Bear Sightings

Above  is a photograph of a rather large black bear looking to catch a fish at Phelps Lake.  I remember the moment quite well.  It came as a fitting conclusion to a hike that was filled with such sightings.

Phelps Lake is on The Rockefeller Preserve in the Tetons and we always start our vacations at Jenny Lake Lodge by making it our first hike.  It works well as an reintroduction to the mountains we love so well.  It is about a six mile loop around the lake that the Rockefeller children used to play on when they vacationed in Jackson Hole.  Since the hike simply circles the lake, it is relatively flat with only a few uphill sections.  It gives us a chance to catch our breaths before we tackle more ambitious treks.  It provides wonderful views of the middle Teton with The Grand and Mt. Owen peaking out in the background.  And it never fails to offer a wildlife encounter or two.  We usually see a fox at the beginning of the trail.  There are, of course, plenty of deer and a few elk hanging out in the woods and almost without exception, there is a bear hanging out down by the lake far enough from the trail for comfort.  After the hike, we usually reward ourselves by heading to Teton Village for something to eat at The Mangy Moose.

The bear sighting pictured above was a little different.  We were hiking with Barbara, who came up to stay for a couple of nights, and the bear encounters commenced at the start of the hike.  We were walking up the beginning of the trail when we met a family of hikers hurrying back toward the trail head.  "There's a bear and her cub on the trail just ahead," they informed us, a little out of breath.  So, we had a decision to make.  We were looking forward to the hike and didn't really want to turn around.  On the other  hand, it would be embarrassing to get mauled by a bear on our first hike of the season.  I, being the brave outdoorsman I am, decided that we could just be patient and kind of follow the bears up the trail.  Bears, moose, elk, and the like prefer using the man made trails to bushwhacking through the dense undergrowth off the trails.  I'm not sure how they survived before the army corps of engineers built the first trails in the park.

Sure enough, we followed the mama and her cub all the way to the far end of the lake without incident and there were enough bear sightings of the two foraging to provide plenty of breathtaking moments.  When we got to the other side of the lake on our way back down to the trailhead, things changed.  I saw Barbara walking briskly back up the trail toward me.  "Bear!" she said.  I looked ahead and there was definitely a bear smack dab in the middle of the trail looking back at me like he was daring me to get closer.  This was not a mama bear and he was busy marking his territory with giant claw marks raking down the trunks of trees.  The sight, like every bear encounter, took my breath away.

Well, I wasn't about to turn around and retrace my steps that close to the trailhead, the prospect of a beer or two at the restaurant within reach.  I  held my ground and tried to look big and brave, all the while avoiding eye contact.  (Important tip:  Bears are like groups of old white Republicans walking down the street in ill-fitting baseball caps.  Avoid eye contact and move to the other side of the street.)  The bear finally mosied off the trail and down to the water's edge where he proceeded to decimate a few trout.  It was a great moment and I managed to get a few photos before we moved off.

I'm writing this memory in a valiant effort to forget about political stuff.  That's what is so great about going to Jenny every year.  I can fast from the news for two weeks, eat great food, drink from a remarkable wine list, hike those wonderful mountains, and commune with a few wild beasts.  They are so much better than the tame beasts I have to read about on a daily basis while I'm at home.

Running into bears makes you forget all your other troubles and just concentrate on the moment.  We had our first close up bear encounter some twenty years ago at Surprise Lake.  We were sitting on a rock on shore eating our lodge packed lunch when I looked up from my piece of chicken to notice a mama bear and her cub walking directly toward me.  I got up, grabbed my food, and backed away.  I told Katherine to do likewise and she did, but she noticed that I had left my camera on the rock and, unaware of the bear, went back to retrieve it.  She raised up with the camera in hand only to come face to face with the bear!  I mean, they were almost touching noses.  You would have been impressed by her aplomb.  She backed away slowly and let the two bears pass.  Another thrilling moment and she saved a very expensive Nikon to boot.

There was another encounter with a cinnamon black bear that we of course thought was a Grizzly on the trail to Amphitheater Lake.  We just turned a corner when there it was eating berries under a giant lodgepole pine.  Another thrill.

More often than not, there will be a bear wandering around the cabins at Jenny.  That's why it is a bad idea to have open bags of food available in your cabin while vacationing in a national forest.  Usually, it will just be an occasional mouse that attacks, but sometimes it might be a bear.  I was sitting on our cabin porch having a gin and tonic when I got up to look around the side of the cabin.  There it was.  A mother bear and her cub were walking right past my kayak and up to my porch.  I grabbed the gin and tonic (I figured bears like berries and gin is made from juniper berries.)  and went inside to watch the bear slowly walk past our porch headed for the main lodge.  When she was safely in the distance, I refilled my drink and reclaimed my porch.

We will be up there in just another month.  I can't wait for our reunion with all our friends at Jenny, both staff and guests.  I can't wait for the reunion with the mountains and lakes and the alpenglow that colors Teewinott at dinner time.  And I can't wait to show those bears that we have come back for more.