Grizzly

After the morning alder survey, we drove a half hour to a trailhead and backpacked straight up hill for an hour.

We camped in the mud next to Clayton Lake. Snow and cliffs everywhere.

There was a thunderstorm in the middle of the night. My bivvy leaked. My Goodwill sleeping bags sucked. No sleep.

In the morning, we split the survey like we had the day before. I took 3 points on one side of the creek, he started on the other side.

We planned to meet after 2 hours.

Clayton Lake

My first point was high on the mountain. It took me an hour to climb up there. Everything was wet and slippery.

Mountain Chickadee, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Western Tanager, Varied Thrush, Brown Creeper, American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco, Swainson’s Thrush, Townsend’s Solitaire, Fox Sparrow, Warbling Vireo, Red Squirrel, Dusky Flycatcher

Worried about being late, I hurried to get across the creek.

On the other side, there were snow fields separated by dense brush.

As I skated towards a point, I heard my partner, from a long way off, shout, “Grizzly!”

A Grizzly Bear came out of the bushes. I was eye-level with its hump. Its legs were wet. I shouted. It turned and headed up a draw.

I kept shouting. “Survey is cancelled!” My partner kept shouting. Eventually, he appeared out of the bushes.

He said the bear took off toward the creek. I said the one I saw took off up the draw. So there must have been two.

We re-crossed the creek, broke camp, and ran back down to the cars.

Fresh bear poop on the trail.

That was the last survey I will ever do in Montana.