High summer: Glacier and Waterton hikes

Mount Vimy looms above the Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta

Over the past week we've been enjoying a flurry of hikes in Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks.
My daughter was in town and we did the McDonald Creek/St. John Lake loop on the West side of Glacier and then the next day went to Many Glacier and did Ptarmigan Tunnel, a park classic.
Then we returned home and then back to Glacier's sister park, Waterton in southern Alberta, Canada, and hiked to Bertha Lake along the shores of Waterton Lake one day and then followed with Waterton's classic hike, the Carthew/Alderson 13 mile walk-through from Cameron Lake to the Waterton townsite.
The heat was absolutely blistering on all four days of hiking.

Ptarmigan lake below the Ptarmigan Tunnel headwall

We could not find a motel in St. Mary or Many Glacier areas for under $299 a night, so we went to Cardston, Alberta, 21 miles east of Waterton, where we found an inexpensive, but nice motel and an amazing summer stock musical theater.  We saw the "Scarlet Pimpernel," one night.  Mostly local talent performs, but they are outstanding.

For more detail on the Ptarmigan Tunnel hike, click here: Ptarmigan Tunnel

For more detail on the Carthew Alderson hike in Waterton, click here: Waterton's Carthew Alderson