By NewMexiKen [1998]
As we crossed Logan Pass [in Glacier National Park] we noticed a bunch of hikers milling around at the trailhead for the Highline Trail. Why are they standing around, I wondered. We passed an outcropping at the top and started down the other side when Emily yelled, “A bear!”
It was early with no traffic so we backed up and stopped in the road. Sure enough down the slope to our right was a grizzly bear working his way up the hill. He was about 100-125 yards away. A couple more cars stopped. The hikers came around the outcropping to watch. In all, about 15-20 people were admiring the bear as he came closer and closer at a more rapid pace. Emily and I edged back toward the car and she took one more photo before we got in.
Just then we looked and behind the hikers 30 yards behind us was a bighorn ram — bear in front of them, ram behind. My best guess is that the resultant commotion caught the bear’s attention. He began to romp up the slope toward us as Emily put her window up. Before I know it Emily is yelling, “Go Daddy. Go Daddy.”
The bear had come up the slope directly toward our car seeking to cross the road. He was lower than us because of the slope, so had to look up and over the low stone retaining wall to see. What he saw was right into Emily’s eyes 6 feet away (behind the car window). At that moment I pulled ahead a few feet. The bear cut behind our car (in front of the others) and scrambled up the opposite slope. We got two photos as he ran. Emily was sure he had smiled at her.