Day 12: We're going on bear hunt....

We thought we were going back to Going to the Sun Road because it was the first day back in Glacier for our friends, Trish and John.  But Trish asked us if we would mind going back to Polebridge and exploring the area west of Glacier National Park.  They always give us a different perspective and find things that Curtis and I seem to miss.

So we headed back to the dirt roads toward Polebridge.  Trish really enjoyed the ride out.  She loves taking pictures of nature and scenery.  She kept pointing things out like a beaver dam, birds that are indigenous to Montana and the little varmints that kept trying to get run over on the road.  We even saw some mule deer that we thought were moose initially.

 The sky was unbelievably blue and gorgeous!

 Curtis and I found our Montana home!

Mule deer above

Remember the old kids' song "We're going on a bear hunt?"  Well, John wanted to find Hidden Meadow to see if we could spot some moose and bear.  So we set off past Polebridge, up another dirt road that Trish didn't care for too much.  But we got some pictures of some great views of the valley with the mountains as a backdrop.

We found the trail for Hidden Meadow and it wasn't a long hike.  So we left Trish in the car.  (She's in a wheelchair and couldn't take the trail.)   She joked that she could set off the panic alarm if a bear came to the car.  She enjoys sitting and watching nature.  She has way more patience than I do.  

"We're going on a bear hunt.." We met a family on the trail that was returning that told us the rangers said there was a grizzly that frequented the trail.  What?!!  "I'm not scared..." That kind of freaked me out.  I walked between Curtis and John who both had bear spray.  But will bear spray really scare off a grizzly...I think not.  Curtis told me my job was to run while the bear ate him.  I didn't think that was very funny.  I thought I was a pretty brave, adventurous person...but a grizzly?  

I took pictures of the pretty flowers along the trail to distract me from the thought of coming across a grizzly on our path.  The trail was not very wide and since it was so out of the way, there were not a lot of people on it for the bear to pick from.  We were the only one on the trail except for the family who was going in the opposite direction.  "I'm not scared..."  We walked for the length of the trail, or so we thought...and I kind of chicken outed and asked if we could turn around.  I think Curtis and John wanted to keep going to find the Hidden Meadow.  We were sure we had walked the length that the sign said it would take to get to Hidden Meadow.  But they appeased me and agreed to turn around.  (Or maybe I was their excuse and they were really freaked out too, just wouldn't admit it.) 

 Indian Paintbrush flowers

 Bears love huckleberries!

 I think these blue flowers are called Jacob's Ladder.

The moral of the story is...if we had walked another quarter mile, we would have found Hidden Meadow and maybe the bear having a snack.  The lady Ranger told us we were so close when we stopped at the Ranger Station.  She's the one who confirmed that there is a grizzly that they see every day on that trail, doing bear things in the woods...like eating 😱...I felt kind of bad.  John really wanted to see it.  So we continued on our journey.

We decided to keep driving down the dirt roads and find Bowman Lake and Kintla Lake.  Talk about  a Jeep trail...dirt roads, pot holes...But boy were we glad we drove to see the lakes.  They are way out in the woods, toward the Canadian border and the campgrounds are all primitive.  You have to hand pump your own water out of a well and they only had pit restrooms...a little better than a port-a-potty.

Kintla Lake:

Kintla Lake is a gorgeous, almost hidden lake.  They don't allow motorized watercraft on this lake.  From speaking to the rangers, the campground gets full pretty quickly.  The sky was an amazing blue and the pictures turned out just stunning! Curtis and I decided we would like to come back and camp here. There are signs all over the place to store your food properly because of mountain lions and bears.

 Kintla Lake, Montana

I know..."Get a room!".  But the picture turned out nice so I had to add it!

Bowman Lake:

We drove to the other lake, Bowman Lake.  This is another hidden, out of the way lake.  This lake had a boat dock, so motorized watercrafts were allowed.  The campground here is also primitive, but very nice...if you like primitive camping.  Curtis wants to overland in the Jeep.  So we may end up doing some of that in the future.

 Bowman Lake, Montana

 Panoramic of Bowman Lake, Montana

We drove back to the "Big Meadow" which was on the road to Kintla Lake to look for bear.  I really wanted to see a bear...just in the safety of a car.  We didn't see one.  We ended the day with dinner at the West Glacier Grill.  What a fun way to spend the day.  Trish told me that she read a statistic that 90% of visitors in Glacier National Park never veer off of the main roads.  We were glad that we went with the other 10%!