While the scenery was great, the most incredible was this:

Fifty feet above the “saddle” in this photo I turned around and saw crossing our path what I thought for a moment was the biggest marmot I’ve ever seen.

Of course it wasn’t a marmot but instead a bear! A momma black bear followed by her cub, and they were crossing the ridge at 13,100’. Unbelievable!

Click on these photos for a better view.

Why they decided to climb the incredibly steep slopes of one side, then down the other instead of going around, I cannot imagine, but we were so thankful that we were in the right place at the right time.

Momma was sure-footed but the little one slid sideways down the snow slope.

Notice the snow patch in this photo. This is the snow that the bears were crossing in the above photos.