Face to Face with a Grizzly at the Top of a Mountain: Backpacking Glacier National Park | 4K

[Music] far to the West is a land full of incredible natural wonder and rugged wilderness [Applause] today we journey to a special place and experience one of our greatest Adventures yet [Music] [Applause] today we journey to a place worth protecting Glacier National Park [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] towards the end of summer we all flew to Montana landing at the Glacier Park International Airport once again the whole crew was reunited for one of our biggest adventures yet see we're all friends still from the airport we drove to a lodge where we'd be staying to rest and recuperate before the big hike ahead after a day full of flying we needed some time to wind down and prepare for the trip whoa oh dude we got couches after inspecting the room we grabbed a quick meal at the Lodge's restaurant [Music] then we went to pick up some snacks for the trail before heading back to our lodge and making the final preparations tomorrow we would leave to hike through the mountains of Glacier National Park [Music] we awoke early at dawn as we had a decent Drive ahead of us before the hike outside everything was peaceful and still birds chirped in a Brisk Mountain Air [Music] we loaded up the car with our gear then headed out as we drove out we checked some last minute details about our Trail and enjoyed the incredible Mountain scenery around us [Music] the morning sun rose as we neared the park and we saw more scenes of incredible mountains and distant verdant Hills [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] as we drove we passed through some rural towns amidst vast Meadows suddenly we saw grazing cattle emerging from the bushes and wandering onto the road [Music] eventually we reached our Trailhead at the two medicine Campground we unloaded all of our bags and readyed our gear for the hike before heading out on the trail we went to check out two Medicine Lake [Music] does everyone know the difference between a mountain goat and a bighorn sheep I didn't know until we saw some bighorn sheep and I tried to call them big horned goats and they said don't call me that [Music] we made our way to the trailhead where it was time to review our plans from the trailhead we would hike to encamp at the old man Lake Campground from there we would continue on the trail and stay at no-name Lake Campground before hiking back out we continued on the trail crossing a bridge that passed over calm clear water here we arrived at the first Junction all right you guys ready how you feeling this is Bear frequenting area Oldman lake so we'll be very bare safe and Bear Aware yeah we got to make sure that we don't leave Andrew behind like we just did right now man during that car ride part of me was like getting lulled into just being tired but once you're out in the mountain there you feel so good and ready to hike how do you feel it didn't take long for Andrew to spot some interesting plants in this meadowy area there's a lot of different berries growing these ones in particular are called service berries they're really similar to like blueberries or huckleberries things of that nature they're sweet without too much tartness so it's kind of like a candy it's very much like a blueberry basically so we also saw some snowberries which are called that because they have this very white snowy look to them and these berries unlike the surface berries are toxic they'll induce vomiting but apparently Native Americans and also people from Siberia would use this Berry in soaps and lotions and things like that and up ahead we came across a small group of bighorn sheep grazing on the trail you'd confuse bighorn sheep and mountain goats but mountain goats had those long horns and they're usually white this time of year bighorn sheep they just kind of look like sheep with big horns I did not expect to see so much Wildlife right off the trailhead in the distance we saw a calm Mountain stream as we hiked higher up in elevation the further into the trail we got the more vegetation we saw growing along the trail so growing among these bushes is some sort of Rose I don't know exactly what species but they've got these plump red fruits called rose hips and Roses are all edible there's not really any poisonous versions of it so I'm gonna give this a quick try it tastes like almost tomatoey in a way weird way it's got a lot of hard seeds though so we also saw this Fireweed plant and this bearberry which has been used as food medicine and included in smoking mixtures by Native Americans see autumn just starting to hit this environment and you can even smell the pungence of some of the leaves that have fallen especially from those popular trees I think is what I'm smelling so here's another common plant that you find throughout the park it's called bear grass because if you look down here the leaves look very grassy and they have these big stalks and earlier in the season they'll have these poofy white flowers but this is actually not a grass plant and even though it's called bear grass bears actually don't tend to like it in addition to plants we heard the chatter of squirrels yes I don't know if it's different here if it changes on the animals but at least in Colorado right now it's elk running season because of that you want to stay much further away because they're much more aggressive they try and show off and show their their value more so we're seeing that a little bit here with the squirrels at least not sure if that translates to other animals hopefully we don't find out yeah this is a bear claw Mark I remember we saw like a big gash in one of the trees in Yellowstone but this one is definitely one because it's got these parallel marks wow but yeah you can just see all the sap oozing out and smells kind of nice but we were definitely deep into Bear Country but we weren't exactly eager to see a bear face to face but just ahead of the trail we saw more signs of bears bear scat it looks like they've been eating a lot of these orange berries we keep seeing which part of some sort of a mountain ash plant they grow in these orange bunches there's some all around us but now to give it a tasteless we continued hiking taking in the incredible Mountain scenery all around us the beautiful Rocky Peaks and the vast swaths of coniferous trees were absolutely idyllic and the Lush vegetation we kept seeing a standard dust as well I think this is a bit more vegetative than any of us had expected probably not going to stay that way for long but right now it's actually quite thick we kept hiking eventually entering a forest of coniferous trees a bit further on the trail we saw a dried up creek bed the ranger told us that the only water source is going to be at our campsites and this on the map would have been a water source so right at some time of year or at some time of rain wetness this would actually be water we are camping by a lake so we should be pretty set yeah now the coniferous trees gave way to deciduous trees this open Grove of Aspen trees this is what I love about the west and especially now that Autumn is just hitting some of the leaves are turning yellow I don't know what it is it almost feels artificial like if we went to a place that was designed to show people of the future what a real horse was like the weather is like perfect yeah yeah I could be wrong but I think where that saddle is between these two Hills I think that's where we're going to be heading up tomorrow no so I think we're actually going this way we're going to be going between those two we're going to go along the left of that range ignore everything I said I was wrong [Music] the trail now let us down a bit in elevation into a wide meadowed Valley [Music] thank you foreign on either side of us Rocky Peaks towered high above and it was an unbelievably picturesque landscape yo when was the last time we saw these great open Meadows with mountains yeah Yellowstone maybe it is really cool how the trail just opened up in this it was like our Dream landscape it is it is [Music] as we made our way through the meadow we saw Meadow plants like this Sierra plant that had gone to seed a useful plant for treating cuts and wounds but of course the stunning views were what kept our attention most of the time [Music] probably one of the most stunning sceneries I've seen I think just looking right here and being able to see this like not even that far from you is just insane to me it is crazy we are just like right in this perfect Valley between these two mountains like a lot of times when you hike through valleys in my experience you're still kind of in the mountains and you don't get to like see this vast Open Meadow but it makes me feel like I am in Switzerland or something and I'm gonna sing on some hills about the sound of music I'm a little surprised at how uncrowded the trail is we saw one group ahead of us maybe one person past us this is like most national parks if you get out away from the major crowds like immediately the number of people drops off dramatically oh you know this is I think Dry Fork Creek up ahead bone dry we actually just went hiking maybe two weeks ago and that trail also had no water so this must just be like a really dry time of year or it's a coincidence we crossed the stream arriving in an area with beautiful popular trees and colorful rocks the rocks are reddish green and red maybe iron content typically if there's iron content you'll see splotches of red because of the oxidation no I don't know exactly what the difference is but it's just so striking it's like I mean you know when you like watch an old VHS and it's all like green and purple that's what I feel like right now yeah you can see it up there too so yeah this must just be this area in this area we also saw Willie Bear caterpillars scampering across the rocky rubble and Andrew spotted an interesting fungus so throughout this Meadow there's all these surface fairies growing and there's one here that's affected by this fungus called the cedar Apple rust skull and basically it's a fungus that infects the plant and then it produces all these gross looking orange tendrils that stick out of the berries and spread spores those usually affect cedar trees as well as plants related to Apples and roses and things like that we continued on passing by some poplar trees before coming to an intersection Oldman Lake Campground four miles and then to where we just started 2.3 miles done so far and then of course you got the bare frequenting area Oldman Lake Campground could not be more specific than that at the end of our Trail we were initially going to do upper two medicine campsite I think that actually had active bear activity and there was a carcass found of a moose we wouldn't have had a choice if we wanted to so yeah 4.1 miles that's not bad yeah pretty good progress today okay A little bit of water that's good that's pretty encouraging Indian Paintbrush yep oh I'm an expert on that Indian Paintbrush boy from there we entered a section of woods I'm loving how this little patch of Pine Forest feels right now because even though there's a lot of trees they're kind of smaller Everything feels open and the ground is carpeted in these blueberry bushes that are just turning red and yellow and it's just such a brilliant contrast of color right now it looks like there's more signs of some sort of an animal here I don't know what even claw marks or I don't think it's claw it looks too broad to be a claw it looks like rubbing maybe yeah yeah an antler some sort of antlered animal rubbing on this and up ahead was another interesting sight so what are all these leaves that we're surrounded by I was trying to figure that out are these saplings or they have these little red clumps on here we saw them earlier but since we're in the west it's like pretty alien to me we hiked past sections of poplar trees and their pale smooth bark as well as some Alder trees the trail now emerged into a grassy Hillside where we saw distant mountains as it went on it wove through more sections of meadow and Forest the trail seem fairly easy and flat so we checked our GPS to see the terrain ahead uh according to all Trails we're about to hit a sharp climb in a few seconds here these views will hopefully keep us going because they are amazing if I'm not mistaken we're gonna be up on that Ridge tomorrow since we were making decent progress we were eager to take snack breaks along the trail we hike through another portion of the woods before emerging at a beautiful cascading stream well I guess this is awesome after crossing the stream we saw that there was a separate path for those riding in on horses so if you got a horse you go that way if you got some feet you go that way come on just jump on Thomas's back and make him be a service animal you know from all of the pictures that I saw I did not know this first day was going to be quite so foresty and nice I thought it would be a lot more exposed up on a hillside or something I guess that's tomorrow it's like a goblin forest or something [Music] so as we're kind of starting to get some uphill we can hear the sounds of a creek below according to the map that is Dry Fork and let me tell you it is not dry or a fork before exactly just ahead on the path we could see the distant Russian creek and a waterfall we hiked past the pine trees and fir trees and eventually found a side Trail leading to an Overlook of the distant Falls [Music] at the Overlook the surrealness of the landscape really started to set in like it just hit me that we're out here this is weird it's so spectacular all those pine trees in the distance just look like a painting or something what's bizarre to me is the rock wall to me if I'm not paying attention I just think that's the sky right there and then you look up and you see this giant yeah mound of Rock [Music] foreign [Music] to the main trail and continued hiking the trees once again gave way to open Meadows which gave us a clear view of the distant mountains super distinct triangular looking one is flinch Peak that is going to be in our view I believe as we're camping at Oldman lake so Flinch Morgan McClintock that's just where the Continental Divide occurs and so that you can actually take the Continental Divide Trail and and we'll be on that same route there for a little bit most of our attention was caught by the views around us but we did see a peculiar sight on a tree so as we were walking past the street we thought at first these were like spider webs but Pond's closer inspection actually bags like netted bags you can tell that they're covering like clumps of pine cones so I'm wondering if maybe they're to catch like pine cone seeds so that they can collect them for some reason like maybe reforestation or something like that there's just strange that it's on this one tree alone and all these other ones don't have any my guess would have been to prevent animals from eating it but it still just doesn't make sense it's like why this one tree before we got on this Trail you were asking me is this going to be painful or not and I said assume pain and if it's not pain be pleasantly surprised and since we have less than two miles left of the campsite I think we can assume that we have been pleasantly surprised this has been great are you feeling the peace right now Thomas yes is that okay can I is that the right answer [Music] foreign [Music] as we approached our campsite we saw more Rocky Bluffs protruding from the Hillside and the weather began to shift and all these hazy clouds and kind of refreshing though yeah it's kind of funny because it's still summer but we knew ahead of time that it was going to be quite chilly up in these mountains as long as it doesn't start raining which probably will in a few days really nice Thomas pointed out these holes dug out of the ground and you can even see some of the rubble on this one not exactly sure what animal is doing that I know Pike is around here what is a pica it's like a little rodent looking thing because of the fact that there's so much dirt kicked out you know that it's something that has like legs and then we'll be kicking the dirt out I've seen groundhog holes and they're very much like this like a very prominent hole tons of dirt at the entrance just because they are constantly kicking it out from our Vantage Point here we could see distant Barren rocks and snow fields we had hiked quite a distance wow hard to imagine that we started all the way back at the beginning of that Valley there also is it just me or does it feel like these mountains have gotten super close really quickly it's that same weird thing where when you're in a mountainous area the mountains simultaneously look closer and further than they actually are it's hard to explain knowing that we had to climb to the top tomorrow the mountains still looked pretty far thankfully though we were getting fairly close to our campsite at a decent pace the chill of the air and the changing colors of the plants like the Bare Grass and the red blueberry bushes hinted at the impending changes in the season the many vibrant colors of this landscape made its scenery especially breathtaking but in spite of the amazing views the Trail began climbing uphill with plenty of time to spare we decided to take a break and have a snack we hadn't hiked much but the mental fatigue was already setting in it was Island crunch what does that even mean oh because it's got pineapples in it yeah they got like pineapples and bananas [Music] tear that a little bit off Andrew that's what I was asking I just don't want extra loose pieces right now I get Andrew yeah I don't yeah I already tore that stop and threw it away at the hotel see me and Thomas are friends and Brian did the right thing but I get you Andrew friends ended with Thomas it's like I want a new enemy this trip Brian you are my new one he's like Johnny Cage you'll fight me no you will fight me that's funny because if we were Mortal Kombat characters Thomas would a thousand percent be Johnny Cage I got the glasses we continued on hiking across layers of craggy Red Rock across the trail we've received some exciting but unsettling news so we just passed two people who came from the lake and they said that they saw a bear with some Cubs I didn't hear what they said was it at an intersection or something the first guy we passed said he saw the Bears at the junction either way it was black bears but with the Cubs obviously you want to be extra carefully we now ascended up a steeper Hill which tired us out a bit still we kept an eye out for bears as we trudged along thankfully we were getting pretty close to our campsite at this point we probably have less than a half mile of hiking left we're almost to the final intersection where we'll turn left towards the lake and at the intersection is where everybody said the Bears were frequenting so we shall see this uphill's killing me man yeah this is I thought I might still be conditioned after Cumberland Gap but clearly that was not the case I think we can expect something like this tomorrow but I think with killing us is we're expecting that Junction anytime soon yeah that is Bob Hill has just been constant expectation is the killer of joy Bear's been busy pooping and eating and then we spotted a bear a small black bear cub peeking out of the shrubs hello that is a bear yeah let's just keep going let's keep going just keep moving oh there's one right there Let's uh let's go okay okay all right we'll keep talking go bear we don't of course we don't have anything to do you'll be here Andrew come on Yo bear come on kill bear yo bear go bear so there's the pass okay recording the Bears were very accurate on their findings that was right on the junction yeah and there was a little one yeah there was a small one with black Furs peeking right over I saw that one actually as we were walking by kind of run off away from us and there's another that was brown but I couldn't make out of his Grizzly or not because we were trying to yeah yeah that was the mother yeah that was the mother that was a brown black there yeah the one of the Rangers we talked to also said that they very May well closed this Campground tomorrow because of bear activity and if there were Bears just right there that would make sense with bear spray in hand we arrived at the junction just before our campsite it's no surprise that there were Bears here because there are huckleberries growing everywhere here and we had the service berries earlier but these ones are huckleberries and they're very plump and juicy and dark colored actually so hmm that tastes like a blueberry pie filling like it's so soft and sweet I might even that is delectable yeah that's really good I've washed mine a little bit exactly blueberry pie filling that's exactly what it tastes like that's actually really good so sweet yeah wow good job Andrew I'm confident that I could eat that just ahead we arrived at the campground's eating area where we sat down to debrief so let's talk about what just happened first we talked with a really really cool park ranger and he actually speaks Chinese he was pretty good I understood what he was saying but he was super cool he gave us some recommendations of stuff to check out but also talked about the Bears they said they might even close this campsite after we leave tomorrow yeah because of that they're they're close they could come over if they wanted to yeah I was not as freaked out as I thought it would be though it is kind of surreal when you like especially seeing that bear poking its head up it almost you're like almost like Is that real or is that fake obviously the initial was like I was like oh man but then you know gather your nerves let's move and then you kind of see the bear he's just like chowing down yeah he's like all right let's just keep going we saw the Cub first and so when I saw the Cub I'm like okay clearly the mother must be around it looked very brown but because the Cub was black we knew that that was a brown black bear if it was a grizzly bear I'd be a little bit more nervous but brown black bears they're just chilling it's a balance of being smart and aware and respectful of nature but also not being so afraid that you know you can't enjoy stuff like this without being super paranoid you're more likely to fall off a trail than get eaten by a bear totally after that we hung up our food there's no messing around out here anytime you aren't eating you have to make sure your food is securely hung to prevent bears from getting to it together we chatted with a fellow hiker named Devin after we hung our food he told us the bear had again wandered near the trail we'll leave those berries for you yeah we'll be fine the bear the Bears for the berries tonight yeah whoa that sounds like something a little a little bigger I wonder if that's the mom in the Cubs while watching the bear it had let out a loud hoof a sign that it was stressed or irritated we hurriedly but calmly left the area and went to set up our campsite we were definitely all a bit on edge after having two bear sightings in a row and knowing that a mama bear and her Cubs were roaming around this area we decided to head down to the lake to unwind but first a bathroom break so because you have to number one at this latrine so that a goats don't lick your pee we're just all going right now just be safe and I think if any of us have to go at night we're going to do a buddy system carry the bear space obviously go ahead Tommy actually I'm gonna take this off there is not much Ruby foreign now we made our way to the lake the view of its calm Quiet Waters helps decide our adrenaline put us in a much more peaceful mindset yo this is unbelievable it's very peaceful quiet and still water foreign [Music] foreign [Music] although it was chilly and cloudy Andrew and Thomas couldn't resist taking a quick dip in the waters of this Mountain Lake okay go ahead oh mama oh yeah that's very cool oh it's a straight up ice water literally feels kind of good though refreshing yeah it gets deep real fast here starting to go numb you guys are making the right decision though the refreshingess is not worth the lack of sunlight and having to deal with the cold afterwards yeah cause this is not drawing the way that it would in the Sun well I can't feel the jagged peaks of the Rocks as I walk now laughs it had only been the first day of our trip but already we had such a variety of experiences we've been out in the wilderness before but something about Glacier felt especially rugged wild and unique while we enjoyed the view of the lake we chatted about our time so far and our plans for tomorrow it's funny because just before this we saw another sighting of bears and so that kind of left us feeling unsettled but now we're like in this super peaceful Placid Lake and I think that's what's so astounding to me since moving to Denver I've gotten to get to go to a lot of lakes like this but every time I go so crowded all the time and there's only just five of us here we should soak in how nice this feels right now yes because it is definitely going to rain tomorrow I'm fine with getting up at like seven with right before Sunrise to get as much time in the morning as we can we're here early enough that it's like yeah it's five o'clock oh yeah did anyone bring coffee did you bring coffee no I didn't bring anything I brought whole beans oh you brought your grinder a grinder and then my Aeropress hopefully they're not sour like last time 's getting triggered already I'm just gonna dare you insult my coffee well I'm not hungry yet but I think I'm gonna take a nap okay I'm actually getting a little hungry like a great nap spot I'm gonna I'm gonna sit here does anyone else want to sit here with me yeah I mean I'll stay here oh not here okay all right someone needs to take a Kung Fu picture with me I demand this is like a good thing for Brian after relaxing by the lake we decided to fill up on water using our new Gravity filter then we return to the eating area to prepare dinner with the water boiled we readied our dehydrated meals everyone at the eating area was talking about the Bears we had seen I mean we've camped in Bear territories before but it's never been like this where we are it's mostly the black bears yeah right we're never really worried about it yeah yeah but that's what he said these guys were I think it was black bears it was just not a big deal yeah they're just going through what is it yeah good too after eating our food we put our gravity filter to work and then hung up all of our scented items once again the Evening Sun briefly casts the sky and its orange glow before giving way to dusk with all of our water filtered we returned to camp and settled into our tents it's pretty cozy in here yes it is just so you know bear spray over here in case you hear something what do we do we start talking in a normal normal voice okay well it is currently 7 58 p.m I said I was going to go to bed at 8pm I have two minutes to get to sleep so see you in the morning man I do love the false security of the tent this is like the first time we've done some cozy Colder Weather tenting yeah whole year yeah almost like well it's especially true because we went to like Texas in February so yeah I think we were all a bit nervous after the bear thing but I am ready to have a good sleep very tired yeah it's gonna be a good night's sleep yeah all right good night good night foreign the next day Thomas and I awoke at dawn while we waited for the others to get up we talked about our Knights how did you sleep I was half awake but definitely half asleep too where I was dreaming but I was very conscious of all the things that were happening outside my tent I felt like I kept waking up but based on the stretches of dreams that I had I think I got decent sleep yeah I hear every time you sleep in a new spot your brain keeps itself a little bit awake just as like you know back from when we were home hunter-gatherers their gatherers yeah especially when you feel like you are the hunted being gathered it still doesn't feel like the most restful sleep no I think I need some water and coffee or something yes well on to that but before we could do anything else a black bear showed up 30 yards from our campsite [Music] wow wow [Music] it's very exciting but [Music] we watched out of amazement and caution as we hardly packed up our gear thankfully it seemed much more interested in the huckleberries than in us after we got our gear packed up we made our way to the food area for breakfast and Brian and I chatted about our nights let you guys sleep um I don't know if I can answer that after I got the bathtub I slept in two large stents I got up once when it started raining and I was like oh and I went back to sleep I had my alarm set for six and I said no I can't do it I changed it to 6 30 at some point and I was like no I can't do it I changed it to 650. and then finally I said no I can't do this and I turned it off completely and I was like the last one to get up my dreams were lended into my sleep so much that I don't know how much I dreamed and how much I slept like I literally dreamed that Andrew was like I'm gonna go out of the tent and I was like what and then I've Mitch I handed him the bear spray and the dream and then I was just still sleeping and then I realized like wait a minute Andrew's still in the tent I think the whole night basically like my dreams were just about being in that tattoo all I dreamed about was bears now it was time to head out and we had quite a hike ahead of us okay so the toughest part of the hike is going to be this next section we're going to climb all the way up this hill here once we get to the top that should be one of the best views in the entire park or so we've heard [Music] we came to the junction leading up to the Mountain Ridge and saw some signs of wildlife I'm guessing this is some bear trampolines right here bears are frequenting this area probably came in here to eat more berries and stuff as we climbed higher more of the view of old man Lake was revealed to us [Music] and up ahead we ther hikers that had left Camp before us so two of our neighbors are already way up there we've only hiked like two inches but views already looking really great we've been to the Rockies before like in the Tetons and stuff but these flat layers of Red Rock are so different from what we saw there [Music] the sun now started peeking through the clouds shining on The Ridges just before Flinch Peak [Music] and along the trail there were interesting plants so right now we're still below the tree line so there's lots of herbaceous vegetation growing and there's some big leaves growing on the side of the trail and that belongs to the Angelica family I think it's something like giant hogweed or something related to that which is related to wild carrots as well as poison hemlock and down here we actually have more of those red berries from that mountain ash that the Bears were eating so over here we also have a thistle plant right now there's no stalk or flour but the leaves the way they radiate out from this base is super mesmerizing and thistles even though they're super prickly they are actually edible and in fact anytime you eat an artichoke it's a type of thistle that's been domesticated foreign [Music] as more of the incredible Vista was revealed to us we were truly struck by how rugged and awe-inspiring this place was I really did think that I would never come to places like this like I always just figured that this was just for photographs and movies I've never actually seen it with my own eyeballs this is kind of the place that when we first started backpacking it was my absolute dream to visit yeah this is the platonic ideal of backpacking it's 360 degrees of good views foreign we continued on and Andrew spotted another plant so this plant here is called Fireweed right now we can see the last bits of its flowers further down the stalk here there's sort of these little seed pods Fireweed is really interesting because it has this whole racing of flowers they bloom from the bottom to the top and as they get pollinated they close up and turn into seed pods So based on where how many blooms there are and where they are on the stalk you can tell how late in the season you are and how close to Winter you are it's also called Fireweed because it's really good at colonizing like fresh new land if there's a wildfire these are some of the first things to grow on that burnt land Native Americans and Siberians collect the fresh shoots and actually eat them and I think I've seen some of those leaves of that plant lower in elevation but because we're higher up we managed to still see some of the flowers blooming now the uphill trudge continued the trail was incredibly steep but the morning sun kept our spirits up pools of Golden Light slid across now distant verdant hillsides and in the other direction of the valley stunning crepuscular Rays pierced the clouds which we had seen yesterday we now felt like we were only at the beginning of an epic fantasy story the scenery made us feel as though we were living out our childhood dreams of mystical Adventures foreign along the trail we saw a chipmunk taking shelter a fruiting Lupine plant a flowering yarrow an inconspicuous strawberry plant and a purple aster and we saw more signs of bear activity as we climbed higher the temperature steadily dropped I I almost feel like I need to put both sleeves on it I didn't think I would need gloves but I could almost use gloves up here feels like it's in the 40s Maybe we continued uphill excited to see what awaited us at the top of the ridge clouds swirled above Flinch Peak as sunbeams continued to shine down from above [Music] we still hadn't reached the Mountain Ridge but in the distance we could see even more uphill that awaited us foreign [Music] with Switchback after Switchback it seemed like the uphill never ended so when we were down there that's when this mountain was deceptively far but now that we're here it is deceptively close because every time I'm like oh this looks like the last one before at the top this actually is the last one oh really there's no more such bags just after I said that we had hit three more switchbacks the trail lied to me I'm telling you I've done if you look at the trail there was no switchbacks left now that we're up here I feel safe to say this without jinxing anything but I was not as bad as I thought it would be same wow [Music] foreign View at the top was so absolutely spectacular that we almost couldn't comprehend it it's like it's fake it honestly feels like it's just tremendous amount of walls like these don't even feel like I feel like Mountains they're just walls that are built in place every time I've come to the ridge top of a mountain and you get to see the other side it is like a religious experience [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] by incredible views on either side we decided it was time for a much deserved break and some warm beverages gonna make some fresh coffee up here some folks might say this is extra and for those folks I say you're absolutely right that's about 30 grams put this back on here what we're gonna do is we're gonna take the grinder and start grinding now you're gonna do this for what feels like forever that's okay because we got water boiling over here okay so we have turmeric ginger chai latte this is from AJ thank you AJ all right got our finely Grounded Coffee Grounds here stick them right in there and then try not to spill the boiling hot water on yourself if you've ever made a French press this is very similar to a French press but it also takes that coffee filter aspect and combines that as well filter that's been pre-soaked think it and let's see how this is the smell is super strong of Ginger but the taste is more sweet how's the coffee actually pretty good yeah sour it's unfortunately welcome to some of this you want to try yeah oh I don't know this is good I think the problem was the the grounds were too coarse you know what this is like this is like that ginger soup that our parents made whenever you were sick it's actually ginger tea but I called it Ginger no my parents didn't call it ginger tea is really good for sore throats though yeah he just like boiled the crap out of some ginger this is way better than that though well that's what I was gonna say is yeah it's mild it's like that only it tastes good yeah yeah this is fantastic when you said turmeric and ginger I actually was not expecting it to be that good yeah it doesn't sound good no very milky yeah it's delicious do you want to try some coffee honestly it is sour but maybe it's because I'm cold it's not that bad you gotta say the line actually unrelated I just drank it wrong that'll warm you up there you go delicious after our drinks we took one last look at the view then we headed out though we had reached this Ridge we still had much more to hike and the weather was not looking promising the weather has definitely been flirting with the rain for a while but we're really starting to feel it now right when our most difficult uphill has just begun off in the distance we saw hikers on the opposite Ridge we reached another Junction and the hazy views from here made it feel like we were hiking something like the Inca Trail I feel like this is the most rugged wildernessy Expedition we've done so far the landscape and the weather were undoubtedly foreboding but in a reinvigorating way that made us feel ready to face anything that came our way head on foreign and the first obstacle was an incredibly steep uphill the final hurdle at elevation wise this is going to be the toughest part that's not a complaint that's a fact as Anakin Skywalker said this is where the fun begins [Music] [Music] pretty tough so far but the trail is nice and smooth at least a smooth uphill [Music] [Music] I don't know if altitude is affecting my memory but I feel like I've never experienced something this crazy thanks to the incredible views it didn't seem to take us long to reach the next Ridge Top where we were once again treated to an amazing site [Music] [Applause] wow that's just like a whole new world discovered and the wind you're just exposed to it immediately as soon as you get up here yeah I guess that was one good thing about doing the uphill on this side is it block the wind a little bit everything all the senses well Brian uh I would say this makes up for you not doing Mount Whitney we've had two Rich top moments already yeah make it a little easy oh man this is a feeling of elation and Light aliveness I don't think I felt in a while this is great this is awesome it's getting so windy up here I gotta put my hood up just so I can hear you guys just keep moving take advantage of the warmth we have right now yeah from here the trail leveled out but there were still a few challenges ahead of us we are legitimately walking through a cloud right now and the wind is just slicing at us from this direction whoa it suddenly cleared up couldn't see anything a second ago all right grizzly bear okay okay keep walking back yeah say hey don't go too fast don't go too fast don't go too fast don't run so we just saw grizzly bear on the trail here let's get to the junction don't like run though all right well that's an added complication keep going you see it still no he went down I think that was absolutely a Grizzly because it had the silver fur yeah that was a grizzly yeah set up a telephoto see if you can see himself you see it go down I thought I saw him go down as we were going back I don't see any of them here right now but back at the Ridgetop we took Shelter From the wind and discussed what to do next yeah as near as I could tell it was definitely heading downwards yo bear there was no question that was a Grizzly right no no question yeah it was looking right at us um game plan just stay as tight as possible we could like huddle here away from the wind for a minute if we want to give it more time but I think at this point we're probably good yeah yeah but let's just all stick together have those bear sprays ready and just if anyone sees anything you know call it but don't panic do your best not to panic I wanna I wanna move now because the bear is off the trail okay yo bear go bear um other things race if we do have music you mind yeah yeah so basically at the end there earlier yeah yo there yo bear yeah he must have gone down this way faster all right we gotta blind Corner up here so yo yo mom Yo Yo Ma my concern is that the bear might just be turning around and staying on the same Trail there's nothing behind us now except for an amazing view of something I can't even tell what is that huh where did that bear even come from I'm walking down this screen here because it's like what is there for them to eat up here I don't know all right there's a another hiker coming from the other direction so hopefully they've cleared out any bears up ahead we got this side they got that side where's like can we see him did he go down is he 100 at least went off the trail down a little bit oh yeah I wasn't sure how far down he went though I don't know at this point we're past it wow look at that mountain all this beauty that we can't appreciate right now yeah we're just about up with the other hiker right now so I guess we're in the clear for now yeah he must have just went somewhere down there yeah had done in that other Forest do you guys do you see him too he was on the trail yeah we could have been more than 25 yards away from him the clouds just blew up and right there's a Grizzly we we saw him go down but he was definitely back on the trail and now that we're gone he might have gone back on the trail but good luck yeah hey if you guys find a rain fly blowing around back there you can have it oh did you lose it in the wind oh yeah like it was there and then next second oh man it's just not there where'd you park can you believe how lucky we were that the clouds cleared up and we decided to stop to look at that view and then we turned around and saw it like if we had just kept hiking into the fog like oh man it could have been a different story right up on a Grizzly that's a great lesson to just always be completely aware like don't get complacent even if you're up on these rocks this was the time where I was expecting a nice easy hike yeah and man okay let's keep moving let's go dude with this landscape like how forebodian and Fantastical it is and the fact that we are literally like keeping an eye out for a dangerous predator we always say that it feels like we're in a fantasy novel but this actually feels like we're in a fantasy novel like just a dragon could come flying through this Valley and we have to yell yo Dragon to Warden yeah [Music] coming around the corner [Music] [Music] it's nice when you see people ahead of you oh my God and you're here you can see everything in between you know there's no bears we now approached an outcropping in the trail which we decided to check out wow this is like the most view yet I am speechless you know it's kind of funny how far we've come man look at this dude [Music] [Music] during our time at Glacier so far we had already lived what felt like a lifetime of Adventure fast idyllic Meadows mysterious forests calm secluded Lakes sweeping Mountain Vistas and more bear encounters than we have ever had before [Music] all of this really hit home what a special and incredible place this was a place that holds a deep rich cultural and natural history a place that can provide a new life-changing outlook on life [Music] after taking in the view we continued hiking along the narrow Mountainside Trail have a perfect view of the entire Trail so any bears that are on the trail we will see several feet away I was gonna say miles but that's probably not even a mile I feel like there's like adrenaline coursing through my body because of everything that's happened so far we encountered a bear the cold fighting winds was in our hair the amazing views [Music] the precarious Mountain Trail gave us a perfect view of the vast valley below being able to climb to the top of these ridges and see the landscape hidden behind towering mountains added to the sense we had of being in a uniquely wondrous place foreign [Music] eventually we reached the end of this section of the trail we took one more look at the valley to our right up ahead we came to Flinch Peak and saw old man Lake from another perspective that's where we camped oh my God [Music] you know every place we've been to has its charm but this is kind of this doesn't take the cake this is the cake I've never done anything this cool in my life a little windy the trail now wound down to another Ridge where we are exposed to Violent gales ow my face yeah it's just right on the top of that Ridge there where the wind is going over really intense as intense as it is I'm loving how flat it is too yeah got a little push some cover I'm up for a break oh yeah okay oh hey that's nice that's nice oh man that was a pretty intense Ridge man yeah it's like hard to put into words which is how crazy this whole hike is 360 degrees of incredibleness man you can even see the trail we went up there and the ridge that we were on top oh wow yeah super clearly what is uh forcing through everyone's mind right now high alert about everything I feel like I had adrenaline coursing through my body I mean because the bear obviously but also just the the environment in the cold yeah spot right here is just feels like complete relief oh my God this is like amazing how much of a Haven this feels like right now oh man how are those better snaps a little coffee flavored let me get a sap ah my help what'd you say no cigarette I think he's trying to say sorry right diabetes [Music] foreign we enjoyed the view as we rested the break helped us recuperate physically and also helped us come down a bit from our adrenaline rush but we still had quite an exhilarating hike ahead of us [Music] foreign this section of the Mountain Ridge was flattered but the biting wind was flinging bits of gravel at us and nearly blowing us off our feet as well as beautiful as this is this Ridge Top is starting to wear out its welcome I'm with all this wind I'm ready to be among the trees and away from the wind they called let's get off thank you [Music] I've only felt wind this intense one other time and that was on the Timberline Trail there was a section very similar to this extremely intense I'm pretty sure I just saw some rocks moving in the window the wind is pushing us into the mountains [Music] no words have been invented to capture the feeling that I feel right now I'm just giddy with disbelief I think there's so much adrenaline and endorphins coursing through my body that my brain doesn't even know what to do with it wow look at this foreign [Music] [Music] I can hear myself think for just a second the wind died down just a little bit oh God [Music] [Applause] [Music] we definitely need to take advantage of the fact that there's no precipitation and get off of here before it gets really bad I think one of my nostrils is Frozen I can't breathe out of my right nostril [Music] okay we could finally kind of hear ourselves my face is numb do you guys face numb too everything's numb only the legs are not known because they've been moving wind is much less intense here it's those little where you can see out of both sides you know that's where it really gets rough oh definitely looks like bear scat it looks like they're rare poops and it all dribbled down the side of the mountain yeah he was just pooping as he was walking [Music] we continue taking in the incredible views as we hiked and came to an interesting rock formation this I don't know but it's amazing how geometric the rocks are this doesn't look natural yeah that's so interesting wait look at that Port there with a little staircase the chair about half a mile we'll begin our descent off the ridge [Music] we continued on and the weather started shifting again can you feel that sleep I don't feel it just because I I totally see snow and sleet flying through there that's the leadership oh yeah there's like this hail yeah I remember the lesson I learned from our first time in the Tetons it was sunny at the trailhead and not five minutes into our hike it started hailing a bunch and from that day on I I've always knew the lesson that mountain weather is completely unpredictable and as you can see right now it is sleeting yeah it's super intermittent like it'll just rain for a second and it'll immediately stop because that the sleet's already done like there's no more sleet anymore all of a sudden even the haze earlier it was like it moves through the valley so fast it's so clear right now in an ideal scenario when it starts hailing the first thing you want to do is try and get down below tree light or tree level as fast as possible I don't know if it's going to be going to be tiny hail or golf's ball sized hail and so you just want to get as much protection as possible I wouldn't say that this is the most difficult Trail We've Ever Done Right but it's definitely been the most unpredictable as far as weather and Wildlife goes it's like as far as terrain it's not bad at all but all the factors combined it's very intense yes go over there the path continued down the Rocky Mountain Side once again powerful gusts of wind rushed towards us from our exposed flank the trail eventually made its way over saddle in the ridge back down to the other side of the mountain range hopefully once we go over this we'll be protected from the wind foreign as we descended the trail we took in the scenery around us these giant blocks that are just scattered everywhere it almost feels like there was an ancient castle here that got blown over by the wind or something so cool yeah they look man-made no reprieve from the win just yet is that no-name Lake in the distance wow look at that wall of rock right there oh man doesn't that just look like a straight up vertical wall looks like uh the wall from Game of Thrones yeah in the distance we could also see the westernmost part of two Medicine Lake now we hiked past more strangely geometric Boulders and made our way down into the valley no matter where we hiked it seemed like there were constant breathtaking views to be seen on all sides wow thank you we descended down the rocky slope surrounded by incredible mountain peaks but even with the scenery I saw something hanging in the bushes [Music] we had found the backpack cover that the hiker we had met at the top of the ridge had mentioned he lost ah whatever it's called I can't think right now it's very wet I have a backup that looks like the same one it is yeah same one I don't know if it's yeah so we passed another guy and he said if you see my rain fly it's yours to keep the rain fly blowing around back there you can have it he's going to be off and Never Never Land but man we found it that's great it's like a side quest right there [Music] foreign [Music] descending the rugged Mountainside our tired legs scrambling downhill the views from this Vantage Point had been astounding but we were ready to retreat back into the forested valley and take refuge at the campsite by no-name Lake the trail made its last few turns toward the Ridge Top before winding towards the valley Here Andrew saw a peculiar structure built of stone maybe if it like it's really raining really badly when you're up on this Ridge you can just take shelter here right just put a tarp oh there's something here hey book of people is like a guest book Salon T Liam Brett get in here you didn't know just You Gotta Get You Gotta Get Low You Gotta Get Low you want to get in on this how is it it is Serene and peaceful it's actually incredible how much less wind there is now we headed towards the valley okay so we finally crested the ridge the wind is so much more tame over here I have not heard anything but the sound of my own breathing in the wind in like an hour as we descended green shrubs and Auburn grasses started to poke out from the rocky Rubble [Music] [Laughter] as we took in the view of The Verdant Valley we talked about the landmarks in front of us so on the map that rock wall looking thing it is a really thin skinny piece of geology I'm kind of wondering if like that was just part because it juts out so much if maybe it's more exposed to erosion and that's what kind of eroded it into this thin you know sheer wall kind of structure because all the other ones you've got this kind of sloping gradual look but it's so much more sheer on the other side there's something called pompelli pillar and then that mountain there is Mount Helen but the wall itself doesn't really we finally descended below the tree line where small coniferous trees surrounded us on either side [Music] like returning home after an arduous Journey it felt great to get out of the wind and back into the company of the trees amid the trees were striations of brilliantly purple and maroon Rock adding to the many colors of the landscape besides the relief from the wind we were also happy that we were headed downhill on this steep trail of course this comes from my bias of enjoying downhill much more than uphills but this just seems like so much easier going down this way and then the way we came up was much more gradual this is straight up look at this it would have been killer going the other way as we hiked we checked in on our progress so far we might have maybe between a mile and a mile and a half this is acceptable we now entered much denser Forest and the Quick Change in scenery was definitely striking how Wild is it the environment that we're in now as opposed to literally like 15 minutes ago we were on just Barren windy rocks and now we're just surrounded by Greenery again it's crazy could it be more peaceful here yeah the sun's coming out a little bit thank you Greedo I'm so much happier and we're close to a campsite too which is nice further up the trail we saw some signs of wildlife in the area thankfully no bear activity this time so we just saw some poop on the ground that kind of looks like deer poop almost and I believe it's bighorn sheep poop my understanding is that mountain goat poop is a little bit thicker lumpier kind of but the little pellets are probably bighorn sheep you saw some at the very beginning right oh yeah yeah it was a lifetime ago was that just yesterday yep wow with how much we had experienced time seemed to have dilated during this trip luckily for us though it didn't take that long for us to get to the junction leading to the campsite it wasn't much further to the campsite but first we saw some wildlife in the distance somewhere on the right here through the thick shrubs we could just make out the ears of a cow moose resting a few dozen yards from the trail we calmly made our way by the moose and approached the turquoise blue Waters of no-name Lake wow man I thought yesterday's Lake was amazing what it looks like so far we do have the campsite to ourselves oh thank God oh yeah oh yeah let's see oh yes oh thank God 8.35 miles today so definitely longer than yesterday and way more difficult oh man this is so good right now I have a quick snack maybe and then once yeah once we get our bearings I think we should definitely yeah we're starting to feel a light drizzle so Tommy and Robbie are gonna hang on the food oh I am isn't that what we just said no I was in Ohio whoever okay I'll hang up the food then but you're gonna have to take our tents why just give us 10 more minutes eight no rest for the wicked after a few tries we managed to hang up our food bags while the others set up our tents just as we got the bags hung up the mountain weather again changed its mind the rain clouds dissipated and revealed Clear Blue Skies I took this moment of reprieve to stretch out my tired legs back at the campsite we were just finishing setting up next we made our way to the Lakeshore to enjoy the view but alas just as we were settling in and relaxing it started raining and even thundering I had it with you we took Shelter From The Storm in a nearby Grove and talked about our time so far yeah this is maybe the most significant rain we've seen and this is really not too bad yeah knock on wood I will say after having hiked up there with the rain you feel so much more secure in the forest yeah yeah and with your stuff set up instead of exposed Holdings oh up there right now with rain and wind no thank you brutal well so far I give both campsites a solid a plus yeah you have to think about what are their Estes this one would be more s tier than the other one yeah maybe too many bears well we worked for this campsite today yeah anticipating the big uphill that we did today I was kind of anxious and worried about it but once we were at the top I was full of elation yeah well I was a little worried because I thought it would be such a shame if we came all the way out here and I picked a trail that wasn't amazing this trip uh it reminds me a lot of the first trips we took out together to the Tetons on Yellowstone on the one hand being out in nature never it never ceases to amaze but at the same time as you get used to things there are things that maybe don't wow you in the same way as they might it the first time but that that Ridge type view I think kind of refreshed that feeling of like being out there in the West for the first time yeah I mean that's up there with those pictures you see of places like out in Sweden and yeah the Swiss Alps and stuff each trip we've had this year I felt like I've one-upped each other or maybe not one up to each other but each one just had their own moment where you're just like whoa yeah yeah well we were talking about that earlier we went to Big Ben this year which is all the way at the south of the U.S Lost Coast all the way at the west and now Montana all the way at the North and if we want to get really technical a year ago today we were on the opposite end in Maine yeah as far east as you can get yeah so within the span of a year we did a counterclockwise Loop yeah yeah that's funny part of the reason why I picked this particular location is because I remember you said like two years ago that Glacier National Park wouldn't even exist I don't I didn't know anything about Glacier National Park before then but I was like oh man we got to get on that immediately so as soon as we were able to I was like yeah we're going to Glacier like the namesake of the park is the glaciers and they think that within 100 years time those could just be completely gone even if we do everything we can do it might not be reversible at this point and it's like this experience I don't want the future to not have this sort of experience and obviously the glaciers aren't the only thing that's amazing about this whole place but it's like imagine if we didn't have this park system to protect like this rugged Wilderness like this you take the national parks for granted until you get there and you realize there's no telephone own wires there's no mining equipment there is no construction equipment you know that is wow no roads that are needlessly built into the side of things just for the sake of having houses up there yeah this is as it was years ago man one of the things as I've gotten older that I've been more conscious of is taking good care of my stuff because you can replace things really easily but a lot of times the stuff that you replace it with is just cheap crap I've gotten more and more into the mindset of I want to take good care of the stuff that I think is good in the same way it is fantastic that somebody has actually had the foresight to do that the rugged Wilderness of this is I think what makes it feel so special that we're all out here like what sets this experience apart is the fact that we're just out here completely in the wilderness you can watch it on the screen but it is a really intangible feeling that I want to keep safe for the future you know let alone the survival of our species but also like let's not just survive let's Thrive and have places like this to explore yeah but how exactly do we keep places like Glacier National Park safe in a future already inevitably affected by climate change and environmental destruction all too often where given solutions that put the blame on humankind as a whole and the individual choices that we make [Music] we're told to switch the lights off use less straws or bike more we're told that if only we stay out of the Wilderness it will stay preserved [Music] but this approach puts the blame on ordinary people just getting by in life while ignoring Acres of deforestation or tons of oil spilling into the oceans that they had nothing to do with it shames people for living life within the confines of our current Society while excusing those who have a disproportionate impact on our environment it also views humans as separate from nature when in reality we are an integral part of it this approach has resulted in things like the removal of indigenous people from the parks where they once lived during the park system's checkered past if we want a better future one where our climate and environment are healthy and where we have plenty of wild places for future generations to enjoy we need to think outside the box we need to fundamentally rethink how our society is organized as the afternoon carried on blue skies were again revealed and we returned to Camp to enjoy some dinner beef stroganoff chicken pesto pasta chicken and dumplings with vegetables good old lasagna it's pretty liquidy I should have kept it that's again [Music] yup oh yeah this tastes like hospital food but not in a bad way you want to trade bites yep no it was better it's like a soup in here yeah oh hey that looks good yo that is delicious this looks great I'm gonna try this one dude that's like something to get at a restaurant I think that's the best one actually I think chicken dumplings might be the best yeah the chicken and dumplings has more variety in the flavor it's got the peas and the carrots and you know the color come on I am always surprised though how little you actually need to eat when hiking nearly as much as you think you do I feel like part of it is you just feel way more fulfilled so the urge to boredom eat is not there I love the ritual of communal meals like you don't get that very often in your regular life please we don't because we don't have families one of these days we gotta eat these but put it all on a big platter and then cook some big thing of fluffy white rice just eat it family style one thing that makes these particular meals so special is like we're all hungry and we can all appreciate the food equally sitting down to eat a Camino meal is one thing but if everyone there is just like so appreciative of the food that's another layer yeah maybe Hot Pot in the next episode it started storming after dinner so we returned to our tents and this time we changed up the tent sharing rotation how you doing Tommy Tommy Tommy oh that's cold I'm worried it's gonna get cold tonight what time is it it's very bright outside it's uh not even six o'clock we're gonna go to bed with the two of us in one tent it could be a dangerous scum we've got mutually assured destruction right Brian is a combo or like super clean and organized everything's very peaceful over here all right well we'll see how the rest of the evening goes I guess yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna get my life together bro we know there could be sun and Rainbow in like 10 minutes as it turned out it continued to rain but we stayed dry as we slept through the night in our tents the next morning the rain had let up but the sky still seemed unsure about whether it would be clear or remain cloudy it doesn't respond we had all been on the edge about potential Wildlife encounters last night as we packed Brian talked about something he had seen this morning so when I woke up I was just like sitting there staring outside of the tent while it was the sun was coming in I saw something on my door that I thought was like hair that had got rubbed on the tent outside but it turns out it was just this so I was like oh well after we broke camp we grabbed our scented items and food from the bear hang the sun was now breaking through the morning Haze we could see the glistening Lake in distant Mountains from camp before leaving we sat down to prepare breakfast and talk about our nights so we switched tents last night and I felt really bad for Brian because immediately I became the worst tent neighbor ever I moved literally every 10 minutes why is it that the second night of camping is always worse sleeping than the first night first night you sleep like a baby and then the second night you sleep like a diseased walrus I haven't noticed that pattern but this time it was absolutely true for me I think I was rotisserie in your life you both were Rivals to my right side just as loud as if he was in the same tent with me oh man Andrew was registering too and I was like so you guys do that because more noise you make the less fewer beers are going to be that are gonna be like I tried my hardest not to look at the phone and see what time it was because I was like I know we went to bed really early it's gonna be like midnight or something the general gauge is when you wake up how do you feel I'm like I feel pretty rested it was a long night other stipulation for the next upcoming easy trip is that it needs to be hammockable yeah I'm gonna sleep in my hand at once this year we should also mention it's in the 30s right now oh yeah it got very cold this will warm me up I put my Kung Fu pants over these pants for an extra layer of insulation today we'd be having more Ginger turmeric chai and a rehydrated breakfast skillet it's pretty decent seemed better yesterday somehow but it's good after enjoying the chai the breakfast skillet had finished cooking so it was time to dig in breakfast skillet courtesy of Ryan Alex salmon the doggos this is like two years old at this point but that's the beauty of dehydrated meals the age like fine wine everything with green peppers in it reminds me of you guys's parents house yeah I feel like your mom always had good stuff with green peppers in it green pepper is a very distinct flavor let me see which one weighs more that yours is so heavy though I'm pretty sure ours are the same oh here's a lighter actually he's got the real REI ERS at Amazon oh you got that third party knockoff wow I love a good like food mush you know I love it [Music] after breakfast we took a bit of time to enjoy the peaceful morning then we grabbed our bags and went to steal one last look at the lake [Music] foreign [Music] after that we hiked out seeing various signs of both fauna and Flora I'm pretty sure that's a moose footprint right there which makes sense because this is where a lot of moose like to hang out but we'll keep our eyes out so there's lots of berries growing in this area and thankfully no bears were attracted by them but these are currents just like the currents that you might make jam out of and the leaves usually have this lobed kind of look with these softer rounder serrations on the leaves and there's also some other berries growing so this is an elder Bush and some of the bushes around our camps they have clumps of berries still growing most of these have been stripped clean it looks like though but yeah the seasons in the mountains are so weird because of the altitude sometimes they get shifted a little bit later in the year so there's still berries growing here whereas at lower altitudes you might not find it then we made our way out of the campsite back onto the main trail [Music] all right yep should be smooth sailing from here the trail now led us through more lush green shrubs nestled beneath the Towering Spruce and fur trees we came across a trickling stream as we hiked and Andrew spotted some edible berries there's three really similar berries that grow here that are edible to humans we already saw the surface berries and the huckleberries but these taller shrubs growing here are blueberry bushes and if you look closely all the flowers have been pollinated and they turned into seed pods but they haven't quite ripened yet so even though the huckleberries are in season there doesn't seem to be any blueberries growing in this area is a tree called an alder tree it has these primitive looking pine cone structures on them it's not actually a coniferous tree it's deciduous so the leaves fall off in the fall but this is a tree that's actually planted ornamentally out east but out here in other Alpine regions like in the Northeast it grows natively in addition to plants we also saw something high up in the mountains so Thomas was pointing out that you can see some fresh fallen snow on Those Distant mountains and that definitely wasn't there the day before it's kind of crazy how quickly that accumulated but beside all that fresh fallen snow you can also see bits of glaciers and ice patches obviously during the summer they shrink in size as compared to winter but a lot of times mountain goats will rely on those ice patches in the summertime to cool their body heat and to rest and recuperate that's one of the other effects of all that ice shrinking with climate change is that there's less of this cold environment for the mountain goats to use and so that of course affects the whole balance of the ecosystem so it's another reason why it's super important to keep places like this and the whole world in general sustainable and safe we passed by some purple Asters and passed through an area with gently flowing streams here I saw some broad-leaved plants so we saw these plants the other day and at first I didn't know them I found out that these are thimble berries they have all these little different sections on them kind of like a raspberry and these are edible it's a type of Bramble so um it tastes kind of like slightly sour not super sweet strawberries if it was like super over ripe and mushy and all the red stuff just kind of melts off of this white part underneath the darker one I believe is more ripe I just like came right off oh really good really good oh it light comes off yeah interesting so pretty a lot like a raspberry but sweeter almost like something you'd find in the filling of a nutri-grain bar it comes off like a like a toupee there's not much like substance to it but there's that interesting flavor to it it's like a cross between a strawberry and a raspberry I almost caught hints of like grape after sampling the delicious berries we left the rest for the Wildlife and continued on as we hiked something in the shrubs caught our attention clumps of what looked like fur which were in fact velvet that had been Shed from an animal's antlers ahead of the rutting season unrelated but look at these colors I feel like this was the perfect transition to The Fall season this view right here is what I pictured when I thought of Glacier National Park like this is it right here you've got the green Reds and yellows of all the vegetation the blues of the mountains with the snow-capped tops it's so idyllic Glacier National Park had been without a doubt one of the most incredible places we had ever been a place that had helped us experience the Wilderness as though for the first time again a Place full of wonder excitement and impossible Beauty [Music] places like this need to be cherished and protected not just for the health of our environment but also because they are places where humans can experience life at its fullest where we can live deliberately experience the Bare Essentials of existence and counter-intuitively learn to thrive as a result [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] climate means Glacier is already at risk of changing forever as snow fields shrink River beds will diminish Wildlife will lose habitat and the ecosystem will be thrown out of balance not only might we lose our ability to thrive but our ability to survive may be challenged as well we prefer a future where we not only protect places like Glacier but expand the amount of wild beautiful places that exist on Earth you turn anywhere here and you see a fantastic view but we've actually seen like tons of amazing views over the course of this year and just makes me wonder will there ever be a time where I see something and I'm just like okay I've seen it before probably not it's funny you think a year ago today we were starting our drive back to Ohio from Catan this year has been a heck of a year and this is a heck of a Capstone for summer I wasn't ready for a summer to end but like you said this is the perfect send-off yeah sometimes we Pine for the nostalgic past but really the way to experience that in the here and now is to seek out new experiences that give you wonder I wish I could bottle this feeling up I know we make videos of our trips but it's still just saddens me a little bit that you can't really fully capture the essence because it's more than just what you see it's what you feel you know the people you're with in the moment there's just so many layers to it the experiences we have out in nature are ones we want to share with everyone including future Generations ensuring we preserve our planet and the wild places we love will take effort on all our parts [Music] we don't just mean guilting each other into recycling or opting to not use straws even when we are able to change our individual habits We Can't Stop old growth forests from being cut down gas from being fracked or mountain tops from being removed unless we act collectively we need to think outside the confines of everyday life to look to the wisdom of indigenous people to stop seeing humans as inherently opposed to the environment and to understand how we can integrate Wilderness and nature into our lives [Music] creating a better future one where Glacier National Park isn't doomed to lose all its glaciers where our children can grow and enjoy the mountaintops the calm lakes and the vibrant forests will take all of us working together to imagine and build a fundamentally different Society where the needs of everyone and our planet are accounted for and where people are given the chance not only to survive but to thrive [Music] thank you very much for watching we hope you enjoyed the video be sure to subscribe to the channel if you haven't already share the video with all your friends and family and hit that thumbs up button and if you'd like another way to further support us check out our patreon page at patreon.com Adventure we've got bloopers live streams and early releases of our videos thank you so much for checking it out [Music] how you feeling Brian feeling good feel real good feeling hungry this is one of the best I've felt after a hike maybe ever yeah [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign I can absolutely see why there are myths about deities living on Mount Olympus like when you look at these mountains it does look like the realm of the Gods [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh it reminds me of when I was a kid and we were up in Banff and we took a big truck up to the glacier and we're hiking on it but it's like from here it's an impressive sight already but when you're actually like on the glacier it's kind of incredible how gigantic those are never been to one same never as close as I'll ever get unless we go to Alaska stay tuned [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah holy crap that Valley is incredible oh yeah yeah get the highlights oh yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] all right dude this is crazy this feels like we're on Lake Michigan or something except there are gigantic mountains yeah I feel like we've been in every environment and every season you could possibly be in wow it's like we got every bio yeah that's what I was just saying full here I'm fine with it but this is amazing yeah well done you sure you don't want any kicked on camera [Music] yeah I regret not getting the bite mac and cheese mac and cheese looks so good it's a Montana beer right Montana half oh that's refreshing it's good I got the snow devil cider you're like wow this just tastes like apple juice that's carbonated sausages oh it's very oh it's mine there's a lot of cinnamon in it did you get the watermelon yeah oh thank you grab your spice watermelon nice oh this looks great yeah yeah good job Andrew look at this man oh man hmm that's really good that is a hefty portion yeah black and catfish po boy it's really good barbecue pork oozing out um yeah everybody try one try it that was it clear winner clear winner that might be the best Mac and Cheese I've ever had we should order a sandwich for Brian and just share this all right I'm for that let's get another one let's get another one sure this is spice watermelon when you're a kid did your mom or your parents ever put salt on watermelon no but they called us about it my dad would put salt on watermelon and it would be a bowl of watermelon sitting in the kitchen and I'm like oh this is gonna be great I take a bite and had salt on it like too much salt or something well I was a kid as an adult you have a more a different palette what is that spice it's good a Cajun adobo kind of spice pretty good in high school my girlfriend was from Texas and she talked about I don't know if that is relevant but I assumed it was a Texas thing but she talked about putting salt on watermelon I think watermelon is perfect as it is but let's try this I don't know if it's a Lotte or whatever seasoning to put on a mangoes down south that's really good actually that's really interesting it's like I don't know if it enhances it but it definitely makes it a different experience yeah yeah it's got Huckleberry barbecue sauce on it not bad he says watch out for the ceramic plate is very hot dude this is such a better deal than everything else the crumbled like au gratin type stuff is so good the crispy cheese and the crumbly crumbs also spirals are a way better shape than just elbows oh yeah this is perfection this is really good here this is the type of thing you hope for in a post hike meal like you get kind of what we ordered initially and we're like Ah that's kind of disappointing but this [Music] way [Music] now does that look like a man who's had all he can eat wow great choice Andrew that was sometimes we have some Duds other times we have some smart cook some good ones well look at that sunset Commander Aquia gisari what's your analysis of this planet Captain Jason Bourgeois it appears to have an atmosphere composed of 79 nitrogen 20 oxygen 0.8 argon and 0.2 percent carbon dioxide it is a Class M Planet Commander Gavin Ryan prepare to Beam us down all right Captain beaming you down now what do you make of these plants do you think they're responsible for poisoning suanton my analysis of the plants indicates it does contain toxins including atropine scope limiting and John truettine send some samples to Dr Mary simcavage in sickbay immediately have a create an antidote yes sir we'll have to cross this Lake if we want to collect more samples we'll need to use a greatlakewatercrafts.com Elaine r Anthony is making the most logical request of asking the drought to be over so that we can see snow-capped mountains in California foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] would like to say congratulations and best wishes to his wife Sarah as she sets on on her new adventure as a middle school teacher good afternoon this Jasper caparotta it's been a long time I'd like a tasting I know you have an appreciation for the German varietals but I do highly recommend these Expedition research LLCs you'll notice that the scope is a Precision Red Dot and the feeding rail is polished to a mirror Sheen there's a vertical grip for extra stability [Music] I'll take both and what about dessert only the finest cutlery thank you and Mr capirata enjoy your party TS would like to shout out to Adventure archives and happy fourth birthday to Liam and to Nikki I love you I'm looking forward to our Ireland trip together San Juan would like to give a happy belated birthday to zavian and Yavin your uncle loves you both dearly Richard frangiomore would like to give a shout out to the staff and Rangers at Bear Creek Lake State Park in Cumberland Virginia thanks for taking such great care of one of the most beautiful state parks around foreign have you heard the legend of the six Swordsmen of kojiro the names are seung-jin Huang J ramundo Salvador Gonzalez Jake buer and Leon and ludlin they are led by a seventh Samurai Dan Vulcans Legend has it that his hat imbues magical powers those Powers will help me to defeat the Mongols thank you foreign Joe we don't have to do this Dan Vulcans I'm only trying to defeat the Mongols and their leader Douglas Jackson I swore on my honor that we would duel again [Music] foreign [Music] I used to get into so much trouble with Brian and Katya strong stealing sake teasing the other kids Christina Alvarez and James rokitsky many years have passed since those days [Music] me and Thomas's shirts are just the epitome of our one-dimensional personalities that have developed over the last year I got the Bruce Lee shirt he's got a golden retriever

Channel: AdventureArchives

Views: 1,025,153

Keywords: bushcraft, backpacking, hiking, camping, wilderness, survival, outdoors, travel, outdoor recreation, prepping, nature, 4k, wild, survival skills, ray mears, les stroud

Id: 3y6iLg3nbNc

Length: 116min 21sec (6981 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 27 2022