A Walk In The Park

 

First stop on any visit to a National Park should be to the Visitor's Center. They are a wealth of information making sure you see what you want to see and more importantly, that you are safe doing whatever you plan to do. This is true for any park, but particularly in Glacier National Park, where the fauna has the capability to injure you greatly. 

Attendance was high at the ranger talk on bears. The ranger kept using the words 'highly unlikely' when he talked about aggressive bears in the park – at one point using the words 'highly highly highly unlikely' which only causes you to worry a little bit more. It even caused Lou to rush out and buy a can of bear spray. This is not only the land of black bears, but of the almighty grizzly bear.

Bear Tips That I learned:

*Bear bells do not work – they really only irritate your fellow hikers

*Don't use your whistle to scare bears away – it sounds too much to a bear like an animal in distress and causes the bear to think 'food source'

*If by some very 'unlikely, etc' chance you run into an aggressive bear that is attacking and you don't have time to use your bear spray

1. determine bear species

2. if grizzly, play dead by lying on your stomach with your hands clasped behind your neck, legs spread. If grizzly rolls you over, keep rolling until you are back on your stomach. Grizzly will probably get bored and mosey on.

3. If black bear: fight like hell cause that is all that is going to save you.

After all was said, many people were very disappointed that they did not see any bears. I, on the other hand, was extremely fortunate. I was hiking to St. Mary Falls and a little below me was a mama grizzly and her three cubs. Several other hikers gathered around where I was and I felt confident that if by some chance Mama Bear got aggravated, I would be able to outrun some of the other hikers.

The first day in Glacier was a beautiful sunny day. The water in the lakes was sort of a teal color which is because they are supplied with glacial water. The mountains stood out in sharp relief against the blue sky. Gorgeous. The following days, the clouds moved in and the wind came up. Snow flakes were seen and the mountains started to disappear.

Check out the water color here

Jackson Glacier

St. Mary Falls

This little guy had absolutely no fear of people.
Cuteness overload.

Great lodges were built by the railroads to encourage people to use the rails to get to our National Parks.

If you have ever had plans to visit Glacier National Park, I would suggest that you go sooner rather than later. In 1910, when the park was created, there were 100 named glaciers. In 2015, there were 26 glaciers left and those are shrinking at an alarming rate.