We took our time this morning, sleeping in a little and then going downstairs for the breakfast buffet. The buffet was ok - I enjoyed the variety but the food didn’t taste as amazing as I hoped it would for the price. That’s ok, it was calories. Following breakfast we took one last shower for the next 6 days and ended up walking out of the hotel at 9:30.
Within the first few miles, I saw a bear. I thought the trail was going next to him so I yelled out. He eventually walked away, although I could tell he was rolling his eyes and thinking something like, “Sigh. Humans are so annoying” as he did so.
if you have the sound on, fair warning: I yell pretty loudly on the video
I felt terrible when the trail turned the opposite way of where the bear had been. Sorry, bear.
Shortly thereafter, we officially entered the park.
still excited about our camping permit
The trail in the park was beautifully maintained and the views were great. The views would likely have been stunning, but there is a smoky haze in the air from nearby fires. Even though I have a slight headache from the smoke and even though the smoke is getting in the way of my beloved mountain views, at least the trail is still open.
On our way down to Two Medicine, I bumped into 3 bighorn sheep walking up the trail. They were so cool to see - while they were a bit wary of me at first, they mostly didn’t care I was there.
At the bottom of the wretched downhill, we saw even more bighorn sheep when a huge herd ran down the road in terror. I wondered what had scared them and when I saw a dog pop out from behind I tree I had my answer. I don’t think dogs can be off leash in the park, but what do I know. I also don’t think it’s wise to let a dog run free when there are so many bears around. Again, what do I know - I’m sure the wily dog somehow got free from his owners and he’s out having the time of his life.
As we were leaving Two Medicine, we met a woman coming down the trail towards us with fear and excitement in her eyes. She told us there was a grizzly on the trail just ahead and said she turned around because of it. We thanked her for the info and invited her to walk with us, saying we had to go that way and would be happy to walk ahead of her. She declined, saying she was quite happy to go back to her camper. Nick and I told her to have a good day and then continued up the trail, yelling out a lot and definitely staying together.
Mishap hiked up behind us just before we came upon the bear. While the bear was brown, it was not a grizzly. Phew. This poor bear didn’t seem to want to get out of our way, either, though. I really do feel bad for the bears out there - they are just trying to live their lives and are constantly getting screamed at by us annoying humans.
After the bear wandered off, Mishap hiked on ahead of us as she had quite a few miles to get in - while I hoped she was staying at the same campsite as we are, she was permitted for the site 6 miles past ours.
Our campsite is at Oldman Lake and it’s nice. I feel a little wary, however, because the rangers told us we will definitely see a grizzly here (even though we haven’t seen one yet) and there are signs posted everywhere about this site being frequented by bears. We’ll see. Since the rangers were so sure we’d see a grizzly I’m betting we won’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be overly cautious.
we’re staying at Oldman Lake… we’ll be fine
If a bear does come around it shouldn’t be problem, however, because everyone here is following the rules (i.e. eating in the designated area, hanging food). We’re here with two father/daughter duos and a solo guy who are all very nice. We chatted with everyone in the food prep/eating area for a while before hanging our bags and getting to bed.
Along the trail:
Camp:
