Sleeping easy

[Bill Garvin]

Hi everyone.

I am coming to Glacier for the first time in a couple of weeks. We should be there around the 23rd. I am traveling with my two sons who are 11 and 14 and two of my best friends, one of whom has some experience camping in Glacier. We are planning on spending some time at Bowman Lake campground and Kintla Lake campground. We will be day hiking from there but not doing any back country camping. We are all extremely excited about the trip. We are all pretty outdoorsy and have done a lot of camping.

I have only camped in bear habitat one other time. It was up near the UP of Michigan in a pretty well populated campground. Althought there had been a Black Bear in the campground about a week before, nobody was too concerned about maintaining a "bear safe" campsite.

So I have been doing a lot of reading about the subject and plan on abiding by the rules of safe camping to the letter. I know there are no guarantees but if we do abide by the rules and keep a very clean campsite, changing into different clothes to sleep, sleep away from where the food is prepared, etc. Can I relax and sleep easy at night or do I need to always keep one ear and one eye open?

Thanks and enjoy the day!

[Ear Mountain]

Bill,
While, as you noted there are no guarantees, the Park Service staff and campground hosts work very hard to make sure the campground rules pertaining to food storage and keeping a clean camp are enforced. They also keep a close eye on any bear activity in the area. So you should be able to get a good nights sleep while in Glacier. I do suggest keeping the bear spray in the tent just in case.

[sj in cal]

Take all the appropriate precautions and follow bear safe practices and you should be fine. Don’t forget to look around your campsite to ensure the previous users were as conscientious as you.

As Ralph said, the park service has done excellent work keeping the bears out of the campgrounds. So don’t worry and sleep easy. Staying up all night, worrying, and staring at the roof of your tent will have no effect on whether a bear decides to join you, but it could ruin your vacation unnecessarily.

[Kathy]

"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

That's my imitation of you, Bill, sleeping soundly on your trip! You're right...there are no guarantees, but follow the rules and you should be just fine!

It seems, you may need to worry more about being buried in snow than about bears! - I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and your gang for good weather and a safe trip! (Don't forget....we'd LOVE to have a trip report when ya get back! )

Have fun!!!

[karatenorth]

In my experiences, I usually slept easy at night. There was one night that a nearby campsite was noisy (Rising Sun) and I couldn't fall asleep. In the early morning after dawn, I have been awaken to the signature bear brush/branch crunching noise on more than one occasion (St. Mary, Bowman Lake Front, and Tunnel Mountain-Banff). Take all precautions as noted, my advice is be alert when waking up.

[peleebird]

Our favourite front country campground is St. mary's, which is one giant serviceberry patch in season, but we never worried about bears. I know some people may complain about the regulations in Glacier, but it does decrease the risk. You are far more likely to injured in a car accident getting there than tangling with a bear once you are set up.

[Jeff E]

I have yet to get to a point when I am truly "sleeping easy". Last summer, we went backpacking in Great Smokey Mountains NP. At the trail head there was a warning sign about an aggressive bear in the area. On the hike to our camp, we saw 3 bears on the trail.

We spent the evening exchanging bear stories by the fire with other people in the Back Country Site. When it came time to turn in I had myself so paranoid, I knew there wasn't a chance I would get any sleep. I just knew that every leaf rustling was most likely the aggressive bear coming to get me.

Then I heard tap.....tap......tap....

It started to rain more and more heavily. The sound of the rain on the tent was so loud I could hear nothing else. It was the best nights sleep I have had backpacking so far.

I guess if I cant hear the bear, it does not exist.

[Ear Mountain]

There ya go. Bring an ipod and keep the tunes playing all night.

[Rose]

I have yet to get to a point when I am truly "sleeping easy". Last summer, we went backpacking in Great Smokey Mountains NP. At the trail head there was a warning sign about an aggressive bear in the area. On the hike to our camp, we saw 3 bears on the trail.

Maybe this explains why we don't see any bears in the Smokies.... we're not on the backpacking trails!

[Jeff E]

Rose,

This was a trip that we took last June to Gregory Bald. It was the first time that I had ever encountered a bear without the protection of a car. All of a sudden I felt very vulnerable. We heard a noise to the left of the trail. We stopped and tried to peer through the brush and there she was.

We backed up slowly back down the trail and debated whether to turn around and go home or come up with another plan of action. The bear had not given us any indication that he had heard us and kept digging in the brush.

We have learned from the Chat Page to make noise while hiking in Glacier, so we decided to let the bear be aware of our presence. From a quite a distance we started making a lot of noise so that we would not surprise the bear. She immediately ran up the side of a hill. As we continued to hike my heart was pounding as we passed the bear.

She watched us as she coaxed her cub up a tree. It was all very exciting. In hind site I wish I had taken pictures, but I was so scared all I wanted to do was get past her.