A few weeks ago, Lakin and I made the joyful treck back to Montana to visit my family. We had a chance to shoot some gophers at Brooke and Al's place while we were there. That's always fun. Mom and Dad also took us up to Glacier National Park for a few days. Lakin was terrified that we would be eaten by bears, but I guess my constant suggestion that this was very likely didn't help things.
Our first day in the park we were lucky enough to see a younger-looking black bear from the road. He was just traipsing through the rock-slide area by the roadside. We stopped and got a couple of pictures before the Rangers had us leave.
We spent three nights at the Many Glacier Hotel. I had been there before, but it was Lakin's first time. For anyone that hasn't been, you are missing out on one of America's most beautiful places.
Our first day in the park we were lucky enough to see a younger-looking black bear from the road. He was just traipsing through the rock-slide area by the roadside. We stopped and got a couple of pictures before the Rangers had us leave.
We spent three nights at the Many Glacier Hotel. I had been there before, but it was Lakin's first time. For anyone that hasn't been, you are missing out on one of America's most beautiful places.
Our second day in the park, we went on a red jammer bus tour. Red jammers are the old convertible busses from the 30's and 40's that the park put there to do tours with. The morning ride was hampered a little by rain, but on the way back over Going-to-the-Sun Road the sun was shining and we rolled the top down. It's definitely the best way to the see the park from the road.
The third day we were going to go hiking, but decided to head on up to Waterton Lakes in Canada due to the stormy weather. We took a nice little boat ride across Wateron Lake and ate at a local weiner shop. Later that day we did a little hike to Red Rocks Lake not far from our hotel. We saw a bear along the trail and there were numerous other sitings from others on the trail of a mother with 3 cubs. When we stumbled upon that bear, Lakin started walking straight back to the hotel. It was pretty hilarious. Luckily, Dad and I had our trusty bear-spray on the ready and we didn't meet any problems.
On the way out of the park the next day we saw a bear cub on the road. We got a nice picture of it grazing on the roadside grass (from our car, of course). We knew mama must be near, so we got out of there quickly once we had our pictures.
It was a great trip all around and we'll have to go back some day. The hilarious thing is that I've never seen so many bears in Glacier before, but now that Lakin was with us (who is an admitted melissaphobe) we saw 3 in one trip!
The third day we were going to go hiking, but decided to head on up to Waterton Lakes in Canada due to the stormy weather. We took a nice little boat ride across Wateron Lake and ate at a local weiner shop. Later that day we did a little hike to Red Rocks Lake not far from our hotel. We saw a bear along the trail and there were numerous other sitings from others on the trail of a mother with 3 cubs. When we stumbled upon that bear, Lakin started walking straight back to the hotel. It was pretty hilarious. Luckily, Dad and I had our trusty bear-spray on the ready and we didn't meet any problems.
On the way out of the park the next day we saw a bear cub on the road. We got a nice picture of it grazing on the roadside grass (from our car, of course). We knew mama must be near, so we got out of there quickly once we had our pictures.
It was a great trip all around and we'll have to go back some day. The hilarious thing is that I've never seen so many bears in Glacier before, but now that Lakin was with us (who is an admitted melissaphobe) we saw 3 in one trip!
Quail-hawk, the official Hays family vacation mascot
We edited the name of the creek
Little bear cub on the side of the road
