w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m
25
No.
4
No.
3
Grizzly
Bears!
Avalanche
and
Falling
Rocks!
T
he pull of gravity not only leads to people falling, but also to
rocks, debris, and snow coming down the mountains--at great
speed and at very inopportune times.
a June 28th, 1962, accident was a staggering scene: a huge
boulder, estimated to weigh 400 pounds, had dislodged from
above, fallen 500 feet, and hit a Volkswagen on the road to
Logan Pass. The rock hit the back of the car and complete-
ly flattened it. A man was left sitting on the stone wall
in shock, his wife dead.
A scientist had calculated the chances of the
accident happening as a 50 million to one. But 34
years later it happened again.
A
ccording to Glacier National park, there are more
bears in the park now than in the 1960s. Before pas-
sage of the National Environmental Policy Act and the
Endangered Species Act in the 1970s, predators were
"controlled" outside the park boundaries. Ranchers,
hunters and sportsmen killed wolves, bears, li-
ons, and other predator species, which impacted
the number migrating into the park. Currently
there are about 600 black bears and 250-
300 grizzlies in the park.
on August 13, 1967, Two grizzly bears
attacked two different groups of back-
country campers separated by 10 miles
of mountainous terrain. At the Granite
Park campground Julie Helgeson, 19, was
killed and partially consumed by a griz-
zly, and her companion, Roy Ducat, was
mauled.
Ten miles away at the Trout Lake
campsite, another 19-year-old, Michele
Koons, who worked summers at the
Lake McDonald Lodge gift shop, was
mauled in her sleeping bag. She died
before rescue crews could take her
out of the mountains.
CONTINUED
