What a Day

This morning I left with the intention of hiking the Highline Trail. When I got to Logan Pass it became apparent that was not a good idea due to rain. For some crazy reason I headed down to Apgar where it was also raining. I drove out towards the Huckleberry Lookout trailhead but decided against that hike and returned to East Glacier. By then I needed gas. I headed up to Two Medicine. I decided to stop by the Ranger station and ask them if anyone had turned in the water bottle that I lost yesterday. Some trail angel had found it and turned it in. Thank you Unknown Trail  Angel. I headed up the North Shore Trail with no real destination. I bumped into the CDT hiker that I met the other day. Then I bumped into Lou and Bill, friends of Janes, at Upper Two Medicine Lake. On my return trip I was being safe and calling out when a noise drew my attention. It was a bear scratching it's back on a tree right next to the trail in front of me and too close. To add to that it appeared to be small. It could be a cub and where is mama?  I immediately backed up quite a ways. I contemplated my options. I could take the south shore trail but a bear had been frequenting that trail so I ruled that out. In a worse case I could take the boat back. I decided to clap my hands and make lots of noise. After awhile I took out my bear spray and kept yelling out and took slow steps along the path scanning and listening for any bear activity. There was none. I walked out without problem. Like I said. "What a Day!"