Glacier National Park Day 1

We arrived in Kalispell by airplane around 1:15 on Wednesday 10/10 and wasted no time getting our rented Toyota 4 Runner to the super market to pick up a few essentials we couldn't get before we left.  I had called ahead to our Bed and Breakfast where we planned to stay on Saturday night, to ensure they had our reservation, and the owner generously offered to loan us camp stove fuel and bear spray.  Apparently he had a surplus of these items as folks often purchase them while they are here and then have to leave them behind because you can't bring them on the plane.  More on the B&B later, for now we were heading to Apgar to beat the 4pm closing time in order to obtain our backcountry camping permit for Cracker Lake the following night.  The ranger looked at us quizzically when we told him where we were headed.  "The bears are extremely active this time of year.  Please use caution around the switchbacks at the beginning of the trail, because as i said, they are VERY active right now and you don't want to surprise one.  Also, have you checked the weather?  Its going to be really windy at Cracker Lake.  Do you have warm weather gear and extra clothing?"

This should have foreshadowed what was coming, but with our best intentions we carried on.  When you go to get a permit, they require you to watch a 15 minute long bear safety video.  The video includes such tips as yelling "bear bear bear" before you come around a blind corner.  That way the bears can know where you are, and we mused, have less trouble finding you to eat you.  The video also demonstrates how to properly operate bear spray.  Interestingly, bear spray contains vegetable matter that once sprayed, can actually ATTRACT bears.  We left the ranger station completely convinced the bears had been behind the production of the entire video.  Thanks Jim Gaffigan, I believe you said it best.

After snapping a few photos at the gorgeous overlook of Lake Macdonald...

...and generally reveling in the glee of finally being in this gorgeous place, we got back in the 4 Runner for an hour's drive to the Two Medicine Lake Campground, where we had planned to spend night 1.  As usual for us, the weather was not cooperative.  As snow began to fall, we quickly changed into our cold weather gear and made a couple of hot drinks - apple cider and cinnamon schnapps to be precise, and then headed out to explore.  As you can see, the clouds obscured much of the scenery.

The camping that night was incredibly cold.  A special thanks to North Face and Marmot for excellent cold weather gear that despite the 10 degree overnight low, kept us warm and toasty.  Though neither one of us slept particularly well with the thought of bear attacks in our head, we were still more comfortable than anticipated and awoke the next morning to adventure on to Many Glacier and Cracker Lake.

A note here: we found out after the fact this morning at the B&B that two hikers from the east coast went missing in the Two Medicine Lake area the day we were there.  They had apparently obtained back country permits to hike into Oldman Campground, and were not seen or heard from at the time they were supposed to check out.  More info can be found here and our thoughts are with these men and their families.  A grave reminder of how dangerous this area is at this time of year.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/two-hikers-overdue-in-glacier-s-two-medicine-area-weather/article_c6c156b5-a76e-50fd-a55e-7f673770e761.html

Update as of 10/15 - the hikers were found, and are healthy and alive.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/jason-hiser-neal-peckens_n_1968651.html?utm_hp_ref=green