Sept 6th. Sofa Mountain and lunch with the locals.

After another successful stop for Patricia Rodeo we still had some time to fill before taking possession of our new abode at Rancho Relaxo..!!!

Waterton Lakes National Park was close enough to be able to hop over to Milk River if we needed to, and another interesting spot of Alberta that we had not yet visited.

There were no spots available in the campground in the park for the dates I needed…..but I found a quite delightful stop 5km from the Park gate. Being that close to the Rockies, the views from our campsite were magnificent.

We were super keen for a hike to stretch our legs after all that sitting for the rodeo. Sofa Mountain was the appointed target for the day.

The trailhead is within the Park boundary, but off a side road before you enter the main gate……and about 15km from the US border. The trail was about 9.5km with a moderate but steady elevation gain. The weather was quite spectacular…..a little cooler than it had been for the Rodeo…thankfully..!!

We were delighted to be the only vehicle in the parking area. The trail was quite overgrown with raspberries.

We were acutely aware of the likely presence of bears with these sweet treats all over…….if there were any…they saw/heard us first and stayed out of sight……we have developed the habit of being quite noisy as we walk….surprising bears at afternoon snack-time is not in my plan..!!!

Despite the smokiness from the Washington/Idaho wildfires…..it was remarkably clear as we climbed.

It was a bit steeper than I had intended after the break from hikes…..but then…there’s only one way to get up a mountain…!!!

Much like Yamnuska, hiking on the edge of the Rockies gives you this amazing contrast between the vista across the prairies behind you and craggy, textured folded over rock layers of the Rocky Mountains.

After crossing the creek a couple of times we rose up to the level of the basin of Sofa Mountain……beautiful. There are little thickets of trees where the path winds through……loud singing required……..(only place for bears to hide around here…!!)

Once we made it up to the ridge, the basin opened up in front of us…..I guess that would be the ‘Sofa”.

As we reached the cliff, the waterfall ahead has very little water in it at this time of year, but as we approached we could see a couple of mountain goats standing on the ledges. Then a few more stood up, then a few more……

If they had not moved we would never have seen them…..but they gradually all stood up and moved down towards us……

We stopped to sit down and have a snack and some water as they moved on down……

They were completely non-plussed by us and stood to graze about 20 feet away from us. 13 adults and 5 babies……..(it was pretty cool…!!)

We decided to circle around them a little to be sure not to make them run…….and headed back down the path…..very satisfied with our first good walk in a while.

Walking back down is incredible looking out over the prairies…it was a little smoky, but more than enough visibility to be impressive.

….and a bit of loud singing through the thickets….!!!

This was a very lovely hike……and a very satisfying day out.

Extra Pix