Alaska trip 2024

We managed to get a 6 am entry time to get on the park today. I was bemoaning the $2 online fee, but I'm glad we had enough phone service to facilitate a transaction. We left the cabin at 5:45 am and drove to the gate a few miles away. We enjoyed the Many Glacier Hotel breakfast buffet and arrived early enough to get a window table overlooking the lake.

After a hearty breakfast, we started our hike. We decided to play it by ear and walk the trails around Swift Current Lake, continuing on in a loop around Lake Josephine and then back to the hotel. This would have been about 7 miles or so.

At about 300 yards on the trail around the second lake, there was movement ahead of me, and a first year black bear cub darted across the path and scampered up a tree. I knew Mama was probably on one side of me on the path and the cub on the other so I shouted back to Phil about 15 or 20 steps behind that we should go back and take a different route. We both had our bear spray out and backed down the path. The cub scampered back down. We were close enough to hear his little claws gripping the tree bark.

We met other hikers, and all decided to turn around and give the mother bear her space. This is an important time for bears to eat berries and put on winter fat stored.

We diverted on another path around Swiftcurrent Lake that ends at a busy and popular picnic area. Several people told us there was a mother bear with 2 cubs eating in the berries away from the trail, but when we got to that place, they had crossed the trail in front if us and the mother bear was only a few steps off the path. We waited a bit, and she moved on. The difference was that we did not startle her, and she had time to move her cubs along.

We did a little more hiking looked at the gift shop wares, and then had lunch at the Hotel Lounge. My phone says we walked 7.6 miles. Phil's says he walked 6.85 miles. I'm not sure which is right.

After lunch, we were sitting in the hotel lobby, watching for wildlife with one set of our binoculars. The hotel has a huge veranda overlooking the lake. It also has a huge lobby with 2 huge fireplaces. You can see all around the lake. I spotted a mama grizzly and her cub on one hillside a couple of times, and eventually, they came down to the lakeshore to get a drink.

Many Glacier Valley is really our favorite place in the world, and the Many Glacier Hotel is our favorite place in that valley. Today two of the more popular trails in the valley that we've walked before we're closed due to bear traffic. Limiting the number of people who can access this part of the park did seem to result in fewer people. We need to come back again in September some year after the kids have returned to school to have a fair shot at a campsite or hotel room.

It was a warm day. It's 87 F here right now. We came back to the cabin and took a nap after the hike. I think I got my $2 worth out of the reservation fee. We'll head out tomorrow for Chotoux, MT, where we have a reservation and begin making our way towards Yellowstone, where we have 3 nights of camping.

Sorry, no bear pics. I was reaching for the bear spray and not my camera today.Les mer