Beaver Pond Trail

The Blackfeet Indian Tribe Reservation land begins where the east side of Glacier National Park ends and Browning, Montana, is the center of the Reservation land and the largest city for quite a large surrounding area. Not that Browning is large (2010 census population, 1,019), but it does have a fairly decent-sized IGA grocery store. Since it has been a week since we passed through on our way to St. Mary, we needed to go into town to stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables. Since this morning was rainy, after the winds subsided, it seemed the perfect time to go. The weather forecast for the next few days is for clear weather, so we're now free to turn our attention to Glacier trails with a fully-stocked larder waiting for us when we return.

The trip to Browning did take a big chunk of the day, so it was late, 5 pm, when we hit the trail for Beaver Pond, just at the St. Mary entrance to the park. And, I'm happy to report, it was absolutely calm, not a breeze to ripple St. Mary Lake or cause trees and branches to fall in the forest.

We had read about them, but today, on the road to Browning, is the first time we have seen the herds of wild horses that roam the area. There was another small group on the other side of the road.

The trailhead of the Beaver Pond Trail (#31 on Jake's list).

Not too far along the trail we encountered a fox.

We were fairly close to the fox and I was surprised to notice how small it was but, it has a large tail!

It may have been absolutely calm on the trail today, but we encountered many downed tree that caused us to have to either detour around, or climb over the obstacle.

It was a loop trail and shortly after we made the turn at the apex of the loop we came upon the beaver pond. This was the first beaver lodge we saw and...

then a second one came into view.

We went a little way down the trail along the side of the pond when...

we spied a beaver swimming in the pond (the grey streak in the center of the picture). We had learned, from our Nature Talk about beavers (Le Castor, blog post September 14, 2014) in Forllion National Park on the Gaspe Peninsula, that beaver have poor eyesight but keen hearing. We watched for a while but then it dove underwater with a slap of its tail.

We continued to the end of the pond and began to examine the beaver-built dam that created the pond.

As we were looking and taking pictures, who should appear but the beaver!

We watched it swim in sweeping zig-zags...

coming ever closer to us. 

Then, with a big splash of its tail, it dove underwater. We then needed to hurry along the trail because it was getting dark.

The trail ended at a 1976-restored 1913 Ranger Station. At the time, it was among the first National Park Service buildings erected on the east side of Glacier National Park. It was used until the 1930s and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

The adjacent barn was moved from the southern border of Glacier and was rebuilt at this location in 1977.