As we left this a.m. we decided to drive 8 miles or so to the north road into the park. This road just goes to Swiftcurrent Lodge about 15 miles down the road and passes some other lodges along the way. It is not as well traveled as Going to the Sun Road (which by the way is only 50 miles long) and follows the north side of Swiftcurrent Lake.
Turns out that this is the day for grizzlies!!!! At one point all these cars were stopped along side the road and everyone was watching these bears up on the side of the mountain! There were at least 3 females w/ cubs and a couple of others as well. We had to leave the place where we had stopped b/c we were run out by a ranger (we were in a no stopping area). We went on to the end of the road for breakfast at the Swiftcurrent Lodge.
On the way back we stopped at a parking area and talked with a ranger who was waiting for a busload of kids to show up as he was leading them on a hike up to a glacier. They were from a Mennonite school. While we were there we spotted a huge bear on the side of the mountain...also with a cub but a much bigger cub. We got out the spotting scope and watched her for a long time. The busload of kids pulled in and they came over and also looked at the bear through the scope.
Further down the road we passed a cyclist who was waving and pointing down towards the lake. There was maybe 20 yards between the road and the lake. Turns out another mama grizzly was there w/ her 2 cubs and according to the cyclist she seemed a bit agitated and the cyclist was a bit concerned. We watched and the bear was out of sight for a while, but then we caught a glimpse of her moving quickly along the shoreline of the lake. We walked down the road a bit (very carefully) and then returned to the truck and got in b/c she was really pretty close to us. We drove down a bit and then we saw her moving along at a rapid clip and her cubs were following as well. That was exciting. We stopped again where we had seen the group of bears on the way up (this time it was a legal stop) and watched them again for a while before driving on.
We stopped several times for pictures. Saw a coyote and then another moose as it crossed the road in front of us. We stopped at a turnout and got some pictures looking back up the valley and lake to the mountains and glaciers. It was really pretty. As we left the park we took a highway heading east and again stopped a few times to look back at the park. It truly rises up out of the plains. The countryside to the east of the park is rolling and mostly pasture land. What a wonder our National Parks are!!!
Made it as far as Glendive MT. Once we left the mountains, it got really really hot...like 103!!!! We were worried a bit about our a/c. Of course in the truck we were able to run at 70+ mph and it just wasn't cooling. Jerry tried slowing down for a while and it kicked right in and finally got cold. If it was going to be that hot we really needed a/c!!! We did pass through Cold Foot, MT and saw this penguin stating that Cold Foot is the coldest spot in U.S.! Not today!!!
Stayed at a Day's Inn in Glendive. They advertised Wi-Fi so I was looking forward to working on the blog and loading some pictures. I could not get connected in the room so I went to the desk to see if there was a password or another trick to get on. She said sometimes people had trouble connecting from the rooms and perhaps the lobby would be better. There was another woman in there with her laptop trying to connect and neither of us was able to establish a connection. Evidently their server was down. I tried to tell that to the desk clerk, but she was clueless. Sigh....I guess this blog will never get done in a timely fashion!!!
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