Exploring in and around Glacier National Park, August 28, 2014
With all the bears that we saw on this trip, there was only one that we didn’t get a picture of. One of the previous two nights, just before we turned onto Apgar Road from Going to the Sun Road, a black bear started to cross the road in front of us. We were already slowing down for the turn to go to the campground and another car coming from the other direction also slowed after seeing the bear. The bear wheeled around and headed back into the woods before we had a chance to even grab our cameras.
Headed to the Pole Bridge area of Glacier, on Camas Road, we saw four more black bears, a sow and 3 cubs, crossing the road in front of us.
After the bears went into the grass and woods next to the road, we were able to to get a few closer photos of the mother from the car.
The route to Pole Bridge goes outside the park as the inside the park road is closed, at least when we were there. Glacier National Park requests that all bear and mountain lion sightings be reported to them as they want to track any possible interactions with humans and intervene if needed. We reported the bears at the entrance station as we left.
I had reported the first bear to a campground host, telling him that it had been on the Going to the Sun road about to cross over the road into our loop of the campground. While we were talking he told me that the night before, about 11 o’clock, the mountain lion was spotted in ‘E” loop, walking down the campground road. That was the opposite side of the campground from us, but still…! He also said that a mountain lion was seen several days before in the campground with several cubs.
Cradled between the Continental Divide and Whitefish Mountain Range and located a mile from the northwest entrance to Glacier National Park is the electricity-free community of Polebridge. Made up of a handful of houses, cabins, a hostel and small ranches along the North Fork Road, the hub of this area is the historic Polebridge Mercantile and its neighboring Northern Lights Saloon—both powered by generators. (Glacier Country Regional Tourism Commission)
Huckleberry bear claws and other assorted pastries – we got a couple of the bear claws for a morning snack. 
Once back at the campground, we decided to stick around the campsite for the rest of the day. Our site was nice, except for a short period in the afternoon when a little extra shading was needed.
After supper, we walked down to Apgar Village and had some ice cream.
Next: A hike to some falls.
