The Province of Bear
The Belly River unspools sinuous and lithe through the glacier valleys of northern Montana; so named, I learned, for its likeness to the splayed innards of a bear, that being whose presence still presides over all things in that country Evan, Lee, and I walked three days along that river, stroking trailside bear grass, crossing and recrossing the water with its cobbles below, gorging on saskatoons and thimbleberries by the pint, with curious pine martens and chickadees for co