A couple of evenings ago I was driving through another bison (people) jam to get to my trailer when I heard about an accident involving a black bear near Calcite Springs, the home of Rosie and her three cubs. The scanner was garbled and difficult to understand but I clearly heard Rosie mentioned three times and also heard that she and her cubs were seen running up the hill after the accident.
My heart sank with this report because I couldn’t imagine life without watching Rosie and her three cubs. When I need to see something special in wildlife, Rosie is where I go and she always makes me smile.
The next morning I set out to find Rosie but she was no where and my heart sank further when I found a small black bear in her territory. Even a ranger asked me if I knew anything about the accident. He said that he had heard that the bear was rolled twice.
“Not Rosie,” he said, “I’ll just be waiting for her to come out with her three cubs.”
Later, I hiked the Tower Falls trail which goes above the area where we normally see Rosie and did not see any signs of any bears. Since I covered quite a large territory, I felt pretty good about the family being safe somewhere.
It was even later that afternoon, while I was out with the Second Mom and her two coy (black and cinnamon) further up the road, that Rosie was seen near Rainy Lake, just beyond where I had hiked.
I knew that rangers were busy with another bear jam but did not know it was with Rosie. I tried to call them but had no cell signal and so for an hour I stood on a hill behind the crowd that gathered around Second mom and her cubs, with my bear spray ready. I had my short lens and managed to capture some shots of the crowd and just a few of the bears. It would have been a perfect chance for me to get amazing closeups of these cubs but I felt that it was more important to be ready in case someone got too close and upset mom. I really didn’t want anything to happen to those bears and could have cared less about the people who gathered around the bears and crowded them. Sorry, that is the truth.
After Second Mom went across the creek and on up the hill and when visitors began crossing the creek to follow, I left the bear jam in search of a ranger. Luckily, I passed one on the way who was just going to check on things. NO ONE called in the bear jam, not even the tour guide for Yellowstone Safaris after I asked him to do so. Some days I wonder if anyone else really cares about these animals.
Much to my relief, Rosie and her three cubs were at the bottom of the hill, keeping more crowds entertained. She was okay. I believe it was her that was hit by a car and so we dodged a bullet on this one.
Seven very good reasons not to speed, or even go very fast from Roosevelt to Dunraven. Please slow down.
When we were in the park a few weeks ago we were fortunate enough to see some Griz in Lamar Waaay in the distance arguing about a carcass, and of course Many Sison and Red dogs, got some Great Pix. Before we left, made a turn and lo and behold there was Rosie and her 3 babies putting on quite a show! Little ones following Mom, scurrying to the TOP of a big TALL tree all together and just acting like little kids would do. Something I will Never forget EXCEPT for……when we left and were going down the highway, some older woman sped up behind us, Honking her horn, waving her arms. Stupid us thought, are we leaking something, hit something, what? NO! She wanted to PASS, which she did on a double line. MAD??? Oh, we slowly but steadily caught up to her with binos, got her lic Plate #. Then , haha, she got held up by more traffic. So we pulled up right next to her and I showed her I had her Info and would be notifying Park Rangers! She never even rolled down her window, Nasty looking woman, from Tennessee! So all the way out, she was dodging behind us, and I did report her at Gate. He said he would radio her in. But who knows. We did our duty, Oh, I so would have liked to have done more 🙂 I am so happy Rosie is Alright!!! I grew very fond of her and those little ones after seeing them having such fun. At least the little ones!
You mentioned Yellowstone Safaris. I don’t have a good impression of that company at all. When we visited in May, we were giving a few bison plenty of space and time to cross the road (one big guy was right next to the line). One of their tour vans was directly behind us and would not wait. He passed, got within inches of the big bison and accelerated loudly, clearly agitating him. He got way too close. Then he sped off towards Silver Gate. It was getting dark and I was afraid for anything that might be crossing the road in his path. Here is what their website reads: “Our goal is to facilitate nature-based experiences that provide enjoyment of and appreciation for the natural world, promote the idea of conservation and provide lifetime memories”. That driver’s behavior doesn’t exactly demonstrate that appreciation for the natural world, if you ask me.
Wendy, I think that the company has some great guides and then others that leave me shaking my head. For one thing they often stop in the road and often will drive quite slow and not pull over to let others pass. This is not teaching our visitors good habits for the park. I think that guides are park stewards and are on the front line of being able to teach people the proper way to conduct themselves around wildlife and parking in the road is not a good start.
As the saying goes, “you can’t fix stupid”! I certainly hope things are a little quieter when we are there next September.
Oh my gosh!! Im gonna have a tshirt made about the need to SLOW DOWN and wear it in the park. Im so upset about folks driving behavior. Please keep us updated on Rosie and her 3 babes and the Second mama. Thanks!
sounds like an absolute zoo up there. the safety of our wildlife needs to come first.
People need to slow down everywhere in the park. This Spring it seemed worse than ever between the speeding ( I was even passed twice in a no passing zone while doing the speed limit!) and the blatant attempts to get “up close” to the wildlife (watched a van full of Asians stop in the middle of the road, get out, and stand 5 feet from a big horn for a selfie). I am not sure what the solution is, but something needs to be done.