There are so many pictures and stories to share from our honeymoon that I have decided to share by theme instead of chronological order! So, while Tyler tries to sleep (he is still sick as a dog - going to doctor tomorrow to test for Giardia) I am going to post about bears...
We visited Little Bighorn and canoed the Missouri River for the first part of our honeymoon and thought little of bears. It wasn't until we got phone service after coming off the river that we had even heard about the bear attack in Yellowstone - and then the news came from every direction! Once we got settled into our hotel room at Great Falls (the only regular hotel we stayed at, and we were forced into it because we came off the river a day early and our B&B wasn't ready for us yet) we found a camping store and bought Bearspray - which is basically mace for bears. (I found this really neat chart tonight which showing bear attacks in N. America since the 1870s.)
Our next night of camping was in Clearwater National Forest in Idaho. It was a magnificent campsite right on a creek, but with the sounds of the water being so loud I couldn't sleep, afraid that I would be unable to hear if a bear were nearby! (It was also freezing cold, which didn't help matters.) Around 3AM I convinced Tyler that we should sleep in the car for warmth and safety. By 5AM he was so uncomfortable that he went back to the tent!
The next night our plan was to camp at Two Medicine Campground in Glacier National Park. Lucky for me, it was full and we had to go to a lodge in the park. I'm still not sure if I should have been as happy as I was about this, but I got a great night's rest!! We did a Red Bus/boat tour on Two Medicine Lake on our second day in the park and we did actually see a black bear from the boat. However, it was so far away that it looked like a small fleck of black pepper. This is the way I like to see bears!
We ended our honeymoon with a 3-night back-country camping trip through Glacier. We had our bearspray ready and had collected all kinds of safety advice from the Blackfeet guides who did our horseback ride. The first day/night was pretty uneventful. This is the closest we came to a grizzly:
(We learned that we should not buy the trail mix with lots of chocolate for backpacking. It all melted and turned to mush. Side note: while we were enjoying the mush near a stream, a couple walked by and said, "There are two grizzlies down there." And I, thinking they were being funny, said, "Yeah, and they are REALLY hungry!" To which they replied, "No, seriously. About 1/2 mile downstream there are two grizzlies!" Well, that ended our lunch!)
That night we both slept terribly but it was also thundering/lightening/raining/pitch black/cold/hard. On the second day we came across this footprint while hiking:
Later, at camp, our friends Indigo and Andrew (who camped with us all three nights - however, this was just a part of their 8-night hike!) reported that they had run into a black bear with three cubs about an hour or two behind us on the trail. They had bear bells ("dinner bells" as the Blackfeet call them!) and were talking loudly but still surprised the bears. Upon seeing the bears they walked backwards and made a lot of noise and then attempted to approach again. This time the mama bear was off the trail but the babies were still there. On the third try Indigo and Andrew were able to pass but had their spray ready!! With the track and the story, we did not sleep much better on night two!
Day three, we had the longest and most difficult day of hiking. Up 2,500 feet and down 2,900 feet. My knees felt awful. I thought we'd sleep great, which we did (fell asleep around 7:30!) at first. At 3:30AM however there was a grunting/snorting/growling noise outside out tent. (If you want to hear it ask me, not Tyler - I do a great impression but Tyler sounds like a sick goat!) Tyler and I both froze. We could hear some sort of animal walking around outside our tent. At first the noise was in front, later it was behind us. Tyler grabbed the spray and took the safety off. I cuddled up into a ball and prepared to be eaten by a bear. This particular campsite (Kootenai) was full of moose so we both tried to tell ourselves that it was just a dumb moose. But then even the idea of a moose scared me - I had visions of it trampling through our tent and squashing us to death! (And although Tyler denies it, I swear whatever it was brushed against our tent. I could hear and see it near my feet!) After a couple sleepless hours with no noise we were able to sleep lightly, but both of us couldn't wait for daylight to get the heck out of there! In the morning, we noticed several of these prints on the outhouse door. Looks awfully like bear paws, doesn't it?
On our last day we had a 2.5 mile hike to Waterton Lake to get to our hotel in Canada. Earlier in the hike we had debated giving Indigo and Andrew our bearspray since they took the train in from Portland, Oregon and could travel home with it. About a mile into our hike we were glad we had kept it - there on the trail was the biggest, freshest pile of bear scat we had seen thus far. Man did we high-step it out of there after that!
We arrived home from our honeymoon late on Tuesday night and fell asleep around 1AM eastern time at Susie's house. Unfortunately, the bears also came back with me!
I woke up hearing some sort of noise coming from near the bed. Convinced it was a bear, I started tapping Tyler's arm. When he failed to respond, I started pinching him. Finally, he woke up and asked me what was wrong. Shaking and with my heart thumping out of my chest I whispered, "I think there is an animal again. I hear noises!" To which Tyler responded, "Is it Fred?" Oh. My. Gosh. Of course it was Fred... he was just adjusting himself on the pillow but I thought we were still camping. What an idiot.
So, that's it for "Honeymoon: Bears." Tomorrow, maybe I'll do animal pictures or perhaps a Lewis and Clark themed post!
Goodnight!
We visited Little Bighorn and canoed the Missouri River for the first part of our honeymoon and thought little of bears. It wasn't until we got phone service after coming off the river that we had even heard about the bear attack in Yellowstone - and then the news came from every direction! Once we got settled into our hotel room at Great Falls (the only regular hotel we stayed at, and we were forced into it because we came off the river a day early and our B&B wasn't ready for us yet) we found a camping store and bought Bearspray - which is basically mace for bears. (I found this really neat chart tonight which showing bear attacks in N. America since the 1870s.)
Our next night of camping was in Clearwater National Forest in Idaho. It was a magnificent campsite right on a creek, but with the sounds of the water being so loud I couldn't sleep, afraid that I would be unable to hear if a bear were nearby! (It was also freezing cold, which didn't help matters.) Around 3AM I convinced Tyler that we should sleep in the car for warmth and safety. By 5AM he was so uncomfortable that he went back to the tent!
The next night our plan was to camp at Two Medicine Campground in Glacier National Park. Lucky for me, it was full and we had to go to a lodge in the park. I'm still not sure if I should have been as happy as I was about this, but I got a great night's rest!! We did a Red Bus/boat tour on Two Medicine Lake on our second day in the park and we did actually see a black bear from the boat. However, it was so far away that it looked like a small fleck of black pepper. This is the way I like to see bears!
We ended our honeymoon with a 3-night back-country camping trip through Glacier. We had our bearspray ready and had collected all kinds of safety advice from the Blackfeet guides who did our horseback ride. The first day/night was pretty uneventful. This is the closest we came to a grizzly:
That night we both slept terribly but it was also thundering/lightening/raining/pitch black/cold/hard. On the second day we came across this footprint while hiking:
 |
| Can you tell if it was a black or a grizzly? |
Day three, we had the longest and most difficult day of hiking. Up 2,500 feet and down 2,900 feet. My knees felt awful. I thought we'd sleep great, which we did (fell asleep around 7:30!) at first. At 3:30AM however there was a grunting/snorting/growling noise outside out tent. (If you want to hear it ask me, not Tyler - I do a great impression but Tyler sounds like a sick goat!) Tyler and I both froze. We could hear some sort of animal walking around outside our tent. At first the noise was in front, later it was behind us. Tyler grabbed the spray and took the safety off. I cuddled up into a ball and prepared to be eaten by a bear. This particular campsite (Kootenai) was full of moose so we both tried to tell ourselves that it was just a dumb moose. But then even the idea of a moose scared me - I had visions of it trampling through our tent and squashing us to death! (And although Tyler denies it, I swear whatever it was brushed against our tent. I could hear and see it near my feet!) After a couple sleepless hours with no noise we were able to sleep lightly, but both of us couldn't wait for daylight to get the heck out of there! In the morning, we noticed several of these prints on the outhouse door. Looks awfully like bear paws, doesn't it?
On our last day we had a 2.5 mile hike to Waterton Lake to get to our hotel in Canada. Earlier in the hike we had debated giving Indigo and Andrew our bearspray since they took the train in from Portland, Oregon and could travel home with it. About a mile into our hike we were glad we had kept it - there on the trail was the biggest, freshest pile of bear scat we had seen thus far. Man did we high-step it out of there after that!
 | ||
| This isn't our picture, but the scat looked like this! |
I woke up hearing some sort of noise coming from near the bed. Convinced it was a bear, I started tapping Tyler's arm. When he failed to respond, I started pinching him. Finally, he woke up and asked me what was wrong. Shaking and with my heart thumping out of my chest I whispered, "I think there is an animal again. I hear noises!" To which Tyler responded, "Is it Fred?" Oh. My. Gosh. Of course it was Fred... he was just adjusting himself on the pillow but I thought we were still camping. What an idiot.
So, that's it for "Honeymoon: Bears." Tomorrow, maybe I'll do animal pictures or perhaps a Lewis and Clark themed post!
Goodnight!
All I can say is WOW! Glad you both are home safely and getting some rest. At least you have some great stories to tell. Now I'm going to google "giardia."
ReplyDeleteWhile I've heard most of these stories 2nd-hand already, it was great to read them from your perspective. I'm sure there was a lot of anxiety and hype about bears (maybe "hype" is the wrong word, as a bear encounter is so serious) b/c of the camper who was killed near Yellowstone towards the beginning of your honeymoon trip. That caught all of our attention, and we hoped you and Tyler had become "bear savvy" (which, apparently, you had).
ReplyDeleteGreat stories, Great pictures. I can't wait to hear more!!!
"Hype" is indeed the correct word Sandy! Since it was pitch black on our last night camping, I'm not sure how Aimee can claim that she could SEE an animal outside of our tent wanting to get in! Our rain fly was not fastened down properly, so it was flapping and rustling in the wind, hence giving the impression that something might be rubbing up against our tent. My wife also failed to mention that the park ranger immediately thought that what we had heard/"saw" was a deer. There are logical explanations for all phenomena, but they don't make for as good a story. Need I mention WHA's classic "wolverine" sighting on Wheelock Mountain?
ReplyDelete-Tyler
Well Tyler, I think you should write your own blog if you want to tell "your version" of the story! ;)
ReplyDeleteThis is the craziest honeymoon story I have ever heard. Wow. You are one brave girl. I don't think I could have handled it. I'm afraid I'll be sticking to cruises for my vacations. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a story! So glad everything worked out alright.
ReplyDeleteYours was a honeymoon to remember!
Aimee, Chris has learned to just agree with whatever stories I tell, rather than having to sleep in the "dog house". Tyler should take heed. Plus, your story is very entertaining and a good one to share at deer camp. I hope Tyler's tummy/intestines are better, and he has followed up with a doctor. Welcome to "for better or for worse!!" Love, Martha and Chris
ReplyDelete