Glacier National Park (NP), Canada - Illecillewaet Campground

Illecillewaet Glacier from Abbott Ridge

Illecillewaet campground (after its namesake glacier).
(purportedly meaning swift river)

Say that three times fast I dare you... on second thought just try to say it correctly ONCE... c'mon go ahead try it... 

We get up early in the morning (for us) to make the two hour drive from Lake Shuswap to Glacier NP, Canada! Our goal to is find a spot at Illecillewaet Campground, which, like all of the campgrounds in Glacier NP, is a first come, first served campground. We get there early, before normal check-out time, and find several empty sites, but Tom has his eye on one that is on the river. We confirm that the people in the site are leaving, so we pay the registration and hangout to wait for them to leave.

I have to admit, Tom does find us beautiful spots. We sit by the river the first day and enjoy the view. 

The next day, Tom takes a short hike and comes back excited for me to see the meeting of the two waters.

Now, with all the advertisements I’ve seen about being bear aware, I don’t want to go anywhere without bear spray, but he talks me into it. It’s a short hike with lots of people on the trail, so the likelihood of seeing a bear is pretty slim.

The Meeting of the Waters Trail is a beautiful hike, a good introduction to Canadian NPs.

The next day, Tom and Tank take off and do a “moderate” (meaning much too hard for me) hike. When they get back, I mention to Tom that a young woman has setup camp next to us. It’s pretty unusual to see a lone woman camping on her own, so Tom, being Tom, goes over to introduce us both and invite her over for dinner. She is delightful. Her name is Colleen. She has just quit her job in Vancouver and is on a three week vacation before starting graduate school in Victoria.

For our last full day, Tom and Tank are planning another “moderate” hike towards Marion lake. Colleen has planned a longer hike but is still around when Tom and Tank leave, so the three head off together, as their two hikes start on the same trail. Several hours later, I get a text from Tom saying that he opted to continue on with Colleen and is doing several “extra” kilometers up to Abbott Ridge, so will be later than expected. 

We invite Colleen over for dinner again, and I get to hear the tales of the day. We really do appreciate her company, both on the hike and at dinner. 


By the way, Wikipedia has the pronunciation as: Illecillewaet  /ˌɪləˈsɪləwət/

It was a wonderful place to spend some time. If you ever get a chance to visit that area, don't miss Glacier.