So far in Glacier we have not added to our wildlife list. In past trips we had seen sheep and goats in Logan Pass but with the fire it is closed. On our last hike we were up high in an area that looked promising for seeing both but no luck. It was not for want of trying. Spent a lot of time eyeballing the upper reaches of the slopes of peaks around Two Medicine Lake (or "two med" as we locals call it).
Really the best Glacier had to offer was deer. We had the regular 5 o'clock deer in the Apgar campground. One was a nice young buck with his antlers in velvet. We had a major traffic stoppage on the the Avalanche Lake hike for doe with about 20 people freezing the trail to a standstill as she did her thing.
The best was on the Granite Peak hike where we watched a doe for a while as it foraged between us on the way down and another group on the way up. We watched for a while as she was off to the side of the trail and then wandered down. When we moved on there was a gap between Marsha and I as I stopped to adjust my pack. The deer cut up to the trail and stood sideways across it munching away at flowers on the upslope. Marsha was toodling along, now a hundred yards ahead.
I was kind of stuck like well, a deer in the headlights. I had already been admonished by a ranger for breaking federal regulations by plugging my phone into a visitor center outlet, I was not about to get tagged for harassing wildlife. I ended up moving slowly and talking to it as I walked by. I was hoping that my voice would get it to move a bit. It shifted enough for me to get by but I could have reached out and patted its rump as I talked and walked. In retrospect I did put myself at the mercy of a sharp kick from the business end of the hind legs, but the deer was habituated to the public and just kept munching as I slipped by.
Last night at dinner folks were talking about seeing a couple of bear on the road north toward St. Mary's Perhaps we will be treated to a sighting.
Really the best Glacier had to offer was deer. We had the regular 5 o'clock deer in the Apgar campground. One was a nice young buck with his antlers in velvet. We had a major traffic stoppage on the the Avalanche Lake hike for doe with about 20 people freezing the trail to a standstill as she did her thing.
The best was on the Granite Peak hike where we watched a doe for a while as it foraged between us on the way down and another group on the way up. We watched for a while as she was off to the side of the trail and then wandered down. When we moved on there was a gap between Marsha and I as I stopped to adjust my pack. The deer cut up to the trail and stood sideways across it munching away at flowers on the upslope. Marsha was toodling along, now a hundred yards ahead.
I was kind of stuck like well, a deer in the headlights. I had already been admonished by a ranger for breaking federal regulations by plugging my phone into a visitor center outlet, I was not about to get tagged for harassing wildlife. I ended up moving slowly and talking to it as I walked by. I was hoping that my voice would get it to move a bit. It shifted enough for me to get by but I could have reached out and patted its rump as I talked and walked. In retrospect I did put myself at the mercy of a sharp kick from the business end of the hind legs, but the deer was habituated to the public and just kept munching as I slipped by.
Last night at dinner folks were talking about seeing a couple of bear on the road north toward St. Mary's Perhaps we will be treated to a sighting.
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