Having done these mission trips for CBC for a few years now we had gotten accustomed to doing things a certain way. Well nothing like changing things up. Brother Ray offered us the opportunity to flip things and go to Glacier Park on the front end of our trip. It gave us more time in the park and some flexibility in what we got to do.
So after an overnight train ride, we went to the mission got a chance to settle in and clean up. We then attended Mass and Little Flower Parish and we got to see First Communion as part of 10:30 Mass. It was nice to get to witness this and was a great catalyst for the day. Following we went to the school, took a quick tour and then got lunch which we ate on our way to the Two Medicine area of the Park. We took a couple of walks in the area and even though we are visiting 2 weeks later than we have in years past there was more snow than we have seen before, by a large margin.
Following our visit to the Two Medicine area, Brother Ray took us to Looking Glass Hill, which over looks the Park and then we briefly visited the St. Mary's part of the park. The real treat was going to Many Glacier which is another 20 miles North of there. Many Glacier is usually a great place to view wildlife and gives another unique view of the park. On the way in we did not see much in the way of wildlife but we did enjoy great views and great weather. We took a short hike up along a rocky hill above the two lakes. From there we spotted our first wildlife. Two Mountain Goats were rambling along the hill headed down to get some food and a drink. We got a closer look as we got back on the Bus to head back to the mission. By this point we were all bleary eyed and tired. The boys were dozing off in the back of the Bus and I was well on my way. I kept looking back and forth and then I saw it out of the corner of my eye. A large black Bear. We are not sure whether it was a Grizzly or a Black Bear. Color is not the deciding factor and Brother Ray is getting the pictures verified. It was awesome to see and we safely viewed our new friend for a good 10-15 minutes as it ate in the brush.
At that point we were pretty satisfied and also much more alert when less than a quarter of mile away we saw another Bear in a clearing. This one had the traditional coloring of a Grizzly but we cannot be 100% sure. This guy was keenly aware of the bus and regularly looked up at us before meandering up in the thicket making it hard to see.
This was an extremely rewarding wildlife siting and the best in my three years on the trip, as we rested on the way back to the mission you could tell the boys were excited for the week. The evening culminated with a nice meal put on by Brother Dale and one of the Lasallian volunteer Teachers Kelly. Brats, Spaghetti, Salad and Brownies filled us up.
Next up is the first real day of work. We start our work early on Monday morning and it is shaping up to be a great week of work.
Check out Pictures at: https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#ABG6XBubJu78N0
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