It was over 10 days since we left. Just wish we stayed in one of the timeshares knowing the road was closed any way. We had to drive out of the park to get to the other side.
The room in the Motor Inn we stayed near Lake McDonald was filled with at least two dozens of mosquitoes.
My son thought snapping mosquitoes was a family activity. We drove by Whitefish later. The town looks very nice.
The GTTS road being closed hampered us as well and we did stay at Glacier Wilderness Resort.
One the day we went to Many Glaciers the road construction was in full swing. It took us over 2 hours to go 40 miles. It took us almost 4 hours total to get to Many Glaciers. We hiked to the top of the lake and were just in time to catch the last boat back to the hotel. No time to continue on to the lake for me and DD (who had had enough)
as we took the boat back.
DH did hike to the lake by himself and met two very frazzled hikers coming back from the lake that said they had just seen a bear and cub. DH went on to the lake and caught up with them on his way back to the hotel - where they had just run into the bear and cub again. Yep - out popped momma and cub right on the trail ahead of them. DH already had his bear spray ready and just followed all the 'rules' - stayed quiet, lowered his bulk down to seem smaller, inched away very very very slowly. He said the momma definitely knew he was there but didn't seem interested/threatened. After about 20 minutes or so, the bears moved on and DH and the other 2 hikers took the opportunity to pass that section of trail. This all was about 1 1/2 miles from the hotel.
DH said it was very cool, kinda scary and he was totally focused on that bear during the time, trying to be ready for anything. In the stupid way humans are I was disappointed I hadn't been there too but very glad DD wasn't - I am afraid she would have freaked.
FYI - about 2 weeks ago a 57 year old man was killed by a momma bear in GNP. His wife escaped with minor wounds. There may be a great deal more to the story than what was first reported, but that's the bare facts as I read them in the paper.
