YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

I awoke at the usual time this morning and looked at the gray sky and decided that getting up early was over-rated when one can stay cozy and warm under piles of soft covers inside of a tent.  Listening to the raindrops fall, I fell back to sleep.

That was nice!

Arrived at the 399 jam just in time to see her disappear into the forest after standing up to get a closer look at something.  Maybe that black bear that has been hanging around.

If you visit the Tetons and want to photograph the bears, be careful because the rangers have had it and are handing out tickets.  I was told that three people got ticketed the other day for being 38 yards from the bears.  Wasn’t there and don’t live here so can’t say much about the situation – but the whole thing is unfortunate for the bears, the rangers who feel like they have to get nasty, the visitors and the locals.

And, if the story about 610 and her cub is true then maybe the bears are getting tired of being crowded by folks.  610 crossed the road in front of me late this afternoon and she was alone, without a cub.  The story, as I have been told (I was not here) is that 610 was being crowded by photographers and freaked out with frustration and possibly killed her cub.  That bear, 610, was so mellow the first year that she had her other cubs – the next year she was not so mellow and it sounds like it might be worse.  The bear I saw tonight wanted nothing to do with anyone.

Sort of off-handly I found out that there was a great gray – for some reason it is a secret even though far away and in a public place on Moose-Wilson Road.  I went on down there and took some distance shots of the owl and did get some video of it flying and hunting.  Always such a thrill to see those owls and I had the greatest time pointing it out to families who were out there watching two cow moose in below us.

After hanging out with the owl and the moose, my heart was aching terribly and I decided to take a long hike into the forest.  I took the big lens, tripod, bear spray and iPad and off I went, eventually following a wildlife trail for some time – until the black bear scar got too fresh.  There I sat, wrote and listened to nature.

When I went to head back, I was a bit lost but knew if couldn’t be too bad so wasn’t real worried.  And then it happened!

My dream came true.  Two dreams actually.  One to see something cool in the forest while hiking, that was for my eyes only.  The second was to finally see a pine marten!  I saw the furry bugger run down a log and tried to at least get a shot of its tail to prove I’d seen it but no good.  And so I started back down the trail – the wrong one, as it turned out – and was crossing a big log when the pine marten reappeared.  Probably heard me break a limb or something and so came back to investigate.  I got some shots!  And, I could not be happier to have had my own little special moment in Grand Teton Nation Park.