Surrounded by GRIZZLY BEARS at a Log Cabin in Montana!

This is the four mile cabin in the Apsaroka Mountains of Montana. Surrounded by over a thousand grizzly bears, it is smack dab in the middle of one of the most stable populations of bears south of Alaska. Grizzlies move freely through the mountains here and right now they're extremely active. Holy cow, that is a huge track. So that would put the Ohani length of that thing at like six and a half. I think this is a rub tree. Mr. Market's territory. Yeah. That territory is right on our trail. So join us for two days of jaw-dropping beauty as we literally walk in the footsteps of the mighty grizzly bear. We're in the Apsaroka Mountains on the eastern edge of Yellowstone National Park in Montana, heading for a pretty incredible spot. It's a historic log cabin that was built in the heart of one of the wildest, most rugged sub ranges of the Rockies. The Apsarokas are steep, deeply cut by rivers and prime grizzly bear habitat. It's springtime. The bears have just come out of their dens and are roaming around the lower elevations of these mountains. Welcome back to Montana, everybody. And welcome back to the four mile cabin. If you've been around here for a little while, you would know that I came here last year at this exact same time of year. And it was completely different. This whole place was buried in snow. I had to actually snowmobile in, but the West has just not gotten the snowfall that they usually get this winter. And so right now, man, we don't have like any snow here. It's completely dry and everything looks completely different as well. But either way, I'm super excited to be back. I've got my brother Tommy here, as well as my best friend Colton. And we're just going to get out and enjoy the Apsaroka Mountains here. Definitely hit the trail, do some exploring, and I'm hoping that we'll catch some fish. We're going to head down to the Boulder River a little bit later and see if we have any luck. Now, despite the lack of snow, it is still pretty chilly here. We're expecting temperatures in the high 40s dipping down well below freezing overnight. And so I'm going to quickly fire up this wood stove and then we'll take a look around the cabin. The cabin itself was built in 1932 and has two rooms inside. You've got the kitchen, which has the wood stove in it as well. And then there's the bunk room, which has a few different beds for visitors to utilize. The cabin also has electricity, which is a rare treat in these forest service cabins, which tend to be fully off grid. Now to start things off here, we're going to try to track down a hidden waterfall on the Boulder River. There's no formal trail to get there and you really only find it if you're looking at a map of the area. For me personally, whenever I think of the state or the west, it reminds me of my family because we took so many road trips out here. And this was also where we are right now, my dad's favorite spot to come fishing. So yeah, it just means a lot. I miss him. So it's sad and special. The last time I was here, I was talking to my dad on the phone. About the different places to fish on this river and yeah, very sad to be back here a year later and he's no longer with us. But special to be here with Tommy, my brother, my best friend Colton, all of us who spent so much time with him at our cabin and places just all over the country. It's just, yeah, wouldn't want to be here with anybody else. So it's going to be very important for us on this one to keep in mind that we're in grizzly bear country. So we're always going to be making noise. The louder the better at times to let them know we're coming. And if we do happen to have an encounter, we all have got our bear spray. We know the drill. You know, when it comes to bears, like it's always fascinating when you do get to see a grizzly bear. At the same time, you really are hoping that you see it at a very far distance. Oh my gosh, guys, hurry up. Hurry up. We got to go. There's a bear that's really close to us. Oh my gosh. All right. So we have a grizzly bear. Colton and I have had encounters with bears all over the country. We got a bear walking right towards us. The two of us used to host a television show called Rock the Park, where we traveled to national parks and other wild places. Bear, bear, bear, bear, bear. And so while this isn't our first rodeo, that's a sow with two yearling cubs. Oh yeah. You definitely don't want to get complacent when you are in grizzly bear country. There's just something about mountain rivers, the flowing water that just instantly puts me at ease. I just love thinking about how the snow is melting and it's flowing down these massive peaks and then making its way through the valley here. We get to hike alongside it. We get to fish in it. It's just such a cool experience. And I just feel so a part of this landscape when I'm here. So far we're not having too difficult of a time going along the shoreline. We're kind of dipping in and out of the woods, getting onto some of the boulders, and it seems like we're getting a little bit closer to this waterfall. The waterfall here is part of a steep canyon stretch here on the Boulder River where it cuts through narrow sections underneath the major peaks of the Apsarokas. And so this type of terrain generally creates rapids, short drops, and boulder choked cascades like the one we are seeing right here. This is why I love the west right here. Just miles and miles of wilderness with secrets to uncover and beautiful views around every turn. It's a pretty awesome way to start this trip, I'll tell you what. So we tried doing a little bit of fishing on the river before heading back to the cabin. However, unfortunately we didn't have any luck, but it turned out to be a real relaxing time to just kick back and watch the water flow by. So I don't know if anyone's really noticed, but I don't often do my campfire whiskey anymore, but I figured this was a special occasion. We're in one of my dad's favorite spots and we have his favorite scotch here. So we're going to go ahead and have a little bit of a drink in honor of him and just kind of soak in this beautiful place together because honestly that's what these places are all about. They're about making memories and just being together with the people you care about. For dinner tonight we are all making our own pizzas, really utilizing the fact that we have an oven for once and I think it's going to be really really good. All right, dear God, thank you for this awesome cabin. Help us to be safe tonight and bless this food. Amen. We didn't have a ton of ingredients to choose from. I think we just had cheese, salami, pepperoni, pizza sauce of course, and some pesto I guess. I just kept it simple. Avocado oil, sauce, cheese, and then tea with pepperoni. That's it. That's good. That's it and that's all, man. That's it and that's all, man. I started with a hefty amount of the avocado oil, then we added some cheese right away, then the sauce on top of the cheese, then the pepperoni, then more cheese. That's great. So Oh man, this cabin is in just the most beautiful spot. Smack dab in the middle of the mountains on the Boulder River and Four Mile Creek here. After taking in the view of the creek for a while, it was time to head back to the cabin and whip up some breakfast so that we could get out on the day's adventure. Got a nice little cabin breakfast here. Some bacon, hash browns, and eggs. Simple, but very filling and delicious. Well, the time had finally come to head out on the day's adventure. We're gonna start off by driving the road here deeper into the mountains where it should get rougher and rougher. So as many of you probably can pick up by now, family is extremely important to me and I'm so grateful to live right by the house that I grew up in where my mom currently lives. Now it's a pretty big space for just my mom to live in and we wanted her to be able to feel safe and secure and so that's why I'm so happy. We were able to hook her up with four Anona Aurora 4K security cameras. These cameras are pretty cool and we've got them positioned around the house so she can keep an eye on every single corner of this space. So if you're at the front door, the driveway, the side of the house, or the backyard, it's totally covered. Each camera comes in a box like this and it has all the hardware that you need to install it. Let me show you how it's done. All you have to do is mount this bracket to whatever surface you wanna hang the camera. You screw on the next piece and then attach the camera. Then all you have to do is install the solar panel which allows this camera to essentially run forever without having to charge it manually. The whole process takes about five to 10 minutes and then you are set for the long term which I think is really, really cool. As I mentioned before, it's 4K. It's got ultra high definition video with full color night vision. And I spend a lot of time here on this property. I store most of my cabins here and it's kinda cool to be able to look back and see myself working on them, doing different chores around the house. It's especially cool to be able to look in the backyard and watch the dogs having fun as well. These cameras have AI detection which means they're gonna capture who or what is entering the premises. And it's also nice that it has two-way communication. That way if somebody's at the front door or anywhere on the property, you can let them know that you see them and hear back from them as well. So if somebody is at the front door like this, I can communicate back and forth with them. It is really, really nice. All in all, I think it's a really awesome setup for my mom. It's a great way for her to be able to keep an eye on her property whether she's home or away. And so if you wanna check out the Anona Aurora 4K security camera, all you have to do is follow the link in the description of this video. We're so grateful to them for sponsoring and for keeping my mom safe. And so with that, let's get back to this adventure. All right, so we're gonna give the road a go here. See how far we can make it up this pass. It's gonna be very slow going because there are rocks, ruts, puddles, you name it, that we have to navigate around. This is what I love about the West. There's roads like this all over and even these trails. The ride is a little bumpy, but the destination is stuff you're not gonna see anywhere else. We're definitely starting to go up here. And we're running into a lot of downed trees. Thankfully, people have come through here and cut them up. From here, the road continued further up into the mountains until we reached the end of the line. Now that we're on this trail, the plan is to hike into the Apsaroka Beartooth Wilderness and track down the east branch of the Boulder River here. Wow, take a look at this. So this is the Box Canyon Guard Station built in 1929. What a gorgeous spot. You know, these cabins, these old guard stations, that's what a lot of the cabins that we're able to stay in used to be. They would have rangers up here, you know, doing work on the forest, research, and then also assisting visitors. But a lot of times nowadays, they don't need these stations. And so that's why they rent them out to people like us. This one is not for rent, but man, would it be a cool one to have. Looks like a tiny little one-room cabin, gorgeous view. And you're right here, not only on this trail, but on the Boulder River. Just unbelievable. All right, we are on the trail. Our destination is the east branch of the Boulder River. It's a different little section of this river. Most people use this trail to get into the back country, so they're spending the night. For us, it'll be a nice little day hike. And we're already getting incredible views, so I'm happy. Seriously? Yeah. It's not our footprint. You can really see them right here. Oh, man, holy cow. That is a huge track. Yeah, that's actually, I mean, look at that. That is one paw right here. The other is all the way up there. So that would put the body length of that thing at like, boy, six and a half feet, maybe. Ooh, yikes. That's a huge bear. And that's the thing, you know, these animals, they take the trails, because why wouldn't you? It's the path of least resistance. I mean, why cut through the brush when you got a nice little trail? And so it's not surprising to see that, but I didn't think we would right off the bat. We're like 500 feet in, it feels like. Yeah. I mean, we're prepared, but ooh, boy. Things just got a little spicier. We're basically following this bear right now, because it's going right along the path, so we'll see what happens. But we got our bear spray, so. Yeah. Hey, bear. You always know they're here, but it gets a little more real when you see the actual evidence. Keep your eyes peeled for any rubbed trees. That'd be cool to show. Yeah, definitely. This might be one up here. No, but I haven't been looking. I think this is a rubbed tree. See the fur? Ooh, yeah. Yeah, you're right. Wow. Sign number two. Yeah. The tracks that we saw were pretty obvious and clear, but this kind of confirms it, because that hair is very light and golden brown. So those are grizzly tracks, and this is a grizzly rubbing. So these bears come through, and they rub their backs on these trees. They get up on their hind legs and just kind of get a little back scratch going. And you can tell, because the tree usually gets pretty marred up, and then you can see fur, which is what we have here. And these rubbed trees, too, they're not solely just for the bear to scratch its back. It's to mark its territory. Yeah. And that territory is right on our trail, so. And it doesn't matter how many times you come across a grizzly bear, you're always a little on edge, and you should be, because these animals, they're powerful, and they demand that respect. There's one thing to have the bear spray, and be like, oh, we're prepared. It's another feeling to see two clear signs that bears are around right now. So we're a little more on guard. And we are now officially in the wilderness area as well, which means it's very remote, and there's nothing out here other than this trail. I'm gonna try to go under. Oh! Let's go! We're still following the bear. So this trail that we're on, and a lot of these trails, were actually old wagon routes to get back into the wilderness here, sometimes to mines and to other things. I can't imagine trying to take a wagon across this, but it shows just the determination and perseverance of the early settlers to do such things. Pretty incredible. Hey, bear! This is the east fork of the Boulder River, a quieter, more remote branch of the Boulder River system. It runs through a much more isolated drainage here in the Absarokas, with less dramatic cliffs and more open valleys and meadows. As we've already seen, it's prime habitat for grizzly bears who come through in the springtime looking for carcasses and other seasonal food sources. Unfortunately, we're just not having any luck with fish. But hey, it's so nice to just be out here casting into the river, taking in the beauty of the mountains. There's really nothing better than that. I'm here for the camaraderie and to just be surrounded by all this beauty, so it's still a win in my book. ♪♪♪ Well, this has definitely been a good one. I'll tell you, every time I'm in grizzly country, I'm just humbled to walk in the footsteps of such a powerful animal. And then when I stare up at these mountain peaks, I'm just reminded of how small we truly are on this planet. And yet at the same time, our lives, they carry so much significance. And with that, it's been so special to be here in one of my dad's favorite places. And to do so with my brother and best friend, I wouldn't trade it for the world. For dinner tonight, I am whipping up an absolute classic. Just some good old-fashioned burritos. Dear Lord, thank you for a great day. Thank you for protecting us out on the trail. Bless this food. Amen. We got some classic burritos here with ground beef. We got some lettuce in there, cheese, some hot salsa, and some hot guacamole with hot sauce. So this is gonna be incredibly spicy, but I think it's gonna taste good. When you've been out hiking all day or doing any kind of strenuous activity, stuff like this just tastes that much better after exerting energy. And yeah, very satisfying. All right, guys, it is about time to hit the hay. The cabin is toasty warm. The stove is purring, but we're all pretty beat, so we're gonna get some shut-eye. We'll see you first thing in the morning. Good night. I decided that on the final morning here, I would get up and go for a short hike and enjoy my coffee at this nearby lake. It's just up the road and down a short trail, and it seems like the perfect way to cap off this adventure. Well, good morning, everyone. What a beautiful morning it is. We have to pack up today and move on. And so I knew I wanted to have my coffee down here at this lake. It's so gorgeous here. It's just like sunken in next to the mountain. It's just incredibly peaceful. So there's a fish jumping on the far shoreline over there. Now, the problem is that I cannot cast that far, and the water is so clear that I can tell that there aren't any fish near me. But he keeps jumping right over there, and there's just no way for me to get to him. ♪♪♪ Well, it was eventually time to head back to the cabin to start packing out. It's important that when we stay at a cabin like this that we try to leave things better than how we found them. And so Colton's out there chopping up a hefty amount of firewood for the next guests while Tommy sweeps the place out, and I pack up the car. All right, that's gonna do it for this one. Thank you all so much for coming along. You know, Montana will always be a special place to me. I called it home for five years, and it's always a joy to come back here. I love Montana. Every time I'm back here, it feels like a piece of my heart reconnects, and it becomes whole. And this stay, this did it for me. Just the peace, the solitude, being in the shadow of the mountains from sunup till sundown. You can't beat it. It really reflected a lot about my dad and the fact that this is where him and his friends would come and fish, and just the serenity that comes with being in this place. I think it was a very healing trip. As always, I want to give a special thank you to our patrons who generously donate to this channel. But again, to all of you who watch, you're all the reason that we get to do this on a weekly basis. And I'm incredibly grateful for that. But with that, it's time for us to get on to the next one. We'll see you next week. God bless. ♪♪♪