Brian and the Bear

Yellowstone was spectacular. I really enjoyed the park. After arriving I checked out the park headquarters in Mammoth and then headed off on a hike in the Northwest corner of the park. Since the trail was near the HQ I figured it would be a pretty popular trail, and there were a good number of people on the first 0.3 miles. But after that point it emptied out and I didn't see anyone the rest of the hike. I climbed about a 2 miles up the trail until I reached a clearing where the forest had been destroyed by a forest fire and many trees were burnt out and fallen. I spent a few hours up there exploring some ponds and hilltops. I saw deer and elk and many birds but and best of all, not another human.

Gardnier, WY

As I began my decent back down the trail I stopped to sit on a log and drink some water. I heard what I thought was another hiker coming up the trail. As I looked over, I saw it wasn't a human but it was a momma black bear and her cub. The cub scurried up a tree about 150 feet away while the momma bear just stared at me. I tried not to panic and grabbed my backpack and retreated to about 300 feet away from the bear which was still sitting there watching me.

On top of the mountain

I found a somewhat protected point and then fashoned two spears out of deadfall, in case it came to that. Since I pack light I didn't have a hatchet, machete, bear spray or a pistol. I got my phone out to make a video to document my impending death by mauling in which I'm embarrassed (em-bear-essed) to say I made more than one bear pun.

There is a bear somewhere in there.

After about 5 minutes the bear and her cub wandered off. Unfortunately they wandered off right down the trail I was also trying to descend. After giving it about 10 minutes I slowly started making my way down the trail afraid I was going to catch up with it. I made lots of noise, and was praying I'd run into another hiker. It wasn't until I got about a tenth of a mile from the trailhead that I saw someone else. It was a solid hour of an adrenaline rush.

Bison on the road!

After getting back to the HQ I treated myself to a chicken sandwich, ice cream and a cool beer to take the edge off.  I then drove south to the Norris campsite where I made camp. I got into camp early which was nice and got everything set up and a nice fire going. It pretty much drizzled all night but the campfire kept me warm and I had a few blankets for the tent. It got down into the 30's during the night but didn't freeze my water bottle.

This morning I woke up packed the site up in the rain and got in my car. I stopped by old faithful to see the eruption. It was very cool but my phone crapped out so I didn't take any pictures. Then I continued driving south through the Grand Tetons which looked gorgeous but the low cloud cover made it hard to truely appreciate it.

Now I turn back west to head to San Francisco for the weekend.