A moose at Beaver Pond
A moose at Beaver Pond

Day 71: A Moose at Beaver Pond

Sunday, July 31st, 2022

  • Location: Glacier National Park, East Side, MT
  • Longitude: 113° 27' 26" W
  • Latitude: 48° 43' 35" N
  • Miles Today: 0
  • Total Miles: 3120

I went on my first hike in Glacier this morning - a nice loop near St Mary Lake. I ran into Don, one of the security guards at Rising Sun I met yesterday (also a bike tourer himself) and he mentioned Beaver Pond is one of the few places he’s seen moose this summer, but there wasn’t one today. Between the time he was there and I hiked up, one decided to take a dip! I watched her for a long time, just wading in the water and having a hearty snack. It was so cool.

Exploring St Mary

I slept in today and was having a pre-breakfast snack at the picnic table when Ralph, my camp neighbor, offered me a mug of coffee. I got coffee without even leaving the campsite - luxury! Heidi also swung by the campsite and she was headed into town so I arranged to hitch a ride with her.

St Mary is a little resort town that basically exists to service the park. I got a breakfast sandwich at a small coffee/food truck and stocked up on snacks at the grocery store.

I headed back into the park and up to Beaver Pond (of the moose sighting). There were so many beautiful wild flowers along the way. It was also very interesting seeing the landscape scarred by and recovering from a forest fire. It’s both kind of barren and full of new life.

After the hike I went to the visitor center and read all the panels and watched all the videos. The origins of this land becoming a park and the treaties that were made with the local tribes was really interesting. The Blackfeet maintain they still own the eastern side of the park and had just loaned it to the US government. The US government disagrees.

I took the shuttle back up to the campground and had a quiet afternoon. I had a nice siesta, chatted with a new cyclist, Colin, who arrived this afternoon, stole the wifi at the hotel for a while, and enjoyed a chocolate milk on the deck of the general store while staring out at the mountains.

Tomorrow, I’m hoping to do a boat tour and see some waterfalls.