North of East Glacier

 We saw all we wanted to see from the east side of Glacier National Park and since there weren't many places to explore, we headed north towards the Canadian border to find some geocaches.

I am not certain if we are heading north or south when I took this photo. The mountains are of Glacier National Park. The smokey haze is still evident.

We had not planned to cross into Alberta once Hubby read the requirements. We had our passports along, but did not plan to get a 72 hour covid test prior to crossing. This closed border crossing is at Chief Mountain.

This is Chief Mountain. It reminded us of Devils Tower in WY.  

This designation was near the border crossing at Chief Mountain. It was the first time I had seen a sign referencing the park as Waterton-Glacier. The maps given to visitors labels the national park as Waterton-Glacier.

This is the third Blackfeet Nation sign we have encountered near Glacier National Park. This sign was near the Piegan Border Crossing.

We stopped to look for a geocache similar to the one we found near East Glacier Village on similar metal art.

Hub caps are used for the eyes on all of the horses. I recognized other car parts on the native riders.

The tails of the horses are of rusted barbed wire.

While we were looking for the geocache that appears to be missing, a car drove into the parking area and asked if we could help with an online form to enter Canada. Further discussion led to helping a native mother of my age and her daughter, the age of our daughter, with completing an online form so they could visit relatives in Carway, across the border. The sad piece is, these two women had all their information in paper form, but the border guard would not accept the originals. We spent at least an hour trying to help them. The mother needed her email address for the form. She didn't remember it. The daughter had a temperamental cell phone that turned off and on when it wanted. Finally, patience won and the forms were completed, photos of paperwork uploaded, and the two of them headed back to the border. We have no idea if they were able to cross as we headed back to our campground in St. Mary.

The conversation we had with the two women was so interesting. The mother and Hubby visited while I was helping the daughter. Both mother and daughter had attended school in Flandreau SD. The mother shared the information about the 3 Blackfeet Nation metal art; one at each entrance to the land of the Blackfeet. I hope they were able to visit their family whom they had not seen in 2 years.

These bison are one of three Double T herds on land of the Blackfeet Nation. Each herd is about 300 animals and owned by billionaire businessman Joe Ricketts. Ricketts is a longtime proponent of the health benefits of bison meat, including lower fat and cholesterol. His family is the majority owner of the Chicago Cubs, which serves many bison products at Wrigley Field.

This is a photo of Lower Saint Mary Lake. It is on the north side of the road to the east entrance of Glacier National Park. (The lake in Glacier National Park is Saint Mary Lake.) The lake nor the land around it are commercialized and no houses line its shore.

We were ready to move to West Glacier and explore new-to-us territory.