We set out for our first hike in Glacier at the crack of 9:45. Ben had a call at 9, so it was a good excuse for a lazy start.
After going through the west gate of Glacier NP, and after we passed the visitor center intersection, we were officially on the Going-To-The-Sun Road, the East – West road that crosses the entire park. Once again, an absolutely gorgeous drive, which was made even better as Lake McDonald came in to view. We were absolutely floored by the majesty of the wide, glassy smooth lake, with snow capped, heavily wooded mountains surrounding it on all sides. We have to come back here at sunset to get a pic! Will try sunrise as well, but the sun comes up at 5:36 am this far north, and we are definitely adjusting to Mountain time, so we shall see. Ben does love his sunrise pics though, and Ann may be a little grumpy in the morning, but she’s typically down for whatever, so we will likely have an early morning tomorrow.
Our objective this morning was to hike the Avalanche Lake Trail, a five mile, out and back trail leading to a lake, according to our handy map. We arrived at the trail head, thanking our timing once again, as all of the parking lots were full, but the tent camping area was not yet open, so we were able to join our other tourist friends in parking in camp sites, and we set off for the trail head.
Once again, we made a wrong turn.
With minimal signage indicating the direction of the trail, and with zero GPS signal, we wandered the parking lot/ campground for the first 3/4 mile of our hike, looking for signs to lead us to the wilderness. Because she knew Ben wouldn’t ask for directions, Ann asked a group of young men who were getting ready for a hike if they knew where the trail head started. Each of the five men looked in a different direction, so that was all the answer we needed.
We continued on our path through the campground parking lot for what seemed like 30 minutes, passing three different “closed for the season” bathrooms, which might have been just one bathroom that we looped around three times, because eventually we passed our truck again. 😩 Acting cool, this time we just followed the herd and we found the trail not 100 yards from where we parked. 😅
Here is the map of the trail today, with the familiar markings that you’ve seen before…with maybe a new marking or two.
The first new marking shows the mid-trail bathroom that we were very surprised to see, which was located not far after, well, you know. The second new indicator was the very up close and personal wildlife interaction we had today. It also very nearly caused an involuntary “incident.” More on that in a moment.
The hike was absolutely beautiful, with very thick pine trees, huge in some cases, lining a very narrow and steep canyon. All along the path we either had a roaring river or sometimes a creek flowing sometimes hurriedly and sometimes lazily, through the canyon. We passed three deer, just wandering next to the trail, keeping an eye on us hikers, but not letting our passage interrupt their grazing.
As we approached the Avalanche lake itself, the path narrowed quite a bit, and we transitioned from heavily wooded terrain like the pic above, to thick bushes and shorter trees. The vegetation really closed in on both sides, and Ben was thinking, what a great time for a bear to show up.
And one did.
Ann was trailing a few steps behind Ben, when to her right, in a little opening in the underbrush, there were some cute little tan outlined eyes, a cute little tan outlined mouth, a plump, fuzzy fur body, about the size of a medium sized dog, but with short stubby legs and sharp little claws. A black bear cub, just standing there, within 2 feet of Ann, watching us go by.
This IS NOT a picture taken by us, but Ann wanted you to experience what she experienced, so here is the closest in color and size that she could find on her internet search. Thank you Pinterest.
Our first concern was not the cub. Our first concern was where is the mama!?!
And, much like pooping in the woods has the effect of attracting EVERYBODY to your immediate area, seeing a bear up close apparently has the opposite effect, because there was suddenly NOBODY coming or going to help provide a noisy distraction or safety in numbers.
This is the ONE time we had forgotten the bear spray in the truck. We had debated going back for it about a mile from where we parked, but there were lots of people out, the hike was relatively short, and we figured we would take our chances since the only bears we’ve seen on this entire trip were a snoring, drooly mess, about 20 ft up in a tree and a mama bear and her clubs playing in a field pretty far away from us. MAJORLY wrong decision for today, apparently.
Ann’s initial response, after it registered that what she was looking in the eyes of was a young bear cub , was to loudly say “OH” and freeze. You’d think after thoroughly reading ALL the huge signs around the park that describe step by step what to do if you meet up with a bear, that Ann would do at least one thing right. Nope. At this point, Ben realized that something was off and turned around to see Ann’s face and it looked EXACTLY like the face she made when she thought she was being attacked by a bear at last night’s campfire. All Ann could say in her loudest whisper voice was “BEAR, BEAR, BEAR!” So, with no one around except for us, and armed with only a stale protein bar, an emergency weed gummy, a wadded up raincoat, a liter of water and a can of sunscreen to fight off a pissed off mama bear, we slowly and calmly kept walking down the path backwards until we felt we were out of danger (mostly). Luckily, the bear cub stayed put or ran the other way. Either way, we didn’t see it again, thank goodness.
We came across Avalanche Lake just 50 yards further down the trail and lots of people. We spread the word about the bear, found a couple we thought we may be able to outrun, and headed back through bear sighting country towards the trail head. The bear was long gone, although our hearts were still beating a mile a minute.
That will be the last time we forget bear spray out here!
Anyway, fun times, great memories, only one trashed pair of bloomers (🤦🏼♀️), but we survived our brush up with the scary bear, which has been well marketed in three different parks for weeks now. Ultimately, we knocked out a 5.5 mile hike in a little over two hours, saw some absolutely incredible scenery, and spotted a couple places for some awesome sunrise pics. All in all, a good day, and we haven’t even had lunch yet!
TaterTotTales 