RV trip 2006 - day 28

Day 28 (September 17, 2006) - Glacier N.P.

After picking up a brand new Subaru Outback and dropping off the house on wheels at the campground, we head out to Glacier N.P. which is only 25 miles away. We are dressed in layers, ready for all kinds of weather.

As soon as we enter the park, we are struck by the beauty of Lake McDonald, placid, blue and set against some pretty amazing mountain peaks. We drive alongside for a while until we get to a place which would have been our farthest point into the park, had we had the RV with us. We come to realize that RVs are not permitted on the Going-to-the-Sun road because of lower rock overhangs and narrow bridges. Lucky for us we thought about renting! Our first stop is a short hike on the Western Red Cedar Trail, a 2-mile loop that borders a cute creek, deep in cedar forest. We cross a bridge and realize that there's another trail that hooks up to that, it goes for an extra 2 miles to a lake. I need to push Petr a little but he gives in easily in the end and we decide to hike it. He is carrying the pepper spray after all and there seem to be enough people around. We are walking briskly, as we approach the lake, a ranger warns us about a bear sighting in the area, but we press on undeterred by the warning, and we are rewarded with a magnificent view of the lake, a bit dry because of the season, and the mountains around it. You can see where the ice melts in winter and runs to the lake all over the mountains. We sit for a while contemplating this peaceful scenery, walking about and just taking it all in. On our way back we pass a few slower hikers and seem to keep pace with a couple of backcountry hikers ahead of us. Suddenly they stop and look across the creek, there is a black bear walking parallel to us downstream towards the bridge, we get all excited and we continue our descent. Petr frantically reaches for the camera and tries to take a few shots but the bear is walking in the woods, it's not always easy to see him. We suddenly realized that we will meet at the bridge, which connects the two banks of the creek, but the bear is faster than us, actually reaches the bridge before, crosses it in a direction opposite to ours and goes deeper into the woods. After trying to take a few other pictures, we lose him forever. But we are all excited to have seen a free-roaming bear, and by being in a small group we were somewhat reassured that nothing bad would happen to us. This was the best-case scenario for a bear encounter in the woods.

Our next stop is Logan Pass, where the Visitor Center is. From there a few trails depart and since we are bundled up and ready to face any kind of weather, we decide to go for yet another stroll. This one was a bit longer, and took us just over a crest where you could see the valley opening up right in front and under you. It was also slower, because we had to walk in the snow. Yes! It's September 17th and I have touched the snow this year. I have thrown my first snow-ball at Petr.

We are lucky to be able to complete the Going-to-the Sun road up to Lake St. Mary's: they will be closing it down tomorrow - possibly for the season - due to some road construction. We head down to the lake, on the eastern edge of the park and then decide to go back exactly the same way we came: Petr cannot cross into Canada because of his visa status, and we would rather not drive the extra 30 miles outside the park. Seeing it all one more time does not bother us at all. Actually, on the way back, with the sun position differently, some of the same views appear different. By late afternoon the sky had cleared up pretty well at low altitudes, and the sun was shining against the snow-capped peaked.

We will drop off the car tomorrow morning. Back to camp, we are as happy as we can be.