no bear bites

hi everyone. I made it back home from the backpacking trip. we encountered much wildlife; moose, elk, mountain goats, antelope, black bear and grizzly bears. we even caught a few trout.
I ended up not taking the ukelele into the mountains. there was no room in my pack. food, warm clothes and essentials were more important. we did jam in the van however.
what a great trip. the hiking was hard and rewarding. the views were spectacular. we had all our camp sites to ourselves.
the first site we learned was closed for three years for restoration and re-naturalization. then it was closed most of this year because of bear trouble. the site opened the day we were to go there. we hiked five miles up into the mountains to a beautiful alpine lake(Old Man Lake) there we caught trout and swam. it was a hot day, in the 80's, so the frigid mountain water felt tolerable. it was great to clean off the sweat from the hike.
it was there that we had our first bear encounter. a juvenal black bear had been living in the area.while fishing and swimming he came around the lake shore and surprised us. 15 feet away, we began to yell and wave our arms. I used a towel to wave. I was swimming au naturale (talk about being vulnerable). the little bear (big as a small car) ran off. lucky us he was a very young bear.
the last day as we were driving out of the big camp site (RV area) we saw three grizzly bears feeding on the hill. they were about 100 yards away. a ranger was there to monitor the crowd. eventually the mother bear ambled down the slope towards us. that was when the ranger had everyone get back into the cars and leave.
the lake where we ran into the black bear was closed the day after we left ( we learned this by talking to the rangers when we checked back in after five days out). a pair of campers were at the same campsite but messed upo by cooking near the tents. the black bear visited them, they ran off and filmed the bear breaking open the packs and drinking gatorade and eating food. the ranger was upset because now the bear was rewarded with food. it has made the association of campers, packs and food. the site was closed again until the bear moves off or is moved. the ranger said we did good by shooing it away. he also asked us if we saw the grizzly living nearby.????????????huh???what???? a mom and two cubs lived on another lake a mile away. we never saw them. the ranger said the mom likes to go to the lake we were at to get fish.
our last two nights out we had rain. clouds descended on the mountain tops as we pitched camp. the rain held off until nightfall. in the morning it was foggy. we could hardly see. then it lifted revealing snow on the mountain tops.
it rained off and on all the next day. still we were able to explore. that night the rain turned to snow. in the morning we packed up our wet stuff and hiked an easy four miles down 'hill' to the van.
the hot coffee was the best.
I think the best part of the hike was going over two passes along the Continental Divide.we were way the heck up there. around 7 and 8 thousand feet. I felt like I was going to get blown off the mountain it was windy. then I got a touch of vertigo. it was so scary and exciting. I loved it.
it was a long hike that day. seven miles. 1450 feet up and then a 2100 foot descent. the up was hard at 7 thousand feet as the air got really thin. the descent was harder as the toes were jammed hard in the boots. I was important to bend the knees and walk like Groucho Marks or the knee joint would have been hurt bad.
we all made it fine. I got a few blisters and a good tan.
sorry I wont be sending you my instruments and gear. I am back in one piece.
here are some pictures: