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A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 15 OcTOber 2019
Montana: See the vanishing glaciers and carry bear spray

By BETH J. HARPAZ point, the thing we'd come
Associated Press for: Grinnell Glacier, com-
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, plete with floating ice-
Montana (AP) — I had a lot bergs. A sobering placard
of expectations heading says that the ice sheets
to Montana last summer. I are a fraction of what they
expected to check off my were 100 years ago and
bucket-list dream of driving that they are expected to
Glacier National Park's Go- disappear by 2030.
ing-to-the-Sun Road. I ex- BUTTE
pected to be ready should Butte was a mining boom-
I meet any bears because town in the late 19th and
I'd brought "bear bells" to early 20th century. Many of
repel them. And I was sure its attractions today speak
I'd love the local meat pies to that era, like the 34-room
called "pasties." Copper King mansion, built
Wrong on all counts. The in the 1880s by William A.
Going-to-the-Sun Road is Clark, one of the richest
fully open as of early July men of his time. Today the
but when my husband and mansion is a B&B with guid-
I arrived in early Septem- ed tours.
ber of 2017, much of it was Butte's Mai Wah Museum
closed due to fires. In ad- tells the story of its Chinese
dition, the rangers told me community, 2,000 strong
my bear bells were more at its height. It's housed in
likely to attract curious buildings that were part
bears than repel them. This Sept. 4, 2019 photo shows a view from the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park in of Butte's Chinatown, with
And, sorry, Montanans: I Montana showing a lake ringed by mountains and tall trees. artifacts from the original
tried one pasty in a cafe Associated Press Mai Wah noodle parlor,
and another in a bakery, cheongsam-style dresses
but for my palate, there's Sun Road was a trip I'd of those Japanese paint- not to use them. Instead, from a family exhibit and a
a reason the word pasty dreamed of for years. Un- ings with tiny human figures she recommended bear 1901 directory that listed 35
is pronounced so that it fortunately my 2017 trip co- dwarfed by nature's gran- spray, which we bought. businesses, from laundries
rhymes with nasty. The incided with fires that have diosity. Her other tip: Sing, clap to tailors to drugstores.
good news: All the other become an annual late- That night, we had an el- and make noise. Bears And don't miss the Berkeley
meals my husband and I summer plague here. Most egant supper at Many usually keep away if they Pit. This toxic lake, a mile
had were terrific, from a of the road was closed. Glacier Hotel — includ- hear you. To my husband's long by a half-mile wide,
park restaurant to Southern But a wall of mountains ing scrumptious bison chili dismay, I never shut up the was once an open copper
food in Whitefish. kept the eastern part of and a huckleberry-flavored entire trail. I sang Broadway mine.
I also found a hidden gem the park smoke-free, so cocktail — before watch- tunes and "American Pie," Today it's filled with water
of a museum about Chi- we headed there. High- ing the sun set behind recited Winston Churchill's saturated with heavy met-
nese immigrants in Butte, lights included the Hidden black mountain peaks ring- "Never surrender!" speech als and chemicals. For $2,
along with a freaky poison Lake Trail, where you make ing the lake on the hotel's and belted out this "Sound you can access a viewing
lake. your way along a winding doorstep. The next morn- of Music" riff: "The hills are platform to see the pool
The saddest surprise of all? path through a vast alpine ing, we rose early for an 11- alive with the sound of bear with its odd blue-green hue
Glacier Park's glaciers are meadow toward a back- mile (18-kilometer) round- songs." and hear the sirens going
melting so fast, the National drop of craggy mountains. trip trek to Grinnell Glacier. In the end, we didn't see off to keep birds from land-
Park Service predicts they'll The hikers appear so small You can cut a few miles any bears. But we did see ing. The woman in the gift
be gone in 12 years. in the open field beneath off the Grinnell Glacier hike mountain goats grazing shop who sells tickets jaun-
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK the looming mountains by taking a boat to a trail- above us, moose wading tily announces to all com-
Driving the Going-to-the- that it brings to mind one head, but we opted to do in a turquoise lake below, ers: "There's only one rule:
the whole thing by foot. We and at the trail's turnaround No swimming!"q
set out at dawn, wearing
jackets for the chilly morn-
ing but shorts to keep our
legs cool as the day heat-
ed up. The elevation here
is 6,500 feet (1,980 meters),
including 1,600 feet (490
meters) gained along the
trail, but we'd gotten ac-
customed to the altitude
and felt fine.
BEARS AND THE GLACIER
The most unsettling thing
about the hike was the sign
at the start of the trail: "You
are entering grizzly country
This Sept. 5, 2019 photo shows Grinnell Glacier at the turnaround ... There is no guarantee
point of an 11-mile round-trip hike in Glacier National Park in of your safety." That's why This Sept. 4, 2019 image shows hikers on the Hidden Lake trail in
Montana. I'd brought bear bells. Too Glacier National Park in Montana.
Associated Press bad the ranger told me Associated Press