It was unexpectedly cloudy as we drove into Waterton and rain showers ensued along the parkway. We delayed our start for 15 minutes watching the rain descend but the front moved on and the sun came out as we headed up the trail:

The gang, ready to go

starting up the trail

It was easy going with lots of flowers and we took the turn up the Forum Lake trail from where we had views of the creek gushing down the hillside:


Forum Creek falls

Further up there were sections of boardwalk across boggy areas where it became apparent that this was breeding area for copious quantities of mosquitoes:


Forum Lake trail boardwalk

mosquitoes like red

Continuing to Forum Lake it looked to be a good stop for an early lunch given the fine views, but the bugs were pretty bad:


icebergs in Forum Lake

We pushed on towards the ridge hoping to get high enough to get a breeze to blow away the bugs. En route we came across three large snow patches where a bit of meandering was required to find the trail emerging higher up. The slopes must have melted off only recently as there were lots of glacier lilies:


glacier lily

By the time we got to the ridge another front was moving in and it started raining fairly heavily with the occasional grumbling of thunder. The scramble section above this point didn't look very appealing in the wet conditions, it was getting socked in along the high points on Akamina Ridge and we didn't fancy being on the exposed ridge if there was lightning, so we made the decision that a retreat was in order:


Starting the retreat down Forum ridge from the storm

By the time we got back to Forum Lake there was some sunshine again and the mosquitoes were still out in force. It was a fast walk down past the ranger cabin to the Akamina trail junction where the bugs were much fewer:


Sonja, Brenda & David amongst the bear grass at Forum Lake trail junction

The walk back through the burnt forest was quite pleasant as there were good views with all the tree vegetation gone. We were back at the trailhead around 2pm.

Thanks to a fine group for joining me on this variable weather day. Participants: Ron C/S/P, Barbara, Photini, Brenda, Aldis, David (photos), Shirley, Inge, Nardi, Sonja, John.
Flora:

Quite a few bear grass clusters had beetles crawling on them

typical views of the day: bear grass and blackened timber