My First Time At The Canadian Border

I promised before the week was out that I had to bring us a glimpse of the scenery along US Highway 89 heading north of the town of St. Mary. Highway 89 passes through Babb Montana and Sunburst Montana (I love that name - as a guitarist, Sunburst finishes on guitars rock, perfect name for a town in Montana, after all they make Gibson acoustic guitars in Bozeman MT). It's about a 12 mile stretch give or take (I was eyeing the odometer but distracted by the scenery, I forgot the exact mileage) from St. Mary north to the Port of Piegan (US side)/ Port of Carway (Canadian side) on the border.

Along the way I passed an extension of lower Saint Mary Lake that extended beyond the boundaries of Glacier National Park, the lake protruded east and north paralleling the highway. Along the shores of the lake is the Malmstrom Air Force Base recreation area, this caught me by surprise as I'm going "What's it doing way up here?" Like this is quite a ways from the air base itself, Malmstrom is in Great Falls Montana, way to the south east of here. Very interesting, I guess they need a little lakeside retreat property far off for the base for the fly boys and fly girls to relax at. Okay so if I get this straight, in the United States Air Force, you get to hang out on the shores of lower Saint Mary Lake and enjoy the scenery?.. heck where do I sign up?!?!

There's really not too much along the way from St. Mary to the border, just a few roadside bars here and there, a ranch house or two, and cattle watering tanks. The scenery is great, not as good as inside Glacier National Park but it's favorable.

The Blackfeet Nation! Behind me on a far prairie hill stood a tipi village. I wanted to get a shot of it too but it was way off in the distance and the camera was unable to filter out the sun glare at that distance. It was a sight to see. This location is just slightly south of the border station. When I first saw the Canadian flag waving in the distance as I approached, I thought "I'm here, it's Canada! Oh Canada.. wait, where are the Mounties? For that matter this is strange, the border is left unguarded, where's the border station? Well I must be in Canada." Then I notice the border station in the distance to the north, nope, almost there.

US side of the border at the Port of Piegan. I made it! My first chance to see another country with my own eyes! Those bluffs in the far distance and trees on the right side of the frame are Alberta Canada! This road with will eventually led to Cardston, Lethbridge, Fort MacLeod, and onto Calgary! Sadly I did not have a passport and I did not feel like getting my car torn apart by customs so I just came here to say I saw it, pulled out from where this photo was shot, drove up for a little closer look and made a nice U-turn within a couple hundred feet of the crossing station, peeled out and went back into the USA.

 

The road back south. This is the view the Canadians have as they enter the US via this route. From this distance I'm not sure which is which but the notable mountains in the distance are certainly part of Glacier National Park. Chief Mountain, Ninaki, and Gable Mountain are the most prominent in this photo, near the right side of the frame.

Canadian Thistles? Some purple flowers with a bee on one. I'm glad I stopped at this patch of flowers beside the road. I don't think this bee had any idea he was to be part of a photo shoot that day but he did a great job posing. My timing was impeccable in capturing this, like I was meant to stop and snap this photo at just the right time. I'm still in awe, this is cool.

Part of lower Saint Mary Lake. Looking south in this shot, the road leading back to the town of St. Mary.

Glacier National Park from the outside eastern edge looking in towards the west. Someday I want to come back and hike those mountains in the distance to the east side of the park. Actually I wanna float or swim to those islands, that would be awesome.

A spectacular drive.

After reaching the border and turning back around I drove back to St Mary's and then drove over the mountains and hills to the east to Browning, turned south to Choteau and onto Great Falls Montana.

So ever since this trip in August 2012 I've been joking with friends and family about how at the border, they have placed giant statues of Justin Bieber greeting visitors entering Canada. Well as you might be able to tell from the previous Port of Piegan photos, they don't.. not yet anyway. Not unless the Canadians, read this and get any serious ideas. Ssshhhhh, we must not give them any ideas, they could get easily carried away with such a project.

Alright, what would this post would not be complete without a glimpse of a sunburst guitar since I already mentioned it. For those that are unfamiliar with a sunburst guitar finish, here it is in all it's glory.

Gibson's SJ-200 "King of The Flat Tops" acoustic guitar w/ sunburst finish. A work of art just to gaze at and drool for musicians whom appreciate a good Gibson. To me, proof that a God does exist and he spends time making beautiful acoustic guitars in Bozeman Montana.