We drove the 13.3 miles open on the Going To The Sun Road out of St. Mary. The photos below are from that drive. On the drive we saw a Mother Black Bear and her Cubs.

 

We drove the first fifteen miles of the Going To The Sun Road out of the West Glacier Entrance that was open. Photos below are from that drive.

 

We decided to go on a boat tour at Two Medicine Lake in East Glacier National Park. I will post photos about Glacier and the boat tour later but I wanted to dedicate some time to how the trip ended. We took the boat from the South shore of the lake to the North shore. We had signed up for the two mile guided hike back to Twin Falls and there was about twenty of us who set out on the hike. The first thing we noticed was the mosquito’s were bad, really bad you could see them swarming the whole group but we all toughed it out and made the hike out to the falls and back. We were all standing at the boat dock waiting for the boat to pick us up and yes the mosquito’s were still swarming us. You could feel the tension in the air, people just wanted the boat to come so we could get out of there. By now our group has grown to about forty people because of hikers that had hiked the trail and now wanted a boat ride back to the South shore. We see the boat coming on the horizon but it’s still about ten minutes away but everyone is just watching it come to the dock. As the boat pulled up to the dock the deckhand yelled “THERE’s A BEAR RIGHT THERE”  but everyone thought he was joking and he Yelled “LOOK THE BEAR IS RIGHT THERE” we had been so focused on the boat and distracted by the mosquito’s that we hadn’t noticed a Grizzly Bear was on the other side of the stream and about fifteen feet from our group. The pictures below were shot with a wide angle lens set at 55 mm from about twenty feet. 

The bear crossed the log and got on the hiking trail heading straight for us. He than jumped in some bushes and walk off. We have to remember that National Parks and wilderness areas are not Zoo’s that being aware of your surrounding is important. Up in Glacier the bears don’t seem to have any fear of people so the park has closed a trail in West Glacier because of bears. This Grizzly didn’t seem to mind that he was walking up on a group of forty people, I was sure happy that the boat showed up when it did or someone could have been hurt.

What we learned

Be prepared…… Insect replant doesn’t do any good when its in the truck! On the South shore mosquito’s weren’t a problem, but when we got to the North shore they were. I got bite between thirty to fifty times on my right hand, face, and head. Darla fared better than I did with only ten to fifteen bites. There was nothing in the tour literature or on the website about mosquito’s. Be prepared.

When your in bear country always be aware of your surrounding. All wildlife is unpredictable and should be viewed from a distanced. Where we were when the bear walked up on the group was on the other side of the group, so he had plenty of people to maul before he got to us.

 

We arrived in Bigfork MT last Sunday and we made it to Glacier national Park on Monday and we were able to drive about 15 miles up the Going-To-The-Sun Road from the West. We grabbed some guides and maps to plan our visit to Glacier. The rest of the week the weather has been rainy and cool in Bigfork and in Glacier rain, snow, and cold. We decided to lay over two weeks in Kalispell MT so we can hopefully drive the whole Going-To-The-Sun Road. The weather next week is suppose to be warmer so we can do some kayaking, fishing and hiking.

 

Yellowstone is an amazing National Park on a couple of different levels. First it is a beautiful place with very different types of landscape. The road system is very good with lots of big turnouts and parking areas to view the sights. Secondly its like a city with gas stations, auto repair, restaurants, and medical clinics through out the park. We found that the North Loop was mostly waterfalls and mountainous scenery. The North Loop is where we saw the most wildlife; Buffalo, Moose, Elk, Deer, and a Bear. Unfortunately we were not always able to stop and take pictures of the wildlife for safety reasons but we will always have the memories. The South Loop which is what we traveled on our last day at Yellowstone is more hot springs and geysers. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Behind the Madison Information Center.

Firehole Falls.

Fountain Paint Pot.

Grand Prismatic Spring.

Old Faithful.

Kepler Cascades.

West Thumb.

LeHardys Rapids.

Artist Paintpots.