Canadian Adventure (Part 3) - In the Shadow of the Bear

I am not fearful of most things in the woods.  I know that spiders, snakes and other critters are there but I don't worry about them.  I know how to manage the dangers of avalanches and moving water so I'm not terrified of them.  The Grizzly Bear is different.  I have an unsubstantiated raw animal fear that one will leap out of the bushes and gnaw me to pieces, or worse eat me in my sleeping bag.

We'd been on the road for about 2 weeks but hadn't left the comfort and hard sides of the van too far behind.  Day hikes are a good warm up but I know that to experience a place you really need to be present in that place.  That means spending the night there.  That means sleeping in bear country.  Canadian bear country where Grizzlies are common and encounters frequent.

The Rockwall trail in Glacier NP traverses below a prominent ridge of towering cliffs and peaks.  You can spend 4-5 days walking along it.  It's spectacular from beginning to end.  It was a place Laurel and I both wanted to experience.  The only problem was I didn't want to make the conscious decision to sleep bear country with nothing but ultra-light nylon between me an the beast.  So I left the decision up to her.

So be it, we were going deep into Grizzlies' layer.

Have you ever thought about how close to death you are every time you drive a winding road at night.  As little as 3 feet separates you from tons of oncoming steel with a closing speed of 120 mph.  That's scary.  But we don't give it a second thought, right?  Maybe because it's so common.  Maybe because statistics tell us we'll probably be okay.  Maybe the destination is worth the risk.  None of this reasoning seemed to help when the rangers told us about the fresh Grizzly track just above our first camp.....

We passed the first night without being eaten.  And then the second.  The designated camps were full of people and the risk of an encounter seemed to be low.  Soon the rain let up and we began to experience the Rockwall and the destination became worth the risk.  Thoughts of the bear were overcome by the beauty around us.

On the last day of our traverse the weather had finally broken.  We didn't want to miss out on the opportunity of fair skies in the high country.  Feeling bold from not being eaten on the Rockwall we signed up for something bigger.  We'd enter Mt Assiniboine provincial park from a remote entrance.  One because it was the closest entrance and two because the hike in promised to be spectacular as it crossed to high passes.

This of course meant we'd enter bear country again.  This time it was much more remote.  We were the only car at the trailhead and we didn't see a soul until we had walked 10 miles into the heart of the park.  Passing this sign on the way in reminded us we were visitors and we did everything we could to avoid an encounter.  Loud noise the whole way and of course bear spray at the ready.

In the end we completed our hikes and only saw one bear, a very comfortable distance away.  We only saw a few tracks and diggings.  We heard reports from several people about sightings and we knew they may have been hiding only a few hundred feet from us.  But what we came to see made every anxious heartbeat worth it.

Will I travel in Grizzly country again?  Yes, of course.  Will I ever be as comfortable as driving down a country road late at night?  Probably not.  But there are too many great things in the north country that cannot be missed just because I'm a little scared of a fuzzy wuzzy bear.