YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

The large crowds in Yellowstone this summer were a bit frustrating and when you combine that with accusations of being too close to bears, it feels like time to go somewhere else for a while.

And, that is exactly what I intended to do.  Go some place else, like Waterton where there were bears and friendly rangers.

You see, there was one day when I got caught in a bear jam on Washburn.  It was 90 degrees and with no AC in the car I had sweat pouring off of me.  I called in the jam and discovered that despite it being quite long no one had reported their inability to drive on the road.

About 30 minutes after making the call I crept into a place where it was possible to park legally and told my passenger that we should go see what was going on.  I NEVER park and get out without knowing what the situation is but could stand the heat no more.  Besides, I figured that the ranger would be there soon.

We walked up to the crowd and were told that there was 2 cubs in a tree and that the mom was some where in the trees.  I estimated maybe 50 or 60 yards for the treed cubs and they said that mom was beyond that.  We were trying to glimpse the cubs when mom walked out and proceeded into a meadow, heading opposite us.  I had the camera and decided to take a couple of shots but it was hard to get a clear angle through the crowd and so that did not work.  But, the LE arrived and he saw me and me only.  I was pretty baffled by his reaction because of the huge crowd and the fact that others rangers would not have thought twice about the situation – especially since they were used to rolling up and finding people 10′ from the bears.

He told me that I get closer to the bears than anyone else.  So, here I had spent my summer standing way back, not getting any shots and not taking advantage of situations when they weren’t present.  I had had a bear stand up for me one morning when all by myself and instead of taking the shot had backed up and shot wildflowers until the bear got further away from the road.  And, then I took photos of the bear.  But, I could have had some sweet full framers.  I just don’t sneak around like that – not when I am by myself.   For one thing, I always get caught!  It is just not worth it to damage my reputation.  Oh, but the reputation was already ruined and I did not know it.  One day I had been 93 yards from the bears, standing right where the rangers had had us standing many times and you would have thought that I was 5 yards by the way that this ranger reacted.  And, I would have guessed right around a 100 yards but did not really think about it because that was where we always stood and I knew that the ranger was right there.

It took me awhile of thinking, trying to figure out where he had come up with that from and I eventually realized that my reputation came from the wolf watchers.  They say that I get closer than anybody else because I don’t stand back with the scopes.  Duh, I am a photographer and camera lenses don’t see as far as scopes.  So, they are right, I get closer than they do but that does not mean that I am too close, like under 100 yards.  I prefer wildlife jams with rangers present so that there is no question about right and wrong.  As long as that ranger is not Rick McIntyre over-protecting the wolves.  There is a difference between closer than everyone else and closer than the law allows.

And so I was going to take a vacation from Yellowstone but never made it because the wildflowers were crazy beautiful and I had this fantasy of maybe getting bears in the flowers.

I did get a few shots of the bear in flowers, some times with just a few and other times with the pretty blooms everywhere.

But, it was tough because everywhere a bear could be found, so were hundreds of people running up to it with their cell phones.  I lucked out on a few shots, taken from my car mostly, when the bear came near the road but if I were standing out and trying to set up the situation was impossible because people were in front of me.

So, what I learned from this summer is it is best to leave.  It is also best to not worry about the rules because I will be accused of being too close, whether I am or not.  Ahh, but I have to worry because there are some who would love to see me get a ticket – or give me a ticket.  It is unfortunate that a group of people can make up so many stories and keep doing it until they have everyone convinced that the person is doing something wrong.  Believe I will just keep stepping out ahead of those scopes because photography is allowed in Yellowstone.

Aside from the hassles and the difficult times, I did have some seconds here and there that were just precious and wonderful.  And, if you have never seen a bear completely surrounded by amazing wildflowers, it is a special treat.  If you have never seen fields and fields of wildflowers in Yellowstone, you missed a special summer.  Those flowers just would not let me go because they were so enchanting.

What do you take from this story?  That you just take the bad and keep on keeping on so that you can cherish those few golden moments because they are better than nothing.

I was just reviewing all of these shots and every one, except the black bear with a little lupine, which was a ways off, were taken from the car.

Stay tuned for more stories from the photographer who gets closer than anyone else!  LOL  And here I was trying to be so good.