Grizzly Bear Central

It's been awhile since my last post, and I sure wish I could say it was because I was out in the woods! But, we're keeping busy at Outfitters Supply. Not only is it our busiest time of year, but we are finalizing a couple of new products that I'm very excited about. I'll let you know more as we draw closer to final production, but I will say the the trailMax saddlebag line will be a little more well-rounded and our Decker pack saddles just may see another huge improvement!

Of course, I can't work ALL the time, so I did get out into the backcountry for a quick in and out trip with my wife, Maxine, and two close friends, Vic and Puck Workman. We entered the astoundingly beautiful Glacier Park National Park and started our ride at Lake McDonald. Our destination: Trout Lake and Arrow Lake, otherwise known as "Grizzly Bear Central". You may have read or been told about "Night of the Grizzlies". Well, Trout Lake is where the famous grizzly attack took place. However, we only saw scat on the trail as the bears must have been elsewhere avoiding the heat.

In just 4 miles, we went up and over a mountain and back down the other side. On the way up we gained about 2,500 feet in elevation, and then we lost about 2,000 of it going back down into Trout Lake. Arrow Lake was only another three miles, so we kept pushing, hoping to get there before the heat of the day. But, by the time we reached the lake, it was already 95 degrees, so all horses and humans dove right in for a dip.

We did get in some fabulous dry-fly fishing as well. The far end of Arrow lake produced several 13 - 15" cutthroats. We debated going another 3 miles to Camas Lake, but decided it was just too much to ask of the horses in that kind of heat. All in all, we had a great time, and since we walked quite a bit to give the horses a break, we could even say we had a good workout ourselves.

The following pictures are (in order): Puck Workman, Vic Workman, and Russ and Maxine Arnold. All were taken at Arrow Lake in Glacier National Park.