This morning we slept in and then got up and made a big breakfast of blueberry pancakes and sausage. After breakfast I spent a couple hours finishing and submitting my final projects for my last class of the
summer!!! What a great feeling - I promised everyone that next summer I will not take any classes (that would be the first class-free summer in five years). In the afternoon we when into Glacier Park and took a beautiful 3 mile hike around the Beaver Pond loop. This trail was different than any that we have hiked so far. It started at the trail head of an early 1900's ranger cabin. As the trail went on we journeyed deep into the woods. The trail had no evidence of recent use and its setting made it perfect for bears. As we traveled deeper and deeper into the woods it suddenly opened up into a meadow of the most beautiful wild flowers. This sequence of woods and then meadow continued throughout the hike and the the scenery was amazing; although, at times it felt like "The Wizard of Oz" meets "Where the Wild Things Are" and the deeper into the woods we traveled we had an eerie feeling that caused us to rename the hike "Where Are the Wild Things?". As we joked, we came across a pile of
bear scat that contained a large amount of fur. Not to much further into the hike Dad and I both simultaneously smelled an animal - If you are a deer hunter you know what I am talking about! However, this smell was not deer but we couldn't identify it! Within-in a minute of the smell we heard something crunching through the woods. With my bear spray close at hand we continued on when I suddenly spotted a large, brown, fur patch through the trees - It was a HUGE, female moose! Mom finally got to see her moose! After our excitement we stopped for a little snack and then finished the hike - we had a bear free hike! When we got back to our campers Mom, Dad, and Lex decided to take a nap and I did some work on the new dual-credit Earth Science class that I will be teaching this Fall. After dinner we drove to a ranger site where they set up spotting scopes to view a mountain where bears can sometimes be spotted. When we arrived they had some mountain goats in site; however, the mountain site was pretty far from view so the goats are a little blurry in the pictures. We hung around for a while and talked to the rangers and then decided to go find a fly 
fishing stream before it got too dark. As long as you stay within the park boundaries fishing is free - I thought that was pretty neat! As we drove down the stream banks we looked to our left and saw - can you believe it - A GRIZZLY - only about forty yards away!!! It was a momma and two cubs and she was on the move. We grabbed the Cannon and the bear spray, jumped out, and got a few pictures of her - it was really amazing to watch. As we drove down the road we saw a man with a pretty hefty camera so I stopped to talk to him; his name was Mike and he is in the process of making a Blue Ray of Glacier and then he is going to head to Yellowstone if he is successful. He was a really nice man and I told him I would be sure to watch for his finished product - you can follow his journey at: http://theparksproject.org/what-is-the-parks-project/ Anyway, we had a great day, our last at Glacier, and tomorrow we will head for Banff, Alberta. Glacier is an incredible place to visit and I would encourage everyone to see it before the glaciers are gone!
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