Waking up in Glacier National Park was definitely bittersweet. It
was a thrill to bicycle around the park the day before and enjoy all the
natural life! We even met another cyclist in camp, Dylan! He is riding
his bicycle to his brothers wedding in New York. Dylan is a recent grad
and teacher in the San Fransisco area. He knows a great deal about
literature, wears a well kept brown beard, and can pound a chili burger
in no time. To put it simply, he is a man's man. But even Dylan will
agree that our day riding together was nothing but cold (38 degrees)
mixed with a rain that chilled us all to the bone. The forecast called
for scattered showers, but we experienced much more than that. We packed
up our wet gear and move onto a small town called Essex. The rain just
continued to pour. I wanted to cry. Especially because I have been
having some trouble shifting my gears and the bicycle is not
functioning, trust me it's not an operator error. On top of that Chloe
and Pops put me to break the wind in front! I was trying so hard to keep
a good pace but my legs were cold and tired. So there I was, a soggy
mess and my feet were wet spinning out of control, going nowhere. Then,
all of a sudden who pulls up to my side with a little smile on her face,
not breaking a sweat? Little Osoita, she came to save the day! It was
great, or at least better, considering our circumstance. That is until
Papa got a flat tire.
The sun finally started to break through the clouds.
Right on cue I was prompted into song with Annie's the sun will come
out tomorrow, our day was beginning to turn around. Chloe was so far
ahead of me and Papa, in what she calls " the zone". I on the other hand
call it hallin' ass for no apparent reason. As I rode around the bend
trying to catch up I realized my efforts were worthless and decided it
would be a lot more fun to identify flowers on the side of the road. So I stopped. After a few minutes of frolicking in the flowers I noticed something peculiar, there was no Pops coming around the corner. I
waited, still nothing. Regretfully I decided to turn around
and go find him. I only say this because I had just finished climbing a
hill. Against the wishes of my legs, which were telling me to stay put, I
convinced myself it was the right thing to do.
It's a scary thing when you loose your Papa. Just like when you
loose anything, all of these bad thoughts creep into your mind. I
thought to myself "oh no where is that little old man, surely he didn't
fall into another ditch, what if he hurt himself, or fell over into the
road, great, how am I supposed to find him..." Just then I saw something
move, but it was low in the brush and still too far away to make out
any detail of the object. As I got closer I realized it was moving,
slowly, it was curiously hunkered down in this fetal position. All of a
sudden I saw it! A wild Pa! Cute lil' guy was sitting in the grass
fixing his flat tire. I said "hey, there you are, I started to worry. Oh
by the way I have no idea where Chloe is, probably at the halfway cabin
with a hot chocolate in hand because that little girl don't wait for no
one!" We laughed, not too much time passed before we saw Chloe riding
back. Yay! All together again. Just then our cycling buddy Dylan rolled
up and we all rode together! He is such a cool guy, so friendly, and
it's nice to know that someone else is on the trail with you.
We made it to our cabin just outside of Essex. Dylan
went ahead to camp at another site. The rest of the night was pretty
uneventful.
Oh wait. Except for the Grizzly
Bear that we saw only 30 feet away from our cabin!! Yes it was that
close. It was the first time Chloe and I have ever seen a bear in the
wild! It was such an amazing animal. So big and so brown! Pa said it was
a juvie. For being young it still looked to weigh about 400 pounds!
It's funny because for the past two days we have been camping in the
park and Osoita refuses to put her food and bags away into a bear box.
She insists that "bears are nocturnal, they won't come out this early, I
have nothing to worry about." Oh was she so wrong. I am now completely
in love with bears. We watched our grizzly friend until he retreated
into the woods.
Five minutes later Chloe and I decided it was time to check out the
country store and re-stock our depleting food storages. I joked around "better bring the bear spray,
just in case." We started walking and I was stopped dead in my tracks. I
grabbed Chloe's arm as she said "what, what?" There in the road right
in front of us was the same juvie bear! It was a little scary to see the bear right in the open. It didn't pay us any attention and
continued to cross the road. I later learned more
about the grizzly bear. It's fascinating because the juvie bear we saw
was about two years old, sometime last winter Mama bear kicked out
our furry friend because she had a new cub.Folks around here call the new born bear "cub of
the year", and the older bear a "yearling". When Mama bear "dens up" and has
her new cub of the year, she doesn't wanna be crowded by all them kids! As a solution she kicks out the
yearling. They no longer live or hibernate together. Poor little guy. That's all for now!
Hannah
