In late July 2005, I embarked on a multiday hiking trip in Glacier National Park in the Montana Rocky Mountains with my then brother-in-law, his brother, and two others. We had the time of our life, and the scenery, wildlife, and wildflowers were unlike anything I had ever encountered before. The trip is etched in my mind like it was last week.
We did several hikes on the east side of the park, however our longest was a two day backcountry hike deep into the wilderness, camping one night, and hiking out on a different trail. We began at Logan Pass, hiked along the Highline Trail to Granite Park, camped in tents there, then hiked the Swiftcurrent Pass Trail over the continental divide, ending up in Many Glacier Campground.
We camped in a tiny backcountry campground, deep in the wilderness near Granite Park Chalet. We knew the area had a lot of Grizzly Bears, and were educated and prepared on how to avoid them including bear spray. In fact when we entered camp, there was fresh scat on the trail, and we saw some scary large eyes looking at our headlamps from the trees when we were getting ready for bed.
When you camp in these areas, you pitch your tent in one location and cook food 100 yards away at a different location to avoid attracting bears to where you sleep. You must also secure your food as well as any scented items like toiletries where bears can’t get to them at least 100 yards from your tent. This campsite had a 20 foot steel pole where we hoisted our packs up. NEVER take any food into your tent and also don’t wipe your hands on your pants after eating.
We didn’t get much sleep that night, due to many deer approaching our tent and at least one occasion of bears in the camp, with one even sniffing my tent where I laid absolutely frozen with fear. We didn’t have any problems other than lack of sleep.
It wasn’t until later when I first came across the book Night of The Grizzlies by Jack Olsen. It tells a true account of a night on August 13 1976, when two different women were killed, by two different grizzly bears, not far from each other. One of them was in the very same campground where we camped. Another man was also mauled pretty badly in the same incident. It was the first bear caused death in Glacier National Park’s 57 year history.
I found this documentary on YouTube of a PBS documentary about this story. It warrants a viewing.
Glacier Park’s: Night of the Grizzlies | PBS Documentary ⁷²⁰ᵖ – YouTube
More Photos from my Glacier trip:
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