This hike takes the cake for best hike of the year. Not only were the views amazing but what we saw was even more over-the-top exciting (and terrifying)! Our last hike in glacier was the Highline Trail where we only saw one Big Horn Sheep and a couple of marmots. But this time we saw the granddaddy of all creatures!
A HUGE concern when hiking in Glacier National Park is the Grizzly Bear population. It’s always neat to see them while you are in the comfort of your vehicle but it is a whole different scenario when you come face-to-face with a Grizzly while hiking. It’s pretty much double trouble when it’s a grizzly and her cubs.
We encountered just that, a Grizzly and her two cubs. Fortunately, it was from about 400 yards away and they were distracted by their boisterous wrestling match they had going on. We’ve learned it’s always a good indicator that you’re about to come upon something worth seeing (or dangerous!) when you see a line of people stopped on the trail. That is exactly how we learned about about our big furry friends down at the lake, just having a morning bath. I have to say, it was pretty cute, from a distance.
As the bears were frolicking in the water, a ranger came behind us and let us know that we either needed to wait until they decide to come up from the water or make a move for it, now. We did just that, we hightailed it across the trail about a mile before we were able to feel our hearts settle.
During our few hikes in Glacier, we have met some extremely nice people. Everyone says “hello” as you pass them on the trail, and we have even made a few “trail friends”. It’s been an absolute joy. We met one couple who has taken a year off from work to travel. They spent six months in SE Asia and are now traveling around in a VW van seeing all that North America has to offer. It was a delight learning of their adventures. We’ve met a few people on the trail who have learned of our lifestyle – living in an Airstream – and they exclaim, “OH! I would LOVE to do that!”. I give them a few inspirational words (sarcasm for those reading) and we go on our way. Aside from the Grizzly Bears we witnessed this morning, meeting people on the trail has been just as eventful!
Since our parents are pretty much our number one readers, I feel like I should make a disclaimer about the Grizzly Bears to ease their mind. We are very aware of how dangerous they are. Very aware. Mr. TCP even practices his bear spray techniques. We both carry bear spray and make a lot of noise. I talk A LOT and LOUDLY, well, because I just talk a lot as it is and Mr. TCP is constantly saying “HUH? WHAT DID YOU SAY?” So, I feel the need to already talk at an higher volume. After today’s hike, and reading some extreme Grizzly stories on the world wide web, I think we might hang up our hiking boots for our reminder of stay at GNP.
We have some really neat footage of the bears so stay tuned for that! We are in an area where the connection isn’t great so uploading those files just isn’t doable at the moment.