We were starting to wear down after 2 ½ months and just over 5,000 miles. It had been a wonderful trip, but we were ready to start the 1,800 mile drive home. Last time we visited the Canadian Rockies we had managed to drive home in two very long days; this time we wanted to take it slowly and continue to enjoy the journey.
We spent two nights at Waterton Lakes National Park, an area north of Glacier National Park, Montana. We hadn't been able to get a campsite at the start of the trip and were glad to be successful on the way back. The weather was still hazy from the forest fires, but we enjoyed a bike ride through the main area of the park and exploring the side roads.
We crossed the border back into the US on September 11th at Chief Mountain the original start of our Canadian adventure. We were finally able to get into the Glacier National Park Apgar campground for one night and enjoyed seeing the area again. Sara attended a great ranger talk about the life cycle of forests.
After stopping in Kalispell, Montana for groceries and pet food we drove an hour to the CSKT Bison Range. John had been given a tip from a customer about the nature reserve which focuses on bison conservation and has a herd of about 350 bison. We enjoyed driving around the reserve and the cats were transfixed with the bison; we got a few good photos of them staring out of the window. We spent the night in the tiny town of Drummond, Montana (population 294) at their local campground. We've found these campground are basic, but great value for a quick overnight stop.
We had managed to get two nights at a campground in the center of Yellowstone National Park. We hadn’t visited the park in over 20 years and since it was on the way home it made sense to stop for a few nights. We arrived late Saturday September 13th and while checking in got a tip about a location for bear viewing. We got up early the next day to a chilly 45F at 6:30am, but we were rewarded with some stunning morning light over Yellowstone lake.
Our tip was about an elk carcass on the side of a small lake that was attracting bears. We found the location but the small parking pullout was already full, so we had to drive further up the road to another pullover. We were pondering our options since we couldn’t see anything from that location when a local who had a spotting scope said, “look there’s a bear over there”.
There was a larger male grizzly bear at the other location guarding the carcass and two younger female grizzlies were hanging around hoping to get their turn. Since they were about 200lbs smaller they weren’t having a lot of luck and started wandering our way. All the local photographers know the bears and their names, and we were told the two female bears were called Jam and Snow. We were delighted to watch Jam for about 45 minutes while she ambled around searching for grubs under the rocks in the hill below us.
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