Clear Still Waters
A small foreground area of transparency gives way to reflection as the light angle changes with distance across the quiet evening waters of Swiftcurrent Lake in Glacier National Park, Montana.
In spring of last year, I was thankful to be able to take my parents on another trip through some of our favorite places in Glacier and the southern Canadian Rockies. I've always believed in sharing places you love with people you love. And this trip turned out to be one of our best.
We got to Many Glacier on first day the famed old hotel there opened for the season, and what we found was even more amazing than we'd seen there in prior trips during summer and fall. I loved seeing the snow still on the mountains of course, but what stood out the most for us was the wildlife. We've seen a lot of bears, bighorn, mountain goats and moose in that area in the past, but nothing like this spring trip when the wildlife remained in the greened valleys, dissuaded by the frozen altitudes from climbing higher, and not yet flustered away by the summer crowds.
If I recall correctly, just on our first day there we saw thirteen bears within about a mile of the grand lodge. But what captured our attention the most was this awful drama where a grizzly bear had driven a moose and her calf into the shallows of nearby Sherburne Lake and kept them there under siege waiting for the mother's attention to lapse and leave the wobbly-legged calf vulnerable.
Filled with a sense of dread we watched on and off for hours (from too great a distance for good photography with the lenses I had) as the grizzly stalked along the shore while the mother and child huddled together, fifty or so feet away, in the frigid water borne of melting mountain snow. There must have been something edible already growing in that cold water though because we saw the mother and calf each submerge their heads from time to time as if eating, and each time the mother dipped her head beneath the surface for just a second we thought surely she'd made a fatal mistake.
Inevitably the grizzly's patience waned and it began to close in on the two moose, finally advancing into the water's edge. Then just at the last moment, the mother lurched in between the hungry bear and her calf, rearing up and kicking and stomping at the attacker. Water splashed wildly, and the mother moose swung around to kick more with all the force she could muster with her strong hind legs. Whether she hit the bear or not, we couldn't be sure, but the bear twisted and turned in a hurry and, thwarted, rushed back to the shore several yards away.
Over the next day and half, the bear seemed to refine its dodge and feint strategy, all the while keeping the moose from leaving the lake. To those of us watching, tragedy seemed inevitable, and we went back to the hotel the second night hoping against hope that somehow the moose would have the energy to make it to another dawn.
The next morning we had to leave on our way to Banff, and we were almost afraid to look at the lakeshore as we drove out away from Many Glacier. But we'd apparently miscalculated whose energy reserves were running the lowest, for what we saw in a meadow not far from the roadside was the mother and her cute little calf munching contentedly on fresh grass shoots, the grizzly nowhere to be seen.
Thanks for viewing.
Clear Still Waters
A small foreground area of transparency gives way to reflection as the light angle changes with distance across the quiet evening waters of Swiftcurrent Lake in Glacier National Park, Montana.
In spring of last year, I was thankful to be able to take my parents on another trip through some of our favorite places in Glacier and the southern Canadian Rockies. I've always believed in sharing places you love with people you love. And this trip turned out to be one of our best.
We got to Many Glacier on first day the famed old hotel there opened for the season, and what we found was even more amazing than we'd seen there in prior trips during summer and fall. I loved seeing the snow still on the mountains of course, but what stood out the most for us was the wildlife. We've seen a lot of bears, bighorn, mountain goats and moose in that area in the past, but nothing like this spring trip when the wildlife remained in the greened valleys, dissuaded by the frozen altitudes from climbing higher, and not yet flustered away by the summer crowds.
If I recall correctly, just on our first day there we saw thirteen bears within about a mile of the grand lodge. But what captured our attention the most was this awful drama where a grizzly bear had driven a moose and her calf into the shallows of nearby Sherburne Lake and kept them there under siege waiting for the mother's attention to lapse and leave the wobbly-legged calf vulnerable.
Filled with a sense of dread we watched on and off for hours (from too great a distance for good photography with the lenses I had) as the grizzly stalked along the shore while the mother and child huddled together, fifty or so feet away, in the frigid water borne of melting mountain snow. There must have been something edible already growing in that cold water though because we saw the mother and calf each submerge their heads from time to time as if eating, and each time the mother dipped her head beneath the surface for just a second we thought surely she'd made a fatal mistake.
Inevitably the grizzly's patience waned and it began to close in on the two moose, finally advancing into the water's edge. Then just at the last moment, the mother lurched in between the hungry bear and her calf, rearing up and kicking and stomping at the attacker. Water splashed wildly, and the mother moose swung around to kick more with all the force she could muster with her strong hind legs. Whether she hit the bear or not, we couldn't be sure, but the bear twisted and turned in a hurry and, thwarted, rushed back to the shore several yards away.
Over the next day and half, the bear seemed to refine its dodge and feint strategy, all the while keeping the moose from leaving the lake. To those of us watching, tragedy seemed inevitable, and we went back to the hotel the second night hoping against hope that somehow the moose would have the energy to make it to another dawn.
The next morning we had to leave on our way to Banff, and we were almost afraid to look at the lakeshore as we drove out away from Many Glacier. But we'd apparently miscalculated whose energy reserves were running the lowest, for what we saw in a meadow not far from the roadside was the mother and her cute little calf munching contentedly on fresh grass shoots, the grizzly nowhere to be seen.
Thanks for viewing.