Glacier

What an interesting day. I wasn't 6" into the park (literally, I was talking to the ranger at the entrance) and a black bear ran out in front of me. He quickly decided the woods were better and hightailed it back before the ranger had to shoo him away. That made me a little nervous to be doing too much hiking before the park got busy, so I did some little 1 - 3 mile hikes in the morning. Here's a bit of what I saw.



That's a snow covered mountain in the middle, bigger than the ones on either side, obscured by clouds.



Goose Island

 


My destination on a hike. I'm above the clouds already, and the snow is deep.



Near Two Medicine, my frst hike of the trip, after I saw the first bear.





A chute through the granite. More than a football field long.






This waterfall was a mile hike UP the mountain, above the tree line and in the clouds with the bighorn sheep (yup, saw those too). This was a 2 mile round trip hike (up and down, literally) and it wore me out. Happens when you hike up the side of a mountain and have to cross 10' deep snow drifts. Can you see the guy below and to the right of the waterfall?   

 



Along Many Glacial Road. It was in the low 40's and very windy. Might have actually been snowing, People from Texas took the pic then ran for shelter from the wind.




Not the first bears I saw, but the 3rd or 4th. In 4 hours.

  

Moose! Saw a couple, this guy is right by the road.

As you can see there is still a lot of snow in the mountains. In fact, the main road that crosses the park, Going to the Sun Road, is still closed due to deep snow and lots of avalanches. They just can't get the plows through 80 vertical feet of snow without setting off avalanches (hmmm, wonder why?). It might be open by August.  Tomorrow I am going to see the Western side of Glacier. The drive around the south end of the park was pretty, until it started to rain. This side of Glacier is busier, has more flat parts, more pavement/paved trails (I don't get that part), and is more expensive. I'm staying in a very nice motel (better than a lot of hotels) in Columbia Falls, the closest I could get for less than $80, and I talked the lady down from that. Supposed to rain tomorrow, Hope to hike in the morning and will probably head towards Missoula in the late afternoon (because its supposed to rain a lot in the afternoon and on Sunday).