Bears & Colors

This is the second of my four black bear galleries. All of these pictures were taken at Grand Teton National Park in the fall of 2005, my first visit to the park.

Huckleberry Breakfast

Dining on Berries A black bear cub pulls a mouthful of huckleberries off of the branch. It was a beautiful scene with the soft light of early morning, the the reds and yellows of the fall colors of the huckleberry tree, and the hungry little bear set against the cloudless sky.

Berries & Colors A black bear cub peers out from the top of a huckleberry tree in the Tetons. It was with its mother and another cub, fattening up on berries before the winter snows arrive. I had scheduled my trip for late September partially to avoid the crowds and partially to fit my work schedule. I was delighted to see that the trees in the park had exploded with fall color, it was an unexpected and wonderful surprise.

I Meant To Do That This black bear mother was dining on huckleberries with her two cubs. She had been foraging near the top of the tree, much like her cubs in nearby trees, when suddenly there was a loud crack and the mother came tumbling to the ground. Unfazed by being unceremoniously dumped when the thin branches couldn't support her heavy weight, she stood up and began eating berries that were closer to the ground. You can't see it in these pictures but she had a little patch of white fur on her chest.

A Bear On the Trail

I didn't share a single word with my favorite hiker however. I was coming down from the trail from Taggart Lake (I highly recommend this hike), the sun was out and the early morning hours were passed, so I knew the chances of good pictures was gone.

I did get some good chipmunk pictures earlier and was quite pleased with that, when suddenly I noticed this short hiker in a heavy fur coat coming up the trail in my direction. I stood stunned for a few moments before my senses returned and I realized I was sharing the trail with a black bear. Nothing alarming, it wasn't showing any signs of aggression, just walking at a steady gait towards me. The trail wasn't very wide and I figured he wanted the right of way, and who was I to argue?

I backed up a bit to a spot where I could safely get off the trail, then started backing up downhill, figuring it was a less threatening posture and also kept the sun at my back, pleasing both my safety and photography side. The bear was walking forward a lot faster than I was backing up, so it was quite close when it passed me. It gave me a quick glance without breaking stride and then continued up the trail. I stepped back onto the trail and watched him for a few short moments before he waddled out of sight around the corner.