Johns Lake

This photo is from Sunday afternoon’s hike. I kind of ran out of steam at the end of that day. This ranger led hike ended in the middle of the woods, with the option of returning with the ranger the way we came or pressing on. We pressed on, saw this lake and accompanied a family of five, with three young children from LA.

I finally broke down and bought a can of bear spray ($40). What tipped the balance came last night, when we bumped into our camp hostess at the communal showers. She was carrying a can just to go to the bathroom. They say that when used, the spray is 95% effective, while also when used, a gun is only 50% effective in a bear encounter and with way less ramifications.

It seems doubtful that we’ll get to travel the Going to the Sun Road. The webcams show that the Logan pass parking lot is clear, but it turns out that the real culprit is road work. Due to avalanches they remove all the guard rails, plus there is road repair from said avalanches. Interestingly, in high summer the park service hires sheep dogs to scare away the mountain goats and Big Horn sheep from said parking lots, just to protect the tourists.

We have two more nights here at Glacier. After that we’ll head to Jackson, WY after that we will be working our way home. We are starting to run out of vacation on this trip, but do not fear, we have another trip to the sun planned.