Out there with Tom: A Waterton backpack trip

One of many waterfalls on Snowshoe Cabin Trail

It's a good beargrass year

Pointed Anderson Peak accompanied us on the first several miles of trail

I wasn't sure I'd ever backpack again after my foot surgery and heart attack last fall, but I put that to rest with a short, one-nighter in Waterton National Park in extreme southern Alberta.

My pack was extra light and about our only worry was that we could be caught up in the continuing wet early summer rainstorms.

We managed to avoid the rainstorms.

Our trip started at the Red Rocks area Snowshoe Cabin trailhead that parallels Anderson Peak with its sharp imposing spire. It followed a former two track road to Snowshoe Cabin, still used by park maintenance workers for things like trail clearing. The trail was no wider than many non-motorized trails in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

We were treated to a lovely wildflower show on a trail that rose only 1,500 feet over a bit more than five miles. The beargrass was out in profusion, particularly in old avalanche chutes.

Along the way we spied waterfalls coming off remaining snowfields.

The big surprise of the trip was that we hiked that last two miles in deep, dense forest that had escaped the 2017 fire that burned 40 percent of the park.

I've become so used to hiking in burns that the forest came as a pleasant shocker.

We set up camp and then wandered up the trail toward Twin Lakes, finally stopping and turning around at a massive avalanche chute where there was a large beaver pond at its terminus.

The Snowshoe Trail offers lots of opportunities for side trips like the Twin Lakes. Another trail from camp would have taken us to Lost Lake. Goat Mountain Trail junction was at about the two mile mark.

There are impressive loop trails from these sites that offer the potential for spectacular ridge walks.

In camp we were treated to a visit from the maintenance leader, Shane MacIntosh, who gave us good background on this area.

I thought I was pretty familiar with Waterton, but this hike led me into a part of the park I hadn't explored.

The day before our Waterton trip we drove the Going to the Sun Highway as far as Haystack Butte and then got drenched in rain hiking the Beaver Pond Loop on the Red Eagle Trail.

After Waterton, we traveled to Drumheller to visit the Dinosaur Museum and then the Dinosaur Provincial Park and were very impressed with both. The museum rivaled the Smithsonians in the U.S., and the provincial park is a display of the massive Alberta badlands.