Glacier National Park (2 page)

The next day, the Parkers packed up and drove
north on a remote highway. The alternating paved and dirt road led them to the hamlet of Polebridge, just outside the northwest entrance to Glacier. Mom pulled the car up to a general store.

Dad got out and looked at the unusual little village. “I feel like we’re in an outpost in Alaska somewhere,” he said.

“Shall we check out the store?” Mom asked.

The family walked inside. The small store had groceries, souvenirs, and camping supplies. Morgan and James immediately noticed all the baked goods. They glanced at their parents, asking without saying a word.

“Don’t worry,” Dad mentioned. “I got hungry the moment I saw all those too.”

The Parkers picked out some muffins and scones and sat down at a table.

After a night spent nearby the scene of the avalanche, the mother moose returned to her buried calf. She managed to flip a few additional rocks over. A partially mangled leg stuck up. The mother tried to dig some more while her other calf watched from a short distance away. The cow let out a final call of distress before climbing down to her remaining offspring. The two moose walked together toward the marshy pond that was their home
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After enjoying their afternoon treat and walking around Polebridge, the Parkers returned to their car. They reentered Glacier at the entrance station just outside of town. Dad maneuvered the car along a rough gravel road. “It’s definitely not a freeway out here,” he commented. “I bet very few people come to this part of the park.”

“But I’m glad we did!” Morgan exclaimed. “It’s neat going to seldom-seen places.”

Finally they reached the end of the road at Bowman Lake. Dad circled the small campground until the family found a spot they liked.

The Parkers paid for the site and set up their tent. Mom and Dad unhitched the kayak from the roof of the car. They hauled the boat toward the water’s edge and plopped the craft down on the beach.

The family gazed at a long lake framed by deep forests and pinnacled mountains. “Wow,” Dad exclaimed. “Now this is wilderness!”

The wolf stood up, stretched out, and licked his wound again. Then he gingerly hopped around in a small circle, carefully testing his weight on the injured leg. He immediately yelped and whined and lifted it again. Eventually the wolf limped back over to his makeshift den. He lay down and continued to clean the wound before resting his head on his paws
.

Morgan and Dad took the kayak out first. They paddled away from the shore. Morgan noticed how long the lake was. “It goes on forever,” she said to her father.

“It’s like a fjord,” Dad said.

“What’s that?” Morgan asked.

“Fjords are long, fingerlike bodies of water carved by glaciers,” Dad explained. “Only they’re connected to oceans. These lakes in Glacier were also carved by rivers of ice, but freshwater filled them.”

Morgan gazed at the high mountains. “Where are the glaciers now?”

“The big ones from the ice age 10,000 years ago are gone,” Dad replied. “But the park does still have some small glaciers.” Dad studied the mountains. “I imagine they’re on the north- and east-facing slopes. Those areas get less direct sunlight, so the ice doesn’t melt as fast.”

Morgan and Dad paddled toward the forested shoreline.

“Look!” Morgan pointed.

Dad and Morgan watched a couple of people walking along the lake. Morgan gazed ahead to see where the trail led. She noticed something else moving. “There’s an animal ahead of them!”

Morgan and Dad paddled closer. They approached the shoreline and surveyed the forest, then looked back to see where the hikers were. “At least if it’s a bear,” Morgan mentioned, “we’re safe out here.”

“Oh, I’m sure bears can swim if they want to,” Dad replied. “But it’s not a bear—look.”

The animal lifted its head and chewed on some leaves. It walked into an opening in the trees before bending down and nibbling again.

“It’s a deer!” Morgan exclaimed.

The moose and her remaining calf walked around the lake eating moss and grass
.

Meanwhile, the odor of carrion filled the air
.

High above the forest, a grizzly bear flipped over a large rock with her powerful front paw. She thrust her nose into the depression where the rock had been. The grizzly gulped down cutworm moths, then stood back up
.

The bear detected the distinct smell of a fresh carcass. She scampered down
from the boulder field and lumbered through the forest, turning over small rocks and digging up roots along the way. The strengthening scent of a dead animal directed her path
.

Morgan and Dad watched the hikers pass by the deer. Then they paddled back to the beach. As they approached, Mom and James waded out into the turquoise waters.

James grabbed one end of the kayak and smiled. “This is what you get for being gone for so long,” he said playfully. James and Mom started splashing Morgan and Dad, who used their paddles to splash back.

All four of the Parkers got soaked. After the water fight, they waded out of the lake, laughing, and returned their boat to camp.

Later that day, they decided to take a walk along the same trail the hikers had followed earlier. The path skirted the shoreline of the lake, moving through thick, dense forest along the way. The Parkers strolled along until they reached the Numa Ridge Trail junction.

Mom looked at her family. “Let’s go a little farther,” she suggested.

The Parkers continued hiking. The trail stayed in the shade of the trees, making it seem later than it was. Dad suddenly stopped and held out his arms. “Hang on a second,” he announced. “Look at this.”

Two large pieces of hair-filled scat were lying on the trail.

“That looks like dog poop,” James said.

“Exactly,” Mom responded. “Except dogs aren’t allowed on park trails.”

“Well, we know what does live in Glacier that is doglike,” Dad said.

“Wolves!” Morgan remembered. She took a picture of the scat. “I’m going to check this picture with an animal identification book later.”

The Parkers peered into the dark forest and back toward the lake. Mom glanced at her watch. “I can’t believe it’s 7
PM
,” she announced. “These Montana summer evenings really throw me for a loop.”

Dad’s stomach started gurgling. “Here I go,” he commented. “One mention of supper time and I’m immediately hungry.”

Eventually the grizzly found the boulder field with the buried calf. She homed in on the carcass and flipped away rocks and small boulders in her immediate vicinity. The large bear quickly unearthed the dead animal
.

The grizzly stuck her muzzle into the moose and ripped into the flesh. The powerful bear stood up with fresh meat dangling from her mouth
.

Meanwhile, the wolf tilted his head up. A whiff of meat aroused his senses. The wolf’s stomach growled and hunger overcame pain. He stood up and hobbled around. Then the wolf set out, limping toward the scent
.

As the Parkers approached the campground, they could hear people. “It’s kind of comforting to have other campers nearby,” Mom admitted.

They stopped at the beach where they had launched their kayak earlier. Dad walked toward the shoreline. “I want to take in the view once more,” he explained.

Bowman Lake at twilight was ethereal and mysterious. In the distance, layers of spired peaks were silhouetted against the hazy skies. Dense forests hugged the shoreline. Morgan snapped several photos.

“It’s quite a place,” Mom commented.

“But you can tell there’s a forest fire burning,” Dad added. “The visibility just isn’t what I’d expect.”

Then hunger got the best of the family, and they trudged back to camp.

The wolf came to the edge of the forest. He peered out and saw a grizzly bear pawing away at a dead animal. The wolf bared his fangs and quietly snarled. He took a few cautious steps toward the bear
.

The grizzly stopped eating. She sniffed the air, then stood on her hind legs while bobbing her head back and forth
.

The wolf crouched down and stared at the upright bear, and at the carcass next to her. After a moment, the wolf turned and trotted away
.

The next day the Parkers broke camp at Bowman Lake.
They drove back down the gravel road, through Polebridge, and eventually returned to the south end of the park.

At Apgar, Mom turned the car northeast. The family drove past the long and densely forested shoreline of Lake McDonald, heading toward the park’s high peaks. Eventually Mom pulled the car into Avalanche Creek Campground.

The Parkers drove around and chose an open, flat spot surrounded by tall trees. They set up, then packed for a hike up to Avalanche Lake.

The first part of the trail was on a wooden walkway through a dense cedar and hemlock forest. The Parkers strolled along, admiring the large trees and reading signs about the old-growth forest and how Native Americans used the trees to make boats and other supplies.

At the end of the boardwalk, the family approached a railing over-looking a narrow gorge cut by a rushing stream. They stopped there and peered into Avalanche Gorge.

“That’s a beautiful little mini-canyon,” Mom said. “And look at the ferns growing right out of the rock walls where it stays cool and moist all the time.”

The Parkers admired the gorge for a few minutes before continuing on.

After two miles of trekking through the forest, the family made it to Avalanche Lake. They stepped off the trail and onto the lake’s pebbly
shoreline. Morgan, James, Mom, and Dad gazed at the aqua waters surrounded by cliffs and high mountains. At the far end of the lake, several waterfalls cascaded from above.

Mom pulled out the binoculars and looked all around. She noticed people at the lake’s opposite end. “Let’s head over there,” she suggested, “and have a little picnic.”

After eating again, the grizzly used her paw to shove dirt over the carcass. Then she walked up to an open, grassy slope
.

The bear stepped into the meadow, glanced back at her cache, looked all around, then sat down
.

Meanwhile, the smell of carrion continued to waft into the air. The wolf, unable to resist, again trotted toward the scent, saliva dripping from his teeth
.

When the wolf reached the clearing, he spotted the partially buried carcass in the distance, but the grizzly appeared to be gone. He limped cautiously toward the food, unburied the stash, and quickly ripped off a small piece of flesh
.

The grizzly, sensing an intruder in the vicinity, lifted her head. The large bear sniffed the air and recognized the scent of another predator. She plowed through the brush, heading back to the carcass
.

The wolf heard the bear first, then saw it crash through the bushes
.

As the bear ran up, the wolf backpedaled, then circled around and dashed at the bear’s rear end, nipping at the grizzly’s hindquarters and pulling out a tuft of fur. The bear turned and charged the wolf, but the intruder hopped backward and managed to keep his distance
.

The wolf closed in again, biting away another chunk of fur from the back end of the bear. The bear whirled and chased the wolf several yards away toward some trees
.

Then the grizzly returned to her food. The wolf cautiously followed, again trying to nip the bear’s behind
.

This time the bear whipped around and swiped her paw at the wolf, catching the intruder and giving him a glancing blow across his side with her sharp, powerful claws
.

The wolf yelped and stumbled several feet, then jumped away and hobbled into the forest, leaving the bear and carcass behind
.

Later, with several miles between him and the bear, the wolf stopped next to the roots of a large tree. He licked the gashes on his side, lay down, then tended to his new injuries some more
.

Eventually, the large grizzly flipped the calf’s jumbled bones. She looked them over before walking away. The bear then began a long trek toward Glacier’s high country and the east side of the park, where the sweet taste of berries awaited
.

Back at camp, the Parkers munched on cookies while darkness engulfed the dense forest. “It sure is quiet around here,” Mom said.

Dad glanced up from his book. “I do miss having a fire.”

“Me too,” Morgan added. “It makes hanging out at camp feel safer.”

The wolf tilted his head up and howled. After a few more calls, the injured canine whimpered, then lay down for the evening
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