This morning we woke up to a drizzling rain in Glacier. We decided that since it was raining we would hang out around camp for a while. While I (Steph) was sitting in my camp chair relaxing, out of the woods comes a black bear strolling up into the campground. This time I did not panic or become frozen. Instead we told the campground ranger, a 70 year old woman who just happened to be passing by, that there was a bear coming. To our surprise that old lady went straight up beast mode and starts running straight at the bear clapping and screaming! Holy crap! The bear did not want ANY of that old lady and tore off running into the woods. The ranger then casually went back to looking for peoples clothes hanging to keep them out of the rain. What a badass!
After lazily lounging around camp we left at 12 to go grab some lunch and check out the Many Glacier area. We ate lunch at this cute local restaurant, Johnson's Cafe. It had checkered table clothes, family memorabilia, old shotguns and moose heads hanging up, and some stick-to-your-ribs food. I got the "Sloppy Joe Special w/Huckleberry slaw and beef and barley soup. Brett had the "HIllbilly" which was a country fried steak sandwich. It was exactly what we were in the mood for and what we needed. What a great little place.
Bellies full, we headed out to Many Glacier.
On our way back we noticed a crowd of people on the side of the road. Generally in these parks this means wildlife. So, we pulled off and asked some guy what everyone was looking at. "Grizzly Bear" he replied. OH MY! We had been half hoping for and half dreading this. Brett jumped out to see what was going on and there he was, not 50 yds from the road. Let me tell you, when you're standing there looking through binoculars at an 800 lb bear that could probably close the gap between you and it in around 5 seconds its a good bit different than the Discovery Channel. You gain a true respect for exactly how powerful those animals are. Jeez.
Around 10 minutes later a ranger came through and broke up the party. The grizz was probably about 30-40 yds out with a big crowd of people by then and they do not want the bears to become comfortable in these situations. So, we had to split..... but what an awesome experience.
That night we hung out with Dan and Anne again by the fire and discussed the days events and future plans over a bottle of wine. Great end to a great day.
