The Belly River Trial continues along Elizabeth Lake and on to Helen Lake. We hiked out 4.5 miles to Helen Lake after a day of rest. (Charlie kept telling me I was walking like I had been riding a horse for a week.) It was an easy walk through the valley.
We came across what Charlie thinks is a grouse...
And a young deer that was just as interested in us as we were in him. He got close enough that I could have reached out and pet him.
And the butterflies were everywhere!
The snow melt meant the water was flowing along the mountain side. This one was pretty loud.
We stopped to get some water.
..that we would incorrectly purify. We're still not sick, knock on wood. Hopefully our haphazard methods were sufficient to kill just enough of those parasites!
We came upon bear tracks.
And even bear scat (yep, that's bear poop!).
But not a single bear! We had our bells and Charlie made noise to prevent an encounter, but we wanted to see one...across the valley, in the mountain, just see one. Every other camper we spoke with had seen at least one grizzly. Many had run into several on the way to Elizabeth Lake from Cosley Lake. Hmph. I decided, being my father's daughter and all, that the next time anyone asked us if we'd seen a bear I'd tell some fantastic story about facing off with a mother grizzly. I don't like to be outdone. I never did get to tell my story, much to Charlie's relief!
The snow kept us from getting to the bank of Helen Lake, but we found a rock to sit on, listen to the rushing water, and enjoy the sun.
Ahern Glacier is along this portion of the range.
Charlie, being a glacier expert and all, thought they were rather small and isn't even sure if they still qualify as glaciers. I wonder how much they've shrunk over the last decade. But you've gotta have glaciers in Glacier Park, right?
In a few weeks, when the snow melts, this will be a perfect campsite. Maybe next year.
Oh, yeah...I'm planning another national park trip for next year. I have a few ideas, but need to do a bit more research.
