~*~ Bear Naked Expedition ~*~
“Meet Me in
Date:
Every trip needs a name…and
this is no exception. The Bear Naked Expedition was planned and devised by
I
took a half day at work to catch my
As
the plane landed in 
people or anywhere for him to hide. It had
only been a week since I’d seen him, but it didn’t change the fact that I was
still very excited. it doesn’t get old. The first thing I noticed while getting
off the plane was the smell of smoke and fire from the wildfires. You could see
the haze laying low over the city.
We
spent the night at the Holiday Inn Express in
Saturday
morning we were not in much hurry to get up. Our plan was to drive up to 
mornings.
After
eating and getting gas (for the car, goof), we headed out of
We
arrived in St. Mary’s sometime in early afternoon. I could see Glacier National
Park and the faint outlines (thanks to the smoke) of the mountains that loomed
so close. I commented to Brad that even in the smoke and haze, it was beautiful
and I wouldn’t care if it stayed like this all week because it was amazing. He
just sort of nodded but didn’t really answer me. We got into the Park and went
to the campground to pick out our site. St. Mary’s is not a great campground,
but the sites aren’t really that bad and we had quite a few to pick 
from. It’s just sort of wide open so there
isn’t a lot of shade, but with the smoke covering, the sun wasn’t really
beating down so it didn’t matter too much. We finally picked our site and set
up camp and had a turkey sandwich for lunch.
Once
we ate, Brad suggested we take a drive up to Many Glacier, where we would be
staying the next night and where we would be hiking from if all went well. We
stopped at the Visitor Center and learned that Ptarmigan Tunnel was closed due
to grizzly activity. According to Beth, the friendly ranger, there are 7
grizzlies in the area right now so a bunch of the trails around there and
Elizabeth Lake are closed. I was bummed about that because I was really looking
forward to seeing that section of the park. Oh well…I guess I will be back soon
enough.
It’s
about 40 minutes from St. Mary’s to Many Glacier. Part of the Trip Package from
Julio included a 50 State Blackout game with license plates so Brad and I kept
ourselves busy marking them off as we went. Once in the park at Many Glacier,
it’s a nice drive along Sherburne Lake. Again I could see the mountains high in
the smoke but they still looked beautiful to me. We made a stop at Many Glacier
Lodge which sits on the banks of Swiftcurrent Lake. I have seen lots and lots
of pictures of this area and find it to be incredibly beautiful. We took a walk
to the lodge (and got a bunch of states from the cars in the parking lot!) and
down to the shore of the lake. Brad is a great tour guide here – I swear he
knows every peak, every glacier and every lake. I 
should probably keep him around too.
On
our way back to St. Mary’s, we saw a decent sized black bear lumbering along
the bank of Sherburne Lake. He didn’t appear to have a care in the world as he
slowly sniffed and sauntered. Unfortunately, he disappeared into some tree
covering along the way so we lost sight of him. Still – I hadn’t even been in
the Park for 2 hours and already I had seen a bear! Brad had said if I went the
whole week without seeing ANY wildlife, he’d pay for my plane ticket. I think
maybe he has connections and had someone let this bear loose from a cage just
as we drove by. The only other wildlife we saw today was the wintery-white girl
in a bikini sunning herself on the rocks.
Once
back at the campground, we had a little snack while we looked at the maps and
re-evaluated what hikes we would be doing on the east side of the park. Our
original plans had been changed by 7 grizzlies in the area so we needed a new
game plan. We decided that tomorrow morning we will head to Many Glacier, set
up camp, and then hike out to Swiftcurrent Pass from there. I kept saying “it
just doesn’t matter”. I was so happy to
be in Montana, in Glacier National Park and with him – that I didn’t’ care
where we hiked.
After
having brats for dinner, we walked over to St. Mary’s Lake. There was one guy
fishing in the river and another that had planned on fishing but opted to pick
huckleberries instead when he saw how plentiful they were. At the lake, we had
the place to ourselves. We had a “Throw the Rock at the Rock” game which Brad
won…grrrrrrrrr. But I still managed to walk away with the Skipping Rock title.
1-1 for now. The smoke is a lot heavier at night and made the mountains harder
to see. With the sunset, the sky seemed to glow a dull shade of burnt orange.
Because
of the wildfires, there is a burn ban throughout the park so we are unable to
have a campfire. We left the rainfly off the tent and fell asleep to the sounds
of the Brokeback Cowboys talking up a storm in the site next to us. Somewhere
in the night,
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