behind the crest of a hill. Joy!
I should interject here that last summer Brian and Jack worked at a theatre in West Yellowstone and never saw one bear. We visited the park twice and also went to Glacier last summer and never saw any, so we were all hoping to get a glimpse of a bear this summer. We had been told that there is a much better chance of seeing them in Canada than the States, so there you go.

To return to my narrative, we got back in the car happy and satisfied, when what to our wondering eyes should appear? A couple of cars pulled over with people pointing at nothing. Then we saw a small patch of brown nestled down in some bushes and wondered if that was an animal. A head popped up and it was another cinnamon black bear. Score!
We watched it eat for quite a while and then it lumbered out of the bushes and up the hillside so we got a great whole-body view at close range.
It climbed up and proceeded to tear apart a fallen log with great force, pulling off branches and digging into the log for something.
Scott was snapping photos like a picture-taking fool so we got plenty, including some with us in the foreground but the bear is kinda blurry.
We finally left when it got crowded with lookers so we could give others a chance because we are nice that way. It was a good thing the other people had stopped at first because we would never have seen that brown blob hidden in the bushes while driving by. So we were all happy-two bears in one trip.

Farther up the road we came to Red Rock Canyon, which was the purpose of the visit. They were really excited to take us but I had been apprehensive for days because Brian’s original description included the phrase “there’s potential for ankle-rolling on this hike”. Hmmm. We brought extra tennis shoes for hiking the streambed. There is a paved loop above the narrow canyon but hiking the bed is more fun and scenic. So we hiked up the stream and through the very narrow canyon of red marble.
There was seepage along the walls so lots of vegetation up the sides, small falls of water along the walls, and showers here and there.


We got to a large logjam which had an opening in the bottom that was navigable with lots of bending and twisting so we forged on to the water slide area.


We left the sliding to the younger folks and just enjoyed the water pouring down. You know I can sit and watch moving water for hours so I’m always up for that.



The water is super cold and by the time we hiked back down the stream we had frozen toes, but it was gorgeous and fun and I’d do it again. Here are some additional photos if you still have the stamina to view: the canyon on the way out, Rafiki makes an appearance on Pride Rock, assisting old ladies across the street, etc.

We got the guys back to get ready for their call time and we cleaned up for the evening show, “Les Miserables” at the Carriage House Theatre in Cardston. Brian played the Bishop and one of the student rebels and did a great job. He sang some short solos and had his own songs as the Bishop and sounded great.

Mark spent 10 days visiting him before the shows opened and did the sound design for the show plus bought a bunch of mics, equalized the room, and did a bunch of other technical audio stuff I don’t understand but made the show sound great. Lots of talent in the show but I think Brian and Jack were the best. I may be a little biased, but I don’t think so. 🙂