Why so sad, Pookerton Bear?

This is the face I make when my hike is canceled because there are grizzly bears all over the place.

Apparently, we entered Glacier at the best time to see bears. Sadly, we weren't given the chance to see any (sad for Doug, I had NO desire to see a bear). By the time we'd hiked about a mile up the trail we noticed people streaming back down the other way. Nobody said anything to us until a group of rather stoned-looking individuals laughingly mentioned to "watch out for them bears!" Which I took with a grain of salt because a) they looked stoned and b) there are so many warnings about bears at Glacier that it's hard to know what's serious and what's overly-cautious bear warnings. I understand now that it's all very serious. It wasn't until a very nice, very German couple came by that we knew that there really were bears. They explained that a mama bear and her cub were up the path about a half-mile and that's why people were fleeing. So, Doug and I turned around and sat on this dock for a little while to contemplate what we wanted to do next. A group of teenagers that were about to spear-fish came by and were excited by the news of the grizzly mama and her baby. Teenagers. They seemed to know their way about though, so I assume they weren't devoured. There is a beautiful lodge across this lake (Many Glacier Lodge) so we decided to go look around...

We were rewarded with these awesome views from the back deck of the lodge. Truly amazing. In the lobby we heard about another close-encounter grizzly sighting. Apparently a big male was eating a deer and got rather growl-y at some hikers on another trail nearby. We decided to call it good for the day, as we had no bear spray with us, and I had no courage to brave bear country without it.

This is Doug, looking jaunty on the back deck of the Many Glacier Lodge. We'd go back for a visit, in case you were wondering.