John gave me a ride from East glacier to Chief Mountain on the Canadian border for $80. This is quite a deal since it is a 2 hour drive one way. John is the husband of a woman who works at the gift shop in the lodge. He is a native American from a tribe in Minnesota. He talked pretty much nonstop about the Blackfeet who own most of the land up here including the town of East Glacier. I was curious about life here with all the intersecting cultures and he certainly had a lot to share. 🙂
We had ground fog and rain for the entire drive so I couldn’t see much. When he dropped me at the border it was drizzling and the clouds were still on the ground. I walked up to the border guards who are notoriously unfriendly and asked if I could go to the monument. They said yes but not past it. I took the requisite pictures and headed back down the road to the Lee ridge trail. This was necessary because for my first night all normal campsites were taken and I had been assigned a campsite at Slide Lake – approximately 7 miles from the CDT. Whatever. The Lee Ridge trail ascended a long ridge until it intersects the Gable pass trail which I took east (away from the CDT) to Slide Lake. All this time I was walking in a cloud bank and could see almost nothing.
The trail from Gable Pass down to Slide Lake is steep and drops about 1200 feet to the lake. On my way down the visibility cleared a little but the clouds were still overhead. I’d been seeing bear poop all morning and was a little nervous walking this seldom used trail so I’d been yelling “Hey Bear!” and clacking my trekking poles regularly. The hill was steep and thickly forested with small meadows here and there. I had just clacked my trekking poles and heard something so I stopped.
Maybe 50 yards in front of me a bear cub was hauling ass up a tree. I’d scared it. I knew the momma bear would be close by so I scanned for it while saying “Hey bear, nice bear”. Then I saw it in some tall grass on the other side of the tree that the cub had climbed. It looked big and brown. All I saw was it’s head sticking up through the tall grass. I immediately started backing up the trail, talking the whole way. I lost sight of it right away as I backed up behind some trees. I wanted it to know I was continuing to get further away so I kept saying nice bear stuff. I took out my bear spray and removed the guard clip. I waited for 10 or 15 minutes before slowly and loudly making my way past where they were and on down the trail. Whew!
The slide lake campsite is on a knoll above the lake. The campsites in the park are quite regimented with designated cooking and 3 camping spots, and one pit toilet. Not a bad spot but I sure hate being corralled like this. The mosquitoes are surprisingly not bad at all here. I wonder if it’s all the fish I see rising in the lake below. The lake is absolutely full of hungry fish splashing and leaving huge ripples and wakes as they eat insects off the surface. All the no fishing signs may have something to do with the healthy fish population. 🙂
Unfortunately the clouds never dispersed from the mountains around me so I have no idea what kind of amazing things I could be seeing. Sigh. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I need to walk back up Gable Pass past the location of my bear encounter and down the other side to get back on the CDT. I’m looking forward to camping with others. I’m the only one here and feeling a bit lonely and vulnerable with the bears nearby.