Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Catherine running the trail
First, view the picture:
Now, read her write-up:
Ok, so you think working on a powerpoint deadline is stressful – well, welcome to Bear Country. This is an entirely different kind of stress. When we got to Glacier, we got the usual fairly low-key warnings about bears and how to deal with them. We camped along Lake McDonald at this beautiful spot. Noah and I (separately) went on this awesome trail run along the glistening blue lake with spectacular mountains as the backdrop. A part of the forest was burned a few years ago, so it was this spooky combination of black tree spikes, green forest floor, pink wild flowers and the lake/mountains in the background. Very cool, except for the threat of Bears. (Ellie this is for you). So, if you remember the scene from the original Parent Trap movie where they are camping in California and the twins tell their dad’s fiancé to hit sticks together to scare off bears. Well, that was me running through the woods clapping every 10 seconds and singing to scare off bears. It is quite a work-out. After the initial few minutes of running, I settled into an incredible experience and didn’t worry that much. We then took the kids along the same trail and got some great photos.
But, later that nite, when we were camping at another spot on the other side of Glacier NP, the ranger came by to give us the major Bear-scare talk. She said that we were camping in a “very active” bear area. We were advised not to leave our food out for more than 5 minutes and that the mountain lions particularly liked small children. I asked about running on this trail that Noah had already run on. She said absolutely do not run on that trail because there had been a number of bear-sightings already – I ran on the road instead. Anyway, Michela and I were happy to leave the bear-area in Glacier and head on to the safer Canadian Rockies where bears are just as threatening.
Notes from Noah:
1) At least the Canadian bears are more friendly, but speak a little funny, eh?
2) I'd just like to point out that I ran "bare" chested on that one ill-advised run, so I think my unshowered aura scared off all the grizzlies.
Now, read her write-up:
Ok, so you think working on a powerpoint deadline is stressful – well, welcome to Bear Country. This is an entirely different kind of stress. When we got to Glacier, we got the usual fairly low-key warnings about bears and how to deal with them. We camped along Lake McDonald at this beautiful spot. Noah and I (separately) went on this awesome trail run along the glistening blue lake with spectacular mountains as the backdrop. A part of the forest was burned a few years ago, so it was this spooky combination of black tree spikes, green forest floor, pink wild flowers and the lake/mountains in the background. Very cool, except for the threat of Bears. (Ellie this is for you). So, if you remember the scene from the original Parent Trap movie where they are camping in California and the twins tell their dad’s fiancé to hit sticks together to scare off bears. Well, that was me running through the woods clapping every 10 seconds and singing to scare off bears. It is quite a work-out. After the initial few minutes of running, I settled into an incredible experience and didn’t worry that much. We then took the kids along the same trail and got some great photos.
But, later that nite, when we were camping at another spot on the other side of Glacier NP, the ranger came by to give us the major Bear-scare talk. She said that we were camping in a “very active” bear area. We were advised not to leave our food out for more than 5 minutes and that the mountain lions particularly liked small children. I asked about running on this trail that Noah had already run on. She said absolutely do not run on that trail because there had been a number of bear-sightings already – I ran on the road instead. Anyway, Michela and I were happy to leave the bear-area in Glacier and head on to the safer Canadian Rockies where bears are just as threatening.
Notes from Noah:
1) At least the Canadian bears are more friendly, but speak a little funny, eh?
2) I'd just like to point out that I ran "bare" chested on that one ill-advised run, so I think my unshowered aura scared off all the grizzlies.
# posted by Dino @ 8:00 AM 
