This morning started around 8:30 when we left for the Grinnell Glacier trial head (the glacier is in the upper right corner of the picture). This area of the park is known as the Many Glacier area and they are experiencing heavy grizzly bear activity. As soon as we neared the trail head we saw many postings saying "Bear Frequenting Area" and "Be Bear Aware". We loaded for bear with our spray close at hand and began our trek into the woods. Not more
than 100 yards into the hike a doe walked across the trail. We stopped and watched her for a while and realized that she had two fawns following her. We had to keep moving and she let us walk right by. The trail splits and gives two options: a) you can hike to the glacier's lake which is about a 3 mile hike with steep enough terrain or b) you can hike up to the glacier which is 5.5 miles one way. The hike to the glacier is gradual for about the first 1.5 miles but then the last 3.8 miles you climb 1600 feet in elevation. We decided to split up so we all could see pictures from both the lake and the glacier. Mom and Dad decided to go to the lake and we decided that we would climb to the glacier. "Climb" is no joke! The trail
got pretty narrow in several places but the view was incredible. As we climbed higher toward the glacier the air cooled down and it was a really pleasant hike. We saw a lot of great scenery and I found some cool "geology things" that I can incorporate into my classes. We stopped half way up to eat lunch and were tormented by a squirrel... he almost got a taste of Bear Spray! We journeyed on and got some amazing views of the glacier and the lake below! On our way back down the mountain we stopped for a drink and all of the sudden Lexy yelled, "BEAR!!!" I grabbed my Canon (I like saying that if you can't tell) and zoomed in on the creek way down below... Sure enough, there were two dark colored blobs moving through the creek about 900 feet below; however, as I zoomed in it became clear that they were not bear but instead a very large moose being followed by a very small moose. Lexy's eye never fail... I don't know how she saw them way down there... I think she needs to start going hunting with us a little more often! We continued our trek down the the mountain and two hours later we safely arrived back at the truck. We drove back to camp to meet up with mom and dad, I did some school work for a few hours, and then we had dinner. We all finished the night off with a visit to the hot tub... it felt great after a day of hiking!
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| (view from where the moose was spotted) |
This morning started around 8:30 when we left for the Grinnell Glacier trial head (the glacier is in the upper right corner of the picture). This area of the park is known as the Many Glacier area and they are experiencing heavy grizzly bear activity. As soon as we neared the trail head we saw many postings saying "Bear Frequenting Area" and "Be Bear Aware". We loaded for bear with our spray close at hand and began our trek into the woods. Not more 
than 100 yards into the hike a doe walked across the trail. We stopped and watched her for a while and realized that she had two fawns following her. We had to keep moving and she let us walk right by. The trail splits and gives two options: a) you can hike to the glacier's lake which is about a 3 mile hike with steep enough terrain or b) you can hike up to the glacier which is 5.5 miles one way. The hike to the glacier is gradual for about the first 1.5 miles but then the last 3.8 miles you climb 1600 feet in elevation. We decided to split up so we all could see pictures from both the lake and the glacier. Mom and Dad decided to go to the lake and we decided that we would climb to the glacier. "Climb" is no joke! The trail 
got pretty narrow in several places but the view was incredible. As we climbed higher toward the glacier the air cooled down and it was a really pleasant hike. We saw a lot of great scenery and I found some cool "geology things" that I can incorporate into my classes. We stopped half way up to eat lunch and were tormented by a squirrel... he almost got a taste of Bear Spray! We journeyed on and got some amazing views of the glacier and the lake below! On our way back down the mountain we stopped for a drink and all of the sudden Lexy yelled, "BEAR!!!" I grabbed my Canon (I like saying that if you can't tell) and zoomed in on the creek way down below... Sure enough, there were two dark colored blobs moving through the creek about 900 feet below; however, as I zoomed in it became clear that they were not bear but instead a very large moose being followed by a very small moose. Lexy's eye never fail... I don't know how she saw them way down there... I think she needs to start going hunting with us a little more often! We continued our trek down the the mountain and two hours later we safely arrived back at the truck. We drove back to camp to meet up with mom and dad, I did some school work for a few hours, and then we had dinner. We all finished the night off with a visit to the hot tub... it felt great after a day of hiking!
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