One Nation, Under God

My fare share of grizzly bears

I recently read that the grizzly bears are out in Yellowstone National Park. There was a time when I would have made that discovery firsthand.

Bears – grizzlies in particular – have always defined the best country to me. There’s nothing like knowing that there’s a critter out there that might stalk and eat you to keep you on your toes.

I used to spend a lot of time each spring in the park, much of it following elk trails in the snow. It wasn’t easy walking. Elk step in the same track in deep snow so their trails appear as single hoof prints regardless of how many of them have passed. Boots, being larger than hooves, don’t fit well in the same holes, but it still beat wallowing through deep untracked snow.

It was while following such a trail that I had an encounter with the largest grizzly I’d ever seen, a huge, dark male that grows larger with every retelling of the story. He was no more than 50 yards away headed my direction on the same trail I was following when I spotted him.

I reached for the camera I was wearing on my chest when he saw me move. Without hesitation he charged.

We were in the timber on a bench high above the Yellowstone River, and like a coon with bluetick hound snapping at his tail, I scrambled up the nearest tree. The bear stopped, looked up at me, and then turned and disappeared into the canyon.

I got a picture, but all it shows is the debris in the snow scattered around the base of the tree: binoculars, bark, broken branches, my cap.

I’ve always thought that bear charged instinctively. It was early spring, he was traveling an elk trail, and saw an easy meal in close range.

There were other grizzly encounters during those springtime forays into the park, but none as close as that one. I even have a photo I took with an cheap Instamatic camera held together with a rubber band of a young grizzly giving me the eye at about 100 yards. We spotted each other on an open sagebrush hillside. I figured if he wanted me he had me so I might as well get his picture. Fortunately, while I slowly retreated, he did the same.

The bears that were spotted recently in Yellowstone were in country I used to hike in the spring. I’m sure glad to hear they’re still there even if I’m not.

Parker Heinlein is at

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