Glacier Park Chat
Second up was Siyeh Bend. After parking my car near the Gorge, I attempted to hitchhike back to my wife and children. It took my an hour to return!
I guess people didn't like my Alabama tee-shirt! Oh well. The way up to Siyeh Bend/Pass, was a great hike. The last 1/4 of mile up the hill side was exhausting, but worth the view at the end. We stopped for lunch up top before beginning our downward adventure. Now, this trail should have been closed. I'm not an experienced hiker and hike every other year and what we went into was dangerous. As we finished our lunch, a storm was brewing above the mountain tops. We heard thunder in the distance and could see the rain falling. We were prepared for the rain, but not what came next. We proceed to descend and came across two men, one about 25 the other, presumably his Dad, about 65. They wore tennis shoes, had no hiking poles or other gear and shared a small back pack. They said they had come up the trail and offered no other insight as to what we were headed in to. I figured, if they can make it up, we can get down. After a few hundred feet, with thunder in the background, the trail disappeared into a sizable snowdrift - icy, compact and steeply sloped. Let the adventure begin! My 11 year old son didn't feel safe, but my 13 year old and I convinced him everything would be fine. We exercised caution, found good footing and safely made our way. We lost the trail several times due to snow and ice until we reached the first bottom. Up to this point, we had good trail and then a larger snowdrift swallowed the trail. I'm not sure if there was an avalanche of sorts, but there were lots of snapped trees and debris kicked up everywhere. We circled around this patch of snow and then lost the trail again. Oops. After following the water downstream a ways, the trail appeared exactly where I said it would. 
The rest of this hike was without cause or concern. It just felt as though we would never reach the road. Lucky us, we never got the hard rain or lightning storm overhead. Yes, we probably should have turned back, but we now have a great story to tell!The last hike was to Grinnell Glacier. For the most part, this was an easy hike with some elevation gain. About 1 - 2 miles out, there was a rope across the trail advising the way ahead was dangerous and not advisable to pass. Half the people with younger children stopped, the other half proceeded. We continued on, but stopped for lunch just before the first snow crossing. I'm glad we did, because we got a great show. First, we saw a beautiful moose in the valley below. He hung out and posed for some pictures. Then, we saw a group of hikers pointing up the hillside near where we sat. Low and behold, a mommy grizzly and her two cubs where cooling off in the snow. The cubs played and mommy sat and watched. We were at least 200 yards or more away and the wind was blowing to our backs. I got some great pics. As for the path to Grinnell, I'm told workers may have to blow up the ice packed snow to open the trail for mid-July. Mother nature may take care of things in her own way.
In all, a great trip. The weather was perfect and trails were in great condition. What's more, we got a great showing of wildlife to top things off. Cheers to all and hike safely.
amac
