Glacier Park Chat
Living in West Virginia, Glacier is not exactly in my back yard. I have been there only three times over the course of 25 years, but GNP is never far from my thoughts. I have been blessed to travel a bit and I still believe Glacier is the most jaw dropping beautiful place I have been. Don’t get me wrong – Yellowstone, Alaska and even my home state are wonderful, but my dreams more often than not gravitate back to those too few days spent in NW Montana.
I started with 22 years ago with an 11 day trip with only my wife (before three kids complicated life). I can’t believe we did it in those days relying on the jammers, shuttles and several hitch hiking adventures and no rental car. I am not sure I would try that today. We later made a family trip for 9 days with the kids that included a trip to Waterton and a horse pack trip. Lots of math facts and games along the trail kept us on the move and complaining to a minimum. My last trip was with my youngest son at the age of 13 (he is now 17 and I am feeling old). We had a repeat trip scheduled last year that got cancelled due to a medical emergency, but I hope we will soon return.
This is a story of one memorable night from the trip with my youngest that invariably comes up at the dinner table now and again. My apologies for its length in advance.
Chase and I were scheduled to spend 8 wonderful days in Glacier. It was late July and he had absolutely loved our prior visit with his siblings. The way our schedules worked out only he and I could manage to get away and he was fine to avoid being bossed by his older brother and sister and I looked forward to some one on one time with my youngest. We planned on doing only long day hikes and had scheduled our stay in and around Many Glacier. We had a night at Many Glacier lodge, one at Thronson’s Motel in Babb, but the rest of our stay was at a 2 bedroom cabin owned by the folks who run the Two Sisters Café (I recall Pete aided me at the time in finding with a timely recommendation). The cabin is located maybe a half mile up the hill to the right behind the restaurant. The day in question had been exceptional. We had done the ‘Hockey Ref’ hike with perfect weather and by the end of the day we were whipped, hungry and ready to go to bed. We pulled into the Café’s parking lot to grab a quick bite and immediately saw the largest grizzly I have ever seen in the lower 48 grazing on the hillside within full view of Highway 89. He was a big fat dark brown bear and after informing John and Susan (the proprietors) we were told he had been seen in the area for a couple of days. He was a couple 100 yards away and after a few more minutes of gawking hungry stomachs called.
We finished a delicious meal and headed to the cabin and Mr. Bear was no longer to be seen. After quick showers and we both knew we wouldn’t have trouble sleeping this night. It was shortly after 10 when I turned the light out and my son was in the other bedroom and already fast asleep. I started to drift off and then realized I heard a “gnawing sound” and immediately thought it was a mouse chewing on something in my room. I had seen some signs of mouse activity in the kitchen cabinets and thought our visitor had returned. I used my iphone as a light and shined it around the room to see if I could see anything. Nothing. Almost immediately I heard the sound again and realized it wasn’t coming from within my room, but from outside the window located immediately behind the bed and about two feet from my head. The gnawing sound was accompanied by grunts and I knew this wasn’t a rodent, but a bear! I have no idea if it was the big grizzly we had seen earlier in the evening, but in my mind I assumed it was.
The cabin is built facing the small gravel road and the land slopes slightly away to the rear where my bedroom was. My window wasn’t at ground level, but about 4’ higher in elevation than where the bear was below. With my heart pounding I peered over the head board and out the window. Never has a single pane of glass felt so fragile! From the continued sounds I could tell Mr. Bear paid me no mind and continued in his digging. I was afraid to turn on the phone light again, but in the darkness I could see very little. I realized I wasn’t in immediate danger and I tiptoed to the other room to awaken Chase. I sat down by him on the bed and shook him a bit to awaken him. It took a couple minutes, but finally he was awake and in my quietest whisper I said “there is a bear outside my window!” His eyes went wide and we quietly crept back to the window.
Mr. Bear was still there and we still couldn’t see much more than shadows and hear the noise from his activities. After several minutes I decided we would turn on the light in the adjoining bathroom and hopefully that would illuminate Mr. Bear a bit better. I am not sure why now, but my logic at the time was we would be safer than having the light on in the room we were standing in. This is comical given the “doors” between the rooms of this cabin consisted of sheets hanging from a small ropes. I turned on the light and it did cast a bit more glow, but we honestly still couldn’t see much.
After maybe ten more minutes of continued noises and shadows moving around down below us a dog barked somewhere in the distance. I never did see a dog during our entire week there, but I believe it belonged to John and Susan who lived maybe a quarter mile down the road in the other direction. The barking wasn’t particularly close, but the bear’s reaction was almost immediate. The digging and grunts were replaced by the loud sounds of breaking limbs as he crashed through the woods for a quick getaway. My son and I stared at each other in amazement and I told him I was glad he was there as a witness or no one would believe our story.
It took a while from the adrenaline to wear off, but eventually we both retreated back to our beds. After just a couple minutes I heard footsteps as my son re-entered my room and next thing I knew he was on the bed beside me. He said (and this is verbatim) “I don’t think I like not being on the top of the food chain.” My son has always had a dry wit and this pretty much captured his sense of humor in a nutshell. I smiled in the darkness and soon was listening to his breathing as it became deep and regular as sleep won the battle over excitement.
We were up early the next morning (Iceberg Lake & Ptarmigan Tunnel on the agenda). I started the rental car and walked back around the cabin in the dim light. The object of Mr. Bear’s affection was immediately obvious. It was a tree stump that had long ago been cut that set just below my bedroom window. It was infested with lots of insects and I believe that was the attraction for Mr. Bear. The stump was broken into many pieces and you could see a swath through the underbrush into the tree line where he had barreled over the hill with great haste.
Early evening we returned from another great day of hiking in Glacier (I almost got passed by an elderly Mennonite lady in a bonnet on the switchbacks headed up to the tunnel – another story for another day
). We again stopped into the Two Sisters Café for another great meal and to tell them about our excitement from the night before. “Big John” listened amused and seemed less than impressed. He then told me casually that twice in the ten years prior that a bear had come through the front door of the cabin we were in! I don’t recall that being mentioned when I made the reservation.I didn’t get clarification if the prior bear intrusions occurred when the cabin was occupied or not. For the remainder of our trip I put the bear spray beside the bed and not on the table in the front of the cabin. I also made sure the rental car was unlocked if we had to make a quick exit.
I still smile thinking back to this trip. I knew this particular day was a day we would forever remember: wonderful place, awesome hike and an experience we would never forget.
Thanks for Dave Parker & Pete in particular for keeping this board up and active. It is much appreciated. Regards - Jim
