It's Tuesday morning and I'm still catching up from last week. For some reason, my computer is the only one getting access to the campground wifi which is making Lee very frustrated. I was hoping we could both post so we'd catch up faster, but it's not happening! I'm trying to do a bit more before heading to Dawson Creek, BC this morning.
We had decided to go to West Glacier even though we were coming from the east, because we had read that not much was open in East Glacier yet. The Going-to-the-Sun Road on the east side was being repaired and you could only go about a mile in, and the hiking trails were still snow covered. But when we went to the visitor's center in the west, the ranger told us that on the east side, the area called Many Glaciers was open and that it was a favorite spot for many people and that it was the best place for seeing wildlife. (Groan) Well, we couldn't miss that, so we decided to trek back across Route 2 that runs along the southern boundary of the park. (The alternate route when G-to-the-S is closed)
So on Wednesday, we headed over to East Glacier and stayed at Johnson RV Park, which sat up on a hill almost right across the street from the main entrance to East Glacier. It was a decent campground with a beautiful view of the mountains and Lower St. Mary Lake.
On our first day there, we drove to the Many Glaciers area. It wasn't exactly around the corner...9 miles north and then a 12-mile drive into the entrance from the main road! But we were determined to find wildlife.
Along the way, we spotted this young mountain goat. Not exactly the moose or grizzly we were hoping for, but we were still hopeful.
At the end of the 12-mile road we arrived at the beautiful Swiftcurrent Lake.
The ranger at the visitor's center in St. Mary, told us that there were a few trails we might be able to try. The first one didn't get us too far before we ran into deep snow, so we headed for another. We ran into another hiker who asked if we had seen any bears or moose. We hadn't, but HE had! He proceeded to show us the pics he had on his camera. ARGH, how come everyone else finds them and we don't! We set out on the Swiftcurrent Lake trail in hopes of seeing the moose that he had mentioned was sitting on the side of the trail. The trail was snowy, but it was packed down enough for walking. There were some nice views of the lake and the mountains, but no moose!
We went as far as we could until the snow got too deep, then headed back. On the way back, we finally spotted the moose. It was so hidden in the brush that we never would have seen it if that hiker hadn't mentioned it. It was so hidden, that it isn't even worth posting the photo!
We called it a day and decided to try again on Thursday. When we headed out on Thursday, the weather was beautiful but very windy. We drove the road into the park again hoping that today was the day. When a few different people asked if we had seen the bear on the road right after we passed that spot, we were about to scream! We were about to give up when I looked across the street from the parking lot and spotted a moose coming down the mountainside. I screamed to Lee to come and watch. We were the only ones there at the time, so we claimed it as "our moose"!
We watched it as it came right down to the road, crossed and headed down to the river.
A little while later, we spotted it again walking along a trail that we had considered hiking a little earlier. I'm glad we didn't. I wouldn't have wanted to run into it at such close range. These animals are huge and can be aggressive, and this one wasn't even as big as they get.
We found a spot beside the road that we thought was the prettiest spot and planted ourselves there. We watched as two golden eagles and an osprey flew around above the river. Pretty soon we drew a crowd as we were pointing out all the wildlife we'd been viewing, including another moose. At one point, we spotted a bald eagle sitting in a tree near the golden eagle's territory. The bald eagle doesn't seem phased by the approaching osprey.
While we were sitting there, we even spotted a bear way across the river along a distant bank. Not sure whether it was a grizzly or a brown bear, it was too far away. The ranger had said that sometimes the grizzlies can be black and the black bears can be brown. A grizzly has a hump on its back and its claws are longer. Not sure I'll be measuring that any time soon! I'm hoping to see another one a little closer next time....Maybe once we get to Alaska.
We left the park, happy that we had finally seen so much wildlife. We were driving along the main road back to the campground when we spotted this osprey sitting on a fence. Of course, we had to pull over and check it out. It was busy enjoying a fresh catch!
We capped off the day with a view from our campground of a beautiful sunset on Lower St. Mary Lake.
Next stop, Canada--Lake Louise and the Icefields Parkway to Jasper.
I enjoyed reliving our trip through your pictures. On Saturday, May 24, we did the Avalanche Trail again to see the changes from two warm weather days. The waterfalls were three times as big as Tuesday. The hiking group in front of us had to pepper spray a grizzly as we were headed back down the trail. That was our close encounter with almost seeing a bear. We came back to Georgia without ever seeing one. Hope you get some photo opps in Alaska.
ReplyDeleteHi Julie! Wow, that was a close call. That's one of my biggest fears about hiking in bear country. We're constantly calling out and singing along the way. We did see one grizzly so far. It was in the Yukon, but in a field at a distance. Close enough to see, but not too close to be scared! Thank goodness for telephoto lenses! I'll have to post a photo.
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