Three-spot Mariposa Lily (Calochortus apiculatus)
The trailer tire was completely flat this morning, so I removed it after breakfast, and left it at the tiny service station here in Waterton. The man who repairs tires was not there at the time, so I left a note with instructions hoping that it could get fixed, while we were out hiking.
We drove to the information centre to check on hiking trails, and got some advice that helped us decide to go to Lower Rowe Lake. It was a beautiful hike, not too steep, with a large number of flowers along the way. Many of the spring flowers were new ones for us.
Bighorn sheep
We ate lunch at the lake, and walked a bit farther to get a view of the waterfall that drops a couple of hundred feet from Upper Rowe Lake down to this one, before returning. At about one third of the way back down the trail we spotted some bighorn sheep off to the side. We walked as quietly as we could, hoping to get a better view. We need not have been quiet! The sheep came right down the path we were walking on, and the largest ram walked almost up to us, eyeing us, then finally stepped of the trail. The three rams nonchalantly grazed in the brush just above us as we continued on down the path.
After our hike was completed we drove back to the information centre, and got more details about our hike for tomorrow, which is across the international border. It’s a good thing we did, as we learned that we had to get our boat tickets for the return trip today, so we did that on the way back to the trailer. We also picked up the tire which was repaired. Then we went to the grocery store and bought a litre of ice cream. That tasted good, as it has been a very warm day.