Well folks, today was my last day at Glacier National Park. I have been here for eleven days and it's been great. Today I took a 12 mile hike with Tom and Betsy, the local couple who befriended me on my hike to Apgar Lookout, and invited me to accompany them today to Huckleberry Lookout. It includes a nearly 3,000 ft. elevation change, but also included some of the most magnificent scenery I have encountered yet here at the park. At the top is the ranger fire lookout, and from there the mountains are visible for a range of 360 degrees--spectacular!
At about the one mile mark, we were walking and talking when I happened to look down the slope about 10 yards and noticed black fur. Then it moved and I realized I was seeing a small black bear from behind. I got Tom and Betsy's attention and as we looked back up the trail we had just covered we saw the Mama bear we had already passed contentedly feeding, seemingly paying no attention to us. They were close enough that my instinct was to grab the Bear Spray not the camera. The expedient move seemed to be to move on, so we did, our hearts beating a little bit faster than they were before. The rest of the hike was relatively uneventful, save for the spectacular scenery until we got to the same area on our return. Of course, we were especially vigilant, which was a good thing since there was a large black bear (male, we think) about 20 yards upslope from us. This time Tom had spotted him and was ahead of Betsy and me, and he motioned to let us know the bear was up there. I got out my camera and got 3 shots off, all of which he was partially obscured by the brush, but I am posting the best one here.
What a way to end my trip!
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