pix of Mt. Evans, CO, marmots

wd:

We did a 3-day bp on the Gunsight Pass trail in Glacier Nat'l Park a few years ago and came upon that gorgeous view of Lake Ellen Wilson and stopped for lunch. The biggest marmot I'd ever seen came over and started licking the sweaty straps on my pack and then tried hauling it off. I picked up a decent-sized rock and threw it to scare it but to my surprise ended up beaning it right between the eyes. It crawled a short distance away and started a staring contest with me, giving me this look of "How could you possibly do that to something that is this fat and furry and cute?" It really had a look on its face like it was emotionally hurt. It was most unnerving and I felt really bad.



On that trip one night my wife heard a sandpaper sound by her ear and unzipped the tent to see a mountain goat tongue-ing the straps of our packs. She literally had to slap it on the butt to get it to go away, and we hauled the packs into our tent.

Which makes me ask the obvious question: Do bears ever go looking for salt?