The Baby Bear Drought

Well, I've finally seen baby bears. Baby grizzly bears, no less!

I had yesterday off and spent it in the park. I drove up to Old Faithful to check the geyser prediction list for Great Fountain Geyser, which is located on the Firehole Lake Drive down near Fountain Paint Pots. I arrived at the visitor center at about 9:00 a.m. and saw the eruption was predicted for 9:00, plus or minus about two hours. So I drove up to see if it had gone yet. It hadn't; I waited about an hour before it finally went, and when it did, the best part of the eruption was obscured by the steam. It's still one of the prettiest geysers in the park and probably my favorite.

From there, I headed out the west entrance to West Yellowstone, Montana. I got to see lots (and I do mean "lots") of bison (and baby bison) on the way. Lunch in West, with a stop at the railroad museum and time spent wandering around all of the souvenier shops before heading back into the park.

The baby bears were at the West Thumb Geyser Basin.

It was just dumb luck that I got to see them. All of the bear watchers were on the lower loop road near the parking lot, and I just happened to look down that way as I drove past. So I turned around, went back, looked through the trees and there they were. Huge grizzly sow with her two little cubs. Little being a relative term. They're already pretty good size, but when they were next to their mother, they were just tiny! And so cute! I couldn't get a shot with both cubs in it, and I was in such a hurry to get out of the car, I didn't grab a second memory card, so I finished the one that was in the camera and had no more space when they finally were together and visible for pictures. Oh well. Next time.