Bears, Bears....

October 29th

Wow, what an amazing day!  First off I would like to play a song for you…

So yea, I bet you know what we saw today…BEARS!!!  Well we started the day around 7:45am when Kerry came to pick Lindsay and me up from the trailer.  We made him make a coffee stop at the gas station and then we were off to hike Many Glaciers.

As we drove into the park we stopped several times to take pictures.  Also we were on the lookout for animals.  Well as we drove into an area where some summer cabins were, we got quite the surprise…GRIZZLEY BEARS!!  Yes ma’am, a sow and three cubs.   They had just walked out from a hiking trail and were rubbing on some logs.  (Bears have itchy skin too!)  They were soooo cute, but I was so thankful we were in a truck and not in the middle of a trail.  We followed them for a while and took lots of pictures.  We even chatted it up with a park ranger as we watched them graze in the woods looking for food.  I could not have planned a better way to see grizzly bears…standing behind a truck that is behind a park ranger truck, taking pictures :)

After we took a bajillion pictures, we decided it was time to hike.  So Linds and I followed Kerry down towards a trail.  After a few minutes of walking we saw some moose tracks, so we off roaded it and followed the tracks down to a lake.  The lake was beautiful, but we didn’t get to see a moose :(  Oh well.  We then got back on the trail and went on our way.  Along the trail Kerry noticed a few mountain sheep, goats, and even a boar griz bear (a boy one) up on the mountain ridges.  Kerry had brought all of his high tech photography equipment so we were able to zoom in and see them.  It was sweet.

Also on the trails we stopped off at a few different lakes (Red Rock, Bullmoose,… ).  We also saw a gorgeous waterfall called Red Rock Falls.  Parts of it has iced over which made it look like a winter wonderland.  Actually as you can see from the pictures, there was a good bit of snow.  I felt like I was walking through the North Pole and that at any minute Buddy the Elf or Santa may pop out.  Ha!!  Being up here in the cold weather has put me in the Christmas spirit, too bad it is just Halloween ha!!

We got done hiking close to 4pm.  As we were heading out we ran back into the sow and her cubs as they were walking a lot the mountain ridge near the road.  Along with a few other on lookers, we watched them graze for food and eventually come down off the mountain.  They were not scared at all that 15ish people were standing around, taking pictures as they walked right in front of us on the road.  INCREDIBLE!!! Man, what a day!!

After our exciting day of hiking, Kerry dropped us off at the trailer.   The rest of the night we were pretty boring.  We just did laundry and packed up all of our stuff.  Unfortunately this adventure in Montana had to end.  In some ways I am so excited to get back to Jackson and Birmingham, but in others I never want to leave.  This month has been incredible and I am so thankful for each moment of it!!