Bears and moose 7/12/2018

Our full first day at Glacier, we had planned to hike the Highline trail to Haystack Pass, a 7.5 mile trip that takes you along the Continental Divide. We drove up to Logan Pass where the trail begins,

but the was absolutely no place to park the car. They were turning people away from the parking lot up there. We could have driven down to a lower area and taken the shuttle back up, but it looked like there were many people already waiting for the shuttle, that arrives every 30 minutes or so. So we opted to take the St. Mary Falls/Virginia Falls hike, what turned out to be about 8 miles. It was a very windy day, with winds gusting to 25-30 mph--ultimately, a crucial fact for us. At any rate, we set out, and were struck by the number of people on the trail. We'd taken this trail before, and never encountered this many people, to the point that it seemed like we never were out of sight of other people on the trail. The scenery was still spectacular, though, and St. Mary Lake is still a blue-green gem.

We were amazed at the difference in vegetation on this hike from the last time we were here, in 2016. In 2015, there had been a large fire that had wiped out the trees from this section of the park. But in 2016, there were abundant colorful stands of wildflowers carpeting what had been the forest floor in all different colors. It was breathtaking. This year, 3 years after the fire, thimbleberry blanketed the area. We learned that this is evidence of the ecological succession after a fire.

When we came back from our hike, we discovered a huge error we'd made. We had left our awning out--not a smart move, with strong winds whipping. It shifted the plastic cover on the awning so it doesn't roll up correctly (the cover not the awning). Oh well, live and learn.

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Wednesday was Iceberg Lake trail (10 miles) day. We set out for Many Glacier area of the park, taking a dirt back road. A few miles down the road, we saw a large black bear in the middle of the road. at least 100 yards away. Even at that distance, we could tell he was large because he had really long legs. When he saw us, he scooted into the woods. 

Iceberg Lake trail was  as gorgeous as ever, and the weather was perfect--we started in the high 60s,

and it warmed to the low 70s. The pictures tell the story. We did see a moose reclining in the snow  down off the trail. That was pretty cool.

We got back from our hike just in time to make the evening

presentation of the Blackfeet Indian dancers at the visitor center. It was awesome. The Indians explained the dances and the costumes they wore, and showed us 8-10 different dances. It was wonderful. They do this every Wednesday evening during the summer at the St. Mary Visitor Center.

Pictures of Iceberg Lake are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NhnBx2Xban3KrMz49

Pictures of St. Mary are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/yKjDUke2oDRmHKhX6