Dale,

This is actually my first trip to the park despite living about 4 hours away. I always seem to gravitate towards Glacier when I have free time.

I will be alone and this has been the norm for me for all my life. I'm am used to the woods and do take the usual precautions when hiking alone in bear country. Truth is though that I am disable now and this one time marathoner is only good for a few miles of hiking these days so I don't get deep into backcountry anymore.

I am staying at West Glacier for $109 a night, best I could find but open to any possible cheaper solutions. I may even cancel the reservations, throw a mattress in the back of the minivan and stay at a campground. Still this old body appreciates a real bed and shower more nowdays, LOL!!

Seems a lot of the wildlife I'm hoping to shoot is up the the north east section of the park. I too head out before light and call it a day after the sun sets. I'll use the middle of the day to explore the park for family oriented stuff in anticipation of bringing them up next time.

I nailed some good Grizzly shots in Glacier last year but most of my black bears are taken in poor light. So any hints on where to best capture them would be helpful

I do plan on contacting the rangers for wildlife info too. It's always good to get local insight.

I too am a bit "apertue" limited. Plenty of shorter fast primes but can't afford the fast telephotos. That's one reason I like to use the 560/6.8 on my 5D versus the same reach with a 400/5.6 on my 40D. The 5D gives me better performance at the higher ISOs.

I'll probably have a few more questions for you after I do a bit more research,

thanks,
Jim