bears.

This article reminds me of when we were in Glacier National Park.
We were on the east side near the Canadian border about to embark on our 9 mile hike to Cosley Lake where we would spend several nights in the back country.
We were so hyped to be in the mountains that it didn't even dawn on us that anything dangerous could happen.
We were walking to the trail head when we saw "beware of bears" signs and were
super disappointed because we had just driven an hour to get to the top of the park and didn't want to go back into town to grab bear mace.
We decided to take our chances & see how it went--what's the worst that could happen (right)?
Then we came across a Patagonia clad local, Rebecca, who was on her way back from her day hike.
She begged us to take her spray--she would feel too guilty if she heard about two hikers getting killed due to a bear attack that she could have prevented.
We were insistent on returning her mace so she said to take it to Babb (the only town outside of the park).
She was a teacher there & a regular of The Babb Press Cafe.
After 2 minutes on the trail and seeing more than one print & plenty of bear scat we were beyond thankful for Rebecca & the comfort her mace brought to our hike.
At the end of our journey we stopped by The Babb Press Cafe ate tons of bacon & pancakes & left her spray with Sunny, the owner.
bear photo cred