Glacier national park questions

I have been to Glacier for three weeks during each of the past four years. For wildlife photography it has proved to be the best location I have found. My brother and I use a family style tent and camp in the regular designated campgrounds. There has not been a bear attack in a campground for a great many years.

I have found that slowly hiking the trails out of the campground is the best way to find wildlife. I have literally hundreds of moose, grizzly, and goat photos from the past four years.

Onwuma wrote in post #2220996
This brings me to my next question (which i thought would be appropriate to post in this thread). What do you guys do if you are hiking and camping in the backcountry areas, as far as gear transportation? I mean... my camera bag is the same size as my hiking ALICE pack! Are there bags designed to carry a tent and survival gear as well as camera equipment, or does a guy have to cram all his camera gear in with his camping equipment and then pull it out once a camp is set up? Any tips or pointers on camping with camera gear would be awsome. Thanks agian.

I think the easiest way to bring everything with you would be to rent a pack mule (or horse). Then you wouldn't have to carry anything. But you might need to carry a pooperscooper with you to take care of...I think you know what I mean.

Yeah, but you gotta make sure you take a car rental into account too, Bluedog.

Onwuma wrote in post #2290571
Yeah, but you gotta make sure you take a car rental into account too, Bluedog.

We ended up renting an SUV and then driving there from Chicago. I convinced my wife that a detour stop at Mt. Rushmore, Custer Nationa Park (Actually quite nice, a lot of bison and prairie dogs.) then a drive through Yellowstone was a good idea. (The drive through Yellowstone ended up being a bad idea as we had no time to stop! Now we really have to go there!)

Onwuma wrote in post #2290571
Yeah, but you gotta make sure you take a car rental into account too, Bluedog.

Gotta rent a car either way and rates so far out of Spokane have been a little cheaper. Plus from Spokane you can get unlimited mileage where as most rentals around GNP have a weekly limit, which to me isn't enough.

ssim wrote in post #2224160
I've never done any serious hiking like you are suggesting in many a year. It just seems too much like work. You might have to think about lightening your gear load to handle it and your other necessities.

A word of caution with this in relation to Glacier Park. You are in heart of grizzly country. This should not be taken lightly. Make sure to check with the local ranger stations to find out the recent sightings in the area you are wanting to go to and to register. If you register and don't show back up within a reasonable time frame they will come looking for you. This is a serious matter as there are human/grizzly encounters in this area of the rocky mountains every year.

Advice to heed, last I knew(read about it a few years ago) because of all the inexperienced or just plain ignorant types getting lost/hurt in the great outdoors, agencies are now charging to come get them. Last count I had was three(can't recall if it was state, federal, or both) charging up to $10,000 each for the rescue. It didn't matter if they weren't the ones to find you, if they walked out the door, you get charged.

So be careful and have a blast for us that wish we could tag along.

My wife and are the Day Hike types and will have Bear Spray to use as a last resort.

Thanks for that bit of info 20DNewbie. I was a boyscout, and i've read quite a few survival manuals and tried some of the techniques, but i've never actually navigated such large areas and it's because of this that i don't plan on camping or doing any back country hiking. I will also have a can of bear spray like bluedog said.

Onwuma, you may also want to check out some wilderness survival schools if you intend to broaden your experience in the years to come. I knew a kid back in high school that got a course as a graduation present in which they would train and prepare you for it on the weekends. Then after a 5-6 W/E they would drop you off in the middle of nowhere with a limited kit(I mean really basic) for a week to fend for yourself all alone.

That was about 17 years ago he did it and the last time we saw each other was about 8 years~ ago and he was still talking about how it was such an amazing experience.

We saw one bear in the wild on our trip.

We were driving back to Kalispell, tired after a good day of hiking at the park, everyone in the vehicle was starting to doze off while I drove when from out of nowhere my uncle (riding shotgun) starts to say..

bear... (Did someone say something we all think)

Bear... (What's he talking about?)

BEAR

BEAR!

Now he's shouting and pointing ahead; and sure enough a little black bear is runs across the highway a couple of hundred yards in front of us. It all happened and he dissapeared way to quickly to figgure out what he was saying and get a camera pointed out the window.

20DNewbie, i've thought about it many times. Tom Brown Jr. offers a survival course as well as quite a few nature courses and i may someday attend.