So we get to Many Glacier and we only had a half a day to do some day hiking. I suggested Snow Moon Basin since it wouldn't be too strenuous and it's a pretty short hike.
We headed down the trail to Cracker lake and about half mile in I wondered if anybody brought bear spray. None of us had, so Tim ran back to to the car and got a can. Funny we had three cans of bear spray and none of us remembered to take it.
When we got to the general area where you head up to stream bed, I had a hard time locating the actual place to start up. I could see generally where we needed to go but remembered it was very different from when I did it 10 years before. It seemed really over grown. We started up anyway and struggled up through the brush and steep slope. I found some familiar looking rocks and a stream bed up it still seemed different. So rather than continue on we headed back toward the Many Glacier hotel.
Once back near the trailhead, Andy suggested we go to the lake shore. When we got there, I noticed something moving about 20 feet from us. I said to the other guys, "is that a bear"? Sure enough a small grizzly bear (probably a two year old cub) comes out of the brush and to the waters edge. We were a little nervous since there might be a mama bear near by. Anyway it wandered on the shore for a minute and then headed back into the woods. The hotel was about 200-300 yards away and you could hear people getting excited about the bear and it looked like they started coming over toward us and the bear.
After the bear excitement we went back to St. Mary and went to Johnson's campground to get a campsite and setup out tents. I grabbed a shower and got ready for dinner. My brother and nephew were staying at the Lodge in St. Mary which was kind of coincidence. So I arranged beforehand to meet them at the lodge for dinner.
That night I think I had one of the worst night's camping in my life. As it got dark we headed into our tents and just as I was starting to relax, I heard music playing. At first I thought it was somebody in the campground playing a stereo. But later it was clearly a band playing somewhere nearby. The volume of the music seemed to change now and then and I think it was because sometimes the doors of bar were open and sometimes they were closed. Any it went on for hours and I kept thinking well they can't play beyond this time. But they did.
The next morning we got up and all went down to the lodge for breakfast with my brother and nephew. The huckleberry pancakes were great.
My brother and nephew were looking to do a hike and I suggested that they follow us to the Chief Mountain Customs and then we could show them the Lee Ridge trail. So they ended up following us up there. When we first looked for the trailhead we couldn't find it since there sued to be an orange tag near the trail entrance. It was no longer there. I felt bad since they had spend the better part of an hour following us up to Chief.
Apparently, my brother found it trailhead (I found this out later) and they hiked it for several miles
. But they met a ranger who told them they don't want people on that trail and that they shouldn't be there. Huh, that's the first time I heard that. If I was there I would have asked the ranger why and told him that many people still use the trail to get to Gable pass and beyond. Not to mention that it's one of most unique and spectacular trails in the park.
Well, Tim, Andy and I set out for ELH from our trailhead. It was a pretty hot day and we had 12 miles to go. This was going to be toughest day of the hike. Not only was it the longest day, but our packs had all the food for the week.
We hiked with a few breaks until we reached ELF and Tim suggested we take a longer break to cool off in the lake. I dropped my pack and then kindof made me way in to the lake and thought I didn't want to get my shorts wet. So I told the guys that I would head over and our campsite at ELH since it was only about 2 miles away.
Finally arrived at ELH camp. These are the horse corrals.
When I got to camp there was no one there so I had my pick of any of the campsites. The problem was none of them were very good. All the sites were pretty uneven and in the woods. There were private except for the one closest to the trail to Helen lake and that one was the smallest site.
I waited for Tim and Andy to show up before setting up camp I wasn't sure which camp would be best but it was down to site 2 or 3.
After setting up camp I went down to the lake to get some water and take a few pictures.
This was actually taken later in the evening after dinner.