Monday, May 26, 2008

Bears in The Tetons



All is well, we saw a bear yesterday in the park. We also were warned about two young grizzly cubs in our campground. The park is it's usual self with wildlife viewings everywhere.

Molly and I took our morning walk and decided to walk the other campground as it is still closed due to snow. About halfway in she stopped and refused to go any further. It turns out that the mother grizzly chased her cubs away last week as they were grown up and it was time. They have been in the campground but the rangers chased them away. Didn't see the bear but discretion can be good at times. On the way back I looked to our right to see a coyote walking parallel to us. As Molly is prey,(she never noticed it), I was nervous but we got back safely.

Getting a late start we headed to Jenny Lake intending to ride the shuttle across to Cascade Canyon. On the way a line of cars developed behind me as people think its ok to speed in the park. A jerk from Arizona passed us and then I spotted a black bear on the road a little ways ahead. The idiot stopped and then blew his horn to get the bear out of the road. So we didn't get any pictures, just the tracks. We saw a bear!

At one stop we saw a bunch of tourists walking past a bear closure warning sign but no bear appeared to eat them so nothing for America's funniest home videos. We stopped for lunch at the Jackson Lake dam where I cast a lure for a bit. Didn't catch anything but saw people launching their canoe to float to Pacific Creek takeout. To cold for us to do that but a future trip?

A storm moved in and it started raining again so we put off the shuttle boat ride and Cascade Canyon hike, instead opting for a drive up to Two Ocean Lake. The road was closed but we did drive up Pacific Creek, almost to the trail head. Really muddy and we didn't see any bears but we did see more elk and even a elk calf.

Returning home we saw moose and more elk. All in all a great wildlife day. Clear skies

1 comment:

Leslie's Place said...

Hello, I'm from Utah, and came across your blog. I enjoyed it. I have family in Springville. Good job on your blog. I'm in Germany now, soon to go to Italy working with the Soldiers. I miss Utah very much.