We have a program called MAP MY RIDE, which will find back roads that are bike friendly. It did an excellent job for the first half of our ride from Whitefish to Columbia Falls. We meandered through meadows and grain fields with very little traffic. The biggest excitement was a young buck that came trotting out of a field and took an immediate liking to Charlie. But I rang my little warning bell and the buck halted long enough for Charlie to escape its amorous advances. Will this bell halt a Grizzly? I hope to live to answer the question.
MAP MY RIDE was unable to find any back roads into the Park once we left Columbia Fall. That’s because there are none – only one way in to the Road to the Sun! Leaving Columbia Falls our ride became an exercise in dodging orange barrels, road kill, and extra wide RVs. Thankfully there was a bike path for about half of the stretch into West Glacier.
Curt had preceded us in Vanna to find a picnic spot in Glacier. He found a nice one on the banks of the McDonald River. Folks were floating down it on rafts, headed for Lake McDonald just a few hundred yards to our east. We relaxed with smoked turkey sandwiches washed down with Vitamin water. (Gotta stay hydrated!) The only thing missing from our feast, we decided, was Huckleberry pie. Huckleberries? Apparently it is the local delicacy. We are determined to try them, and there are Huckleberry stands everywhere. We can get pie, jam, ice cream, pancakes, and probably even Quiche made with Huckleberries.
But what, exactly, is a Huckleberry? A quick surf of Wikipedia indicates that it is similar to a blueberry but smaller and darker. What it tastes like, we don’t know. We shall report more knowledgeably on Huckleberries tomorrow, for a stop at The Huckleberry Patch, an emporium advertising on billboards about every 50 feet all the way to Glacier, is on the itinerary.
Bells indeed are a good way to ward off bears. That's why they sell bells to put on hiking sticks right next to the bear pepper spray. Black bears will generally run from people making noise. Grizzly bears not so much. that's why it's a good idea to be able to tell the difference. Often the first thing you see is their droppings (scat), so it is good to able to distinguish Black bear scat from Grizzly scat. Black bear scat has lots of seeds in it from eating berries and little bits of fur from mice and rodents, while Grizzly bear scat has little bells in it and smells like pepper spray.
ReplyDeleteMontana grizzly bears are drawn irresistibly to prey that smells or tastes of huckleberry. So keep that in mind while foraging, indulging and stocking Vanna's larder at The Huckleberry Patch.
ReplyDeleteKidding aside, our daughter-in-law from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, has introduced us to the glories of all things huckleberry. It is a small, sweet yet tart product of the region, akin to northern New England and its delectable pure maple syrup.