Farewell to Glacier

This will be the last post on our trip to Glacier. Thursday evening, July 10, 2008, we headed off to Babb for dinner at the steak house, which turned out to be less than memorable. On the way back into the park we noticed a number of cars parked alongside the road and as we slowed to look we saw a pair of Grizzly's playing in the field. We pulled in and watched for about 20 minutes.

The first Bears we saw-2 Grizzly's playing in a field

We watched them until dusk had really settled in and then headed back to the hotel. When all of a sudden a black mama bear and 3 cubs crossed the road in front of us. I was barely able to stop and get the camera out the window to grab a photo. Missed the mother but got the cubs.

3 Black Bear cubs crossing road

Friday morning we checked out of the hotel and then went on our last adventure in Glacier, for a short hike to Grinnell Lake. First we had to take 2 boat trips, first across Swiftwater lake, (the one in front of our hotel) and then another boat across Lake Josephine. The boat in Lake Josephine is stored in a shed for the winter. In the spring the shed has to be dug out by hand to get the boat ready for the summer season. It originally it was just hauled and covered, but one winter there was an avalanche and when the spring crew came to dig it out, they found it in the middle of the lake sitting on the ice. The hike to the lake was easy, nice trail with some boardwalks over wet areas and one trestle bridge. The trail to Grinnell glacier was closed, so the only glacier we saw was Salamander from a distance. There are some nice photos and descriptions of Salamander and Grinnell glacier at the slow hiker.

Salamander is at the top, Grinnell is below it and not visible from the lake

The trail to Grinnell Lake crossed a couple of streams, one by a suspension bridge and then thru a wet area on raised planks. We then had a nice walk back to the boats, back to the hotel and headed down to Flathead lake to get together with Sean & Nicole. The suspension bridge although not long was hard to walk across. You had to walk like on a line, because if if you stepped to the side the bridge swayed the opposite direction. We both had a hard time crossing the first time until we figured out what not to do. Coming back was much easier. When I was taking the video of Ellen crossing the bridge, the man standing next to me asked if he should shake the top wire. I said if he did it he was taking his life in his hands. Certainly looks easy but it was hard walking across. So we said good by to Glacier and the Many Glacier hotel and headed South.

Many Glacier Hotel on Swiftwater Lake