NPS Handmade Bear Warning

Sign posted on the window of the entry station to the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park. Some creative park employee definitely has a sense of humor—but it does get the point across! Saw eight different bears (5 grizzly, 3 black bears) during the course of one afternoon in the immediate Many Glacier area this trip, and was able to watch them over the course of several hours. The griz (a pair of sibling two-year olds, and, about a half mile away—no female would ever allow other bears close to her offspring—a mother and two cubs) were goofing off on the mountain side just above the store/restaurant/hotel area. With the aid of binoculars and telescopes it was indeed a highly entertaining time! The black bears—mother and two cubs—wandered through the Swiftcurrent Picnic Area, which is maybe half a mile (at most) down the road. BEAR AWARENESS IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK CANNOT BE OVERSTATED!!!! (By our last trip into Many Glacier later in the week, the colorful sign had been replaced with an official notice of trail closure.)
Photo by Vernon, July 18, 2006.