Everyday this week I will be documenting the events of the previous week in which my brother Patrick and I spent at Glacier National Park with my Dad. We'll take it day-by-day as it happened, just 7 days after the fact.

Thursday September 17, 2009

After a good night's sleep, Thursday called for some traveling and a light hike. Our mission for today was to take it easy while we recovered from the previous days of backpacking and heat as we ventured over to the east side of Glacier National Park. We'd take our time making multiple stops along Going-to-the-Sun Road on our way. The weather was much cooler, as the clouds looked threatening, but only produced about 2 minutes of light rain at Dad's. When we went to leave the dirt was just as dry as ever.

Our first stop was along McDonald Creek. Dad took Patrick on a light hike on the Trail of the Cedars. That isn't one of my favorite hikes, and I wanted to take it easy on my blisters as much as possible, so I walked over to McDonald Creek and messed around.

A rock in McDonald Creek. I call it the brain rock. Click for larger image.

We stopped off at Logan Pass so Dad could get some gear out of the Jeep (which was left there from our first day of backpacking), then we continued on, stopping a few times to look at a couple of black bear, goats, and a pica. We eventually stopped and ate lunch before continuing on to Many Glacier Hotel. We got checked in and decided to go for an easy hike on the Swiftcurrent Pass Trail that ran along a couple different lakes close to the hotel.

The trail map for day 4. Click for larger image.

Wild Goose Island - one of our stops on the way to the east side. A must shoot photo every year. Click for larger image.

Starting on the trail about 5:00 p.m., we originally had just planned to hike just past Redrock Lake to a clearing where we could easily spot animals on the side of the mountain, which would have been about a 5 mile hike in total (there and back). I was a little stiff after sitting in the car most of the day, but it felt good once we got moving and my feet weren't bothering me too bad.

Little did we know the events that would soon take place. Photo by Patrick Chinn.

Our first stop along the trail was Fishercap Lake and is a good opportunity to see moose, deer, elk, and bears. We did see one deer, but the poor thing was surrounded by about 6 photographers trying to get it's picture. Dad thought it was sick, as it was pretty skinny, and didn't seem to be moving to well.

Our next stop was Redrock Lake. Some of you may remember Redrock Lake as the scene of our most exciting hike last year here and the subject of my award winning photograph (okay, it was just an honorable mention at the State Fair, but is an award nonetheless). This was the spot that we saw a momma black bear and her two cubs swim across the lake. This year we didn't get so lucky. We didn't see any animals this time around.

We still had a bit of time left before we needed to head back, so we continued on past Redrock Falls to the clearing that Dad wanted to get to. As we rounded the corner to it, we saw two photographers off the trail a pretty good distance a few hundred yards away. Above them, coming down the mountain was a large grizzly bear. We watched as the grizzly bear made it's way closer to the two men, the two men would retreat, and the process would continue. Eventually we lost sight of the two men as they neared the trail ahead of us due to brush, trees, and grass. Not long after we lost sight of the bear as well.

Patrick and I decided to walk further up the trail, where we could climb up little bit off trail to get a better look. Dad stayed back as he had his video camera set up, and was looking for other animals that might be visible. Patrick and I were very observant struggling to find the bear. After a few minutes of not seeing anything, I had given up hope of getting to see him a bit closer to get good photos. It was already about 30 minutes after were had planned to turn back to the hotel.

I started to head back towards Dad, but only got about 10 feet when Patrick said something to the effect of "The bear". Of course, I replied "Where?" excitedly, realizing I might get an opportunity to take his picture after all. Patrick responded "Right there". When I looked up, I saw him. It was hard not to, as he was much closer than either of us had planned when we were looking a hundred yards into the brush for him. He popped up about 60 feet away from Patrick; 70 from me. I excitedly turned to try to get Dad's attention, and started going towards Dad a bit. Patrick slowly started backing away as well. I fired off a couple of shots with my camera, and the next thing you know, he was on the trail heading towards Bullhead Lake. Just like that. Even though they look like they are moving slow, because they are so large, a step covers a lot of ground. As he walked down the trail, Dad came up to where we were, and we discussed the finer points of not being attacked by a bear (timely, huh?). The two photographers that had been followed by the bear then approached us from further down the trail. We discussed both of our encounters with the grizzly. Dad said the bear was heading towards water, which was Bullhead Lake. The five of us decided to head towards Bullhead Lake to see if we could see him swimming or playing in the lake.

A large grizzly bear checking out me and Patrick. Click for larger image.In a matter of seconds he was on his way to the lake. My shots are slightly out of focus, unfortunately, due to somewhat shaky hands I'm guessing. Click for larger image.On his way to the lake, he paused and turned, and raised up to sniff the air, making sure we weren't getting closer.. Click for larger image.

After only a few moments of walking quickly, a threesome of college kids came in to view hiking towards us on the trail. We asked them if they had seen the grizzly bear on the trail. They were a little shocked to hear us ask that, as they had not seen anything, which was a huge surprise to us. They are probably lucky they didn't. One of the girls in the group said she had heard something moving in the brush off the side of the trail. She said "Hey bear!", playing it safe and I'm guessing half jokingly. She said the noise stopped, and they continued on.

The half mile hike went quickly, and we took the side trail down to the edge of the lake. By them time we got there, the bear had already made it's way across the lake and was on the opposite bank. We saw it take about two steps before it disappeared into the brush. With that, we talked with the other two guys for a few minutes, and they took off ahead of us heading back towards the hotel, with us in tow.

On the way back, we saw our only moose of the trip - a sow and two calfs. They were just off the trail near Fishercap Lake, and quickly headed towards the lake. At that time, nearing 8:00 p.m., it was too dark for me to get a photo, so I let that one go, not too disappointed after our close encounter with a grizzly.

We ate a good meal at the hotel dining room that night. After sitting still for awhile again I was pretty sore though, and the fast hiking on the way back did no favors for my blisters. The huckleberry lemonade was outstanding, but unfortunately it wasn't a cure for what ailed me. I think Patrick and I had another good snooze that night, as we shared a room and Dad was in an adjacent room that we shared the bathroom with. I didn't hear any snoring that night, which made sleeping much easier. I can't say the same for Patrick, but that was his problem, not mine.