Friday, July 31 - Scenic Point and Goodbye to Glacier

It was the camper’s worst morning…everything was soaked. Even the tops of our sleeping bags were wet from the tent leaking. Clthes, pillows, sleep pads, EVERYTHING was sopping wet! That made it an easy decision to pack up an stay on the west side in a motel to dry everything out tonight! I give Rosie a HUGE pat on the back for not complaining one little bit! She took it in stride and went to get hot chocolate and coffee (for me) at the campstore so I could deal with wet stuff. She hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before (or any night recently, for that matter) so it was even more impressive that she wasn’t grumbling at all.

Site 19, Many Glacier Campground

Swiftcurrent Motor Inn and Mt. Henckel

We have watched many, many grizzlies up there!

We arrived at the Gladstone cabin a full 10 minutes early even! Talked to Jack for a while and made plans to meet at Lake McDonald Lodge at 7:30. Rosie, Scot and I took off for East Glacier. I treated them to breakfast at the Whistle Stop Cafe. I’d been craving their asparagus omelettes for months, we were supposed to have them the morning we started our backpack trip. It was just as good as I remembered.  We left the Whistle Stop and didn't have to look far for Stinky.  We were amazed that Scot did not know about Stinky the East Glacier dog!
We drove into Two Medicine and looked around for Jen, Jim, Karen and co. but didn't see them or their vehicles anywhere, so we drove to the Scenic Point trailhead.  The first stop was Apistoki Falls...a pretty little waterfall.

Appistoki Falls, Two Medicine Area, Scenic Point Trail
 I didn't tell Rosie and Scot that it was near here that someone had been killed by a grizzly in the 90's.  We had passed a ranger led hike on our way in and they were just headed to the falls when we were going down. 
This is a very, very steep  trail.  I had heard that but didn't realize HOW steep.  There was a torn up log on the trail.  There is little break from going up, up, up.  Poor Scot had a cold and was coughing a lot but never complained.  We stopped often for rest breaks and watched the clouds.  At one point I was worried about some dark clouds - there is little cover on this trail if it lightning starts I called down several switchbacks to the ranger leading the hike and she said she wasn't worried, so we kept on ascending. 

This trail is 3 miles one way but it feels like far more.  I really wonder (as have others) if the posted mileage is actually correct.  Near the top, the trail meanders through a forest of dead whitebark pine trees.  They are beautiful in a sad way.

We reached the top - or what we THOUGHT was the top.  It looked like the end of the trail.  Then someone told us that the "technical" scenic point was 20 min. further out.  Rosie and Scot said they were done - so we called it "close enough" and stayed put to rest. 

Rosie and Scot - the "Closer" Scenic Point

The hike down was of course much faster but still seemed longer than 3 miles.  

I love this trail photo!

A half mile from the trailhead, someone asked us if we'd seen the bear...apparently there had been a black bear hanging around the trailhead.  We hadn't...we had seen scat that was pretty fresh, but no tracks.

We got in the car and stopped in East Glacier for Gatorade for the kids and iced tea for me, and hit Highway 2.  I had gotten a room in Columbia Falls for the night because our sleeping bags, tent, and clothes were so wet.  On our drive to Columbia Falls Scot read to us from his "Haunted Montana" book.  There are some very eerie tales in there!  We checked into our room and I spread out wet camping gear to dry while Rosie and Scot watched tv.  Then we headed to Jammer Joe's at Lake McDonald Lodge for dinner...and more ghost stories.  I've heard stories about the pizza at Jammer Joe's being greasy and not very good, and about the horrible service. We had GREAT service - our waiter was from Turkey - and the pizza was great. 

We finished an hour before Jack's show was due to start.  Rosie and Scot got invited to play kickball with a group of park employees on the big lawns outsde the lodge,

 so I walked around and took pictures (I spend very little time at that part of the park) and read my book. 

Jack's show that night was in a rustic log auditorium adjacent to Lake McDonald Lodge. 

Here is a link to Jack and Mariah performing "Circle of Life" that night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHy_xM9GCt0

After the show we said goodbye to them, probably until next summer.

Scot Gladstone, Rosie Morrison, Mariah Gladstone

 I hope we can get Jack to Minnesota one of these years.  Once again, for more informaiton on Jack and his amazing work, go to:    http://www.jackgladstone.com/

Rosie and I went back to the Super 8 in Columbia Falls for a DRY night's sleep.  It was dry, but not very restful...it was very noisy and at 2 a.m. someone kept banging on the door at the end of the hall and screaming for someone to let them in. I called the desk and they said there was nothing they could do.  I'm picky about things like that.  I won't be staying there again....it it was cheap it would be a different story, but due to it's proximity to Glacier, it is definitely NOT cheap.

Thursday, July 30th - Close Encounters of the Ursine Kind

We decided to hike up Swiftcurrent Pass  it was finally a BEAUTIFUL morning – blue sky and no clouds in sight!

This was the weather we had 98% of the time last year, for an entire month…we hadn’t appreciated it then, I found out.
We headed out on the trail,

with a quick moose sighting at Fishercap Lake (but no twin calves like last year).

We talked to some nice people on the way - there were a lot of people on the trail.

After the swinging bridge we headed around and to the base of the switchbacks.

I was talking and not paying attention and at one point kept going straight when the trail turned sharply uphill. I tried to find a route through some cliffs and eventually realized…this just didn’t look right for such a busy trail. We back-tracked and found a very obvious trail…no idea how I had missed that! Apparently I talk too much while hiking :)   .

We headed up a ways and then stopped for lunch. As we ate, I was looking back at the slopes above the lake, across the little valley. I saw something brown and figured it was a moose – we’ve seen moose up there before. Then a little something dark came barreling along. “ROSIE! ROSIE! Bear!” I yelled and I grabbed the binoculars (I had decided at the last moment to bring them…thank goodness!). Sure enough, beautiful, classic, cinnamon colored grizzly with two dark cubs of the year!

 It was wonderful to see them in different terrain, farther from the normal spots close to “civilization”. We watched them for a long time and eventually she started making her way down. Whenever we looked up we saw a lot of people stopped up on the trail way above us…probably another bear up there. Eventually I realized "our bear"  was headed right for the trail. We had a decision to make...we could keep going up as planned and risk being the last ones down the trail later, knowing the bears were around. Or, we could wait for someone coming down and meet up with them. The more people the better, when you are hiking with a grizzly around. Rosie thought that was the better idea. The bear reached the trail and they disappeared into deep brush. Soon a moose came trotting by and out of sight…probably because of the bear.

Eventually an older gentleman showed up. He had lived in Alaska for years and now lives in Kalispell. We joined him and soon were also joined by a family of 3 from Elk River coming down from a night at Granite Park Chalet. Our group of 6 finished our descent from the switchbacks and saw a couple of people coming towards us. They told us the bears were just around the corner and 100 yards off the trail. This would turn out to be very incorrect – we reached that corner in 30 seconds and kept looking around at where they could possibly be 100 yards off trail on the west side of the river as they had indicated. We made a great deal of noise and saw and heard nothing. We got another 1/3 to 1/2 mile or so up the trail and thinking we probably had left the bears far behind, weren’t making quite as much noise.  The older man from Kalispell/Alaska had insisted on taking the lead due to his bear experience. Rosie and I were the last two in line. I had just commented on how thick the trees were when Rosie heard animal footsteps in the stream and the guy in the front yelled “Whoa! Get out of here!” and backed up a few steps. There was one of the cubs, crossing the trail less than 2-3 feet in front of him. Two or three feet!!!!! I pushed Rosie back as the guy in front continued to yell "SHOO!" at the bears and got my bear spray out and ready and yelled “we need to give her space, we need to move back!” and the guy in front didn’t listen…he kept yelling “shoo” and “get out of here” to the bears, as the sow and other cub crossed the trail!  I couldn’t believe it…that is precisely the worst thing to do in that situation, in my opinion. Then the bears were across the trail and off into the brush and the guy took off. The rest of the group went forward so I grabbed Rosie and pulled her after me to follow them…we didn’t want to get left behind not knowing where the bears had gone. We made a great deal of noise of course and a short time later got to the part of Bullhead Lake where there were lots of people.  They were all looking up, and there were the bears way up in the brush. The man who had been leading our group in had disappeared by this time but we stuck with the Elk River family. I wasn't too keen on hiking with him anymore anyway after that behaviour.
On the rest of the way out we warned everyone we saw to make a LOT of noise and keep their eyes and ears open and to not let their kids hike in front of them.
In hindsight, I don’t know what else we could have done differently except ask the person we joined up with for safety reason what he would do if we encountered the bears. If I had known he’d yell at them like that, I would not have been with him. For anyone who thinks bears are bloodthirsty creatures who stalk and kill people at any given chance, this should change your mind. That bear actually had every right to charge the man in front yet she didn’t…she restrained herself and got her cubs to across the trail. These were this year’s cubs too, when the mothers are the most defensive. She exercised considerable restraint in not charging or attacking. I still can’t believe it happened…we were 10 feet away. We met an off-duty ranger on our way out and told her about it and she told us to stop at the ranger station and tell them.

We showered, spent some time reading, and headed to Rising Sun for Jack Gladstone's campfire performance there.  We sat back farther than usual to give others a chance at the front row.  We set up the video camera and there were quite a few people there waiting when the Gladstone clan finally arrived.  We went to say hi and Mariah simply said "YOU LEFT!" (meaning several nights ago when we left during the night) and then claimed Scot cried for hours when they woke up and we were gone (she was kidding).  It was a GREAT show (well, they all are).  At the end, to my surprise, an old Owatonna friend walked over to say hi, Jill Myers!  She and her family had been backpacking in the park and now were camped there.  What a small world! I had known that she would be in the park, but didn't expect to see her.  We talked for a while and somehow got on the subject of Trinity hi-league trips and how we all got in trouble for singing the Indiana Jones theme song while going through US customs coming back from Victoria, British Columbia.  It was great to see her!

We were invited back to the Gladstone cabin for pie they'd purchased at a Hutterite stand that day so Mariah came with us and we rushed to the store in St. Mary to buy ice cream before they closed.  We made it with a few minutes to spare and then enjoyed some REALLY YUMMY pie!  We also got to see the "alien vegetable" they bought from the Hutterites.  I am sorry to say I didn't take a picture but I've never seen anything like it...many appendages. I'm not even sure what type of vegetable it was supposed to be.

We made plans for Scot to hike with us the next day while Jack was busy and Mariah was working and headed back to camp very late.

Wednesday, July 29th Hiking and Bear-watching in Many Glacier

It was cloudy when we woke up but the forecast looked good so we decided to try hiking to Ptarmigan Tunnel. We finally got on  the trail a little late, maybe 9:45.

As we hiked, it got cloudier and cloudier and at Ptarmigan Falls  (about  2 1/2 miles, halfway to the tunnel through the mountain) we could see that the tunnel was all fogged in. Then it started to rain. Rosie decided that was it, she didn’t want to hike in rain and fog.

So, we hiked back out and went to take showers.
We went back to Many Glacier Hotel  and we got our same spot in the comfy chairs overlooking the lake and hung out there for a while.

Later, we went to the motor inn parking lot searching for a bear to watch, and we were scoping Grinnell Point when a man we had watched bears with yesterday came up and said he had a griz on the other slope. There was a beautiful one up by Henckel Ravine! Soon the bear jam formed. This was a beautiful grizzly, probably a female, and we spent several hours watching her off and on.

Eventually she very slowly headed to the east. I made beef stew for dinner and we took turns watching her from our site (Rosie chose it well!) while I cooked and while we ate. After dinner and clean up we made our way down the valley and saw her from several different pullouts further east. Jim and Karen had set up their huge scope a few times and she kept moving out of view.

Eventually we stopped at the pullout just east of the hotel and watched her come across.

 Then we noticed she was headed DOWN and before I knew it she was looking at us over some rocks maybe 40 yards uphill.

Rosie realized she was trying to find a safe place to cross the road to get down to the river, so we got in the car and I started telling people what was going on and that we all needed to move, and why. Only ONE person listened. The rest stayed put. I was really wondering where the rangers were (AGAIN). Rosie and I drove down the road and waited a bit and then decided to head back to MG. As we came around the corner to the pullout, there was finally a ranger there and people were clearing out and looking downhill. It turns out she must have crossed right in the middle of all those people, which had to have been stressful for her. I wish the ranger had gotten there sooner. They knew she was up on the slopes  for several hours but didn’t have anyone following her progress.  I suppose that is  because often the bears just disappear - the rangers had no way of knowing she’d try and cross the road. We went back to the tent and read books and went to sleep early.

I love that my daughter loves Glacier, wilderness, and wildlife as much as I do.  She has infinite patience for wildlife watching and she loves to help other people get sightings of bears and wolves as much as I do.  And she is a fabulous wildlife spotter herself!

Monday, July 27 Many Glacier

We were up early to get a campsite at Many Glacier. We arrived at 7:45 at the campground and were by no means the first people there. Gone are the days of getting there at 11 a.m. and getting a site. We got a site that was ok, and had a nice talk with the guy who was leaving it. He had just been to Yellowstone and had a cool wolf sighting there, and he had also been to up to Bowman Lake. We set up and I made smokies and eggs in the saucepot, as we discovered we had left the camp frying pan at home after I brought it in to wash it.

The Slopes of Mt. Henckel above Many Glacier Campground

We did some bear-scoping but saw nothing.   So, we did some wildlife drives. We had talked to one ranger when we were scoping at the pullouts by the hotel road and he told us there had been a black bear around. We then drove past the hotel road and there it was, 30 feet from the road with people getting out of their cars and walking down. The bear got spooked and went into the trees and we went to the next pullout and stopped. The ranger came up behind us and we told him where the bear was and that people were getting too close. I was watching through the sun roof for it to come out of the trees down and behind us (a safe distance, of course) but he didn’t.
We decided to head into the Park Café for lunch and made a few phone calls. Rosie hadn’t wanted to hike the first day. We stopped at the Gladstone cabin but they weren’t around. We went back to the hotel and read for a while in the annex, watching the slopes across the lake for wildlife.  When we were leaving saw a black bear crossing the river just below the hotel falls. We stopped and I had Rosie get out to get pictures

and then I started getting nervous because once again, people were getting too close. He went in the woods and Rosie and I turned back towards where we’d seen the other bear earlier and there she was again! She got spooked and we went up and turned around so we went back by the falls and there she was, on the rocks not far from the road and people were walking within 10 feet of her. We zoomed down to the ranger station and I’ve never driven that fast in my life in this park – I ran in, told them to get arranger down there NOW and went back. The darker bear had moved off but the other was still there with people way, way too close. Finally a ranger showed up and we left. I just do not understand people who approach bears. There is so much information out there, including what is given to you when you enter the park, telling you the dangers of bears. Do people not read it or do they genuinely think these animals are not dangerous? I worry that people will push them until the bear retaliates by mauling them and that the bear will be blamed, and if you are stalking a bear you have only yourself to blame for getting mauled, no one should blame the bear. They are just trying to find food and they need a lot of it. I get very, very upset about this. Rosie was saying the park needs to hire me as a patrol to keep the bears safe. I’d do it for free, if they gave me a uniform. NO one listens to me when I don’t have one. They think “Who the heck are you?”.

We went back to camp and had ramen noodles and French bread for dinner. Then we did another bear drive and on the cliffs East of the hotel there was a really interesting black bear with unshed blonde hair on her back and very dark fur everywhere else. It was fun to watch her forage and it was nice that she was across the river and a safe distance away where no one was going to pursue her, so I didn't need to get upset!

We went back to the parking lot and there were Jim and Karen with their big scope looking at a goat up on Grinnell Point. We were looking around and Rosie spotted a griz up there too! He was steadily going towards the east and the place where he would go around the cliff face and out of sight. There was also a goat…we were first watching him and watching him look down and that’s when Rosie noticed the griz. While we were watching the griz and goat, a coyote came into view too! It was exceptionally long and lanky for a coyote, enough that it caused me to look really closely several times to make sure it wasn’t a wolf – but unfortunately it was only a coyote. Darn! THAT would have been really awesome, to have a wolf, griz and goat above us on Grinnell Point. He finally went out of sight. Jim and Karen and Dave were going to attempt a summit of 8084 (an unnamed peak above the Iceberg Lake Trail)  the next day so Jim and Karen parked their truck in our campsite to sleep in for the night to help get an early start the next day. We made a fire and had popcorn, a very nice evening! It was fun to spend some time with them.

Sunday, July 26 Medora to Glacier

So much for sleep…the trains go by periodically all night and I heard them all. It wouldn’t be so bad if they only blew their whistles once or twice, but they blow them repeatedly…like 8 or 10 times, every time they go through. So, they wake you completely up! I finally got up around 5:30 since I was awake (due to a train), and went for a half hour run. It felt great to stretch my legs afer a long day in the car the day before.

The Little Missouri River Near Our Campground - Medora, ND

I got Rosie up to shower and we were on the road by 7 a.m. We made pretty good time with stops at the border, Glendive, Glasgow, Malta and Havre.

"The Centennial House"

We've driven by this house on every trip to Glacier...it's north of Glendive on Hwy. 200.  Montana's Centennial was in 1989.  This appears to be an abandoned house.

We took Hwy. 200 west of Circle and then cut up to Ft. Peck on Hwy. 24. This is a pretty road with a lot of badlands, and very little traffic. It is also fossil country and sometime I’d like to work on a paleontology dig out there. This is truly the land of wide open spaces...you rarely see another person or car and when you aren't at the bottom of a hill, you can see forever.  I love it!

We stopped briefly at the lake created by Fort Peck Dam

and then continued on our way on Hwy. 2, that "High Line" road across northern Montana that I love.  We've always driven by the "Sleeping Buffalo Rock" but this time we stopped.

Sleeping Buffalo Rock

Because it's behind a barrier it's hard to see, but you get a sense of the resemblance to a sleeping buffalo.  At the same site:

We pressed on, making good time.  As we got close to Browning, the skies to our south grew black…really, really black. And north of us it was pretty gray. We hit some rain after Browning but still made it over St. Mary ridge without a storm. We got to Johnson’s Motel in St. Mary and called Kathy, who was driving back from Babb in pouring rain but it hadn’t hit us yet…5 minutes later it did. We joined Kathy, Bruce, Alex, Nate, Lynn, Lisa and Dawn for family style meal at Johnson’s restaurant. It was a really great dinner, especially after eating sandwiches for two days! Then it was off to Many Glacier in the pouring rain.

The Mountains Behind Many Glacier Hotel

 

Thankfully, Jack Gladstone’s performance was at Many Glacier Hotel instead of the campfire circle, because that would not have happened on a night like this. Scot and Mariah had saved us seats. It was a wonderful show, as always. Mariah warned us that Jack was going to sing “Old Shep” and he did, and dedicated it to Rosie and her "best friend", Hayden -  and later to dogs everywhere, here and watching over us from heaven. Rosie didn’t cry, but I did. It was very sweet and thoughtful of Jack.

He also sang some songs that he doesn’t do very often such as “Roman Road “ and “Wolf”, which of course is one of my favorites. He gave us some background on the Blackfeet view of the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone which was very interesting and contradicted what I had heard before, that the Blackfeet are anti-wolf. That never made sense to me.  They actually formally supported the reintroduction.

After the show we helped Jack take his equipment out to his van since he is still recovering from his surgery and then the plan was to head to the Cattle Baron for a “brouhaha” as Mariah called it. But the Cattle Baron had run out of food! How is that possible? !? So we went to Two Sisters for pie instead. It's always fun to hang out with them.