Jandi Maxwell’s grandfather stopped by the Beacon office earlier this month to share some pictures his granddaughter took of a sizable grizzly in Glacier National Park. I asked Jandi how he came across the grizzly and he wrote the following:
I took the pictures on the Iceberg Lake trail in Glacier National Park.
I was about a mile and a half from the lake, when people hiking back from the lake started telling me that there was a sow and three cubs above the trail. So I walked about 300 yards down the trail towards the lake. I then walked around a rocky, cliff-like corner, and there they were. They were about 30 yards above the trail, and the sow was excavating grub out of the dirt for her and the cubs. She then started to make her way down toward the trail with her cubs, and she only took a few glances over at me and two other men taking pictures.
Once they got to the trail she started to dig once again just off of the right side of the trail. After digging, they slowly dropped down off the trail and started to dig again about 15 feet away from me. By now, other hikers had come up behind me. The sow started getting nervous about our group, so she stood up on her hind feet and sniffed the air. Then she dropped back down on all fours. A few seconds later the cubs followed her example and stood up. And finally, they moseyed down into the thick bushes below the trail.
It was very exciting and I feel that it was a once in a life time deal, even though we see bears up there every year.
Thanks for sending along the photograph, Jandi.