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Read the story, "Night of the Bear", about the bear, Meathead, and the '59 earthquake.
A couple in a truck drove up and saw the bear. The women grabbed a pot and pan, got out of the truck and started rattling them for all she was worth. The startled bear stopped eating and headed for the nearest tree.
Unfortunately, it was the same tree that the guy from the snack bar was seeking refuge in. As the bear climbed the tree the man climbed higher. They followed each other almost to the top of the tree. Finally a park ranger showed up and was able to get the lady to stop rattling the pans.
The bear came down shortly after she had stopped and everyone had backed away from the area.
But it took the ranger almost two hours to get the man out of the tree!
Several years ago, there was a Ranger whose name was Bob. One day, while on his way back to his cabin after a long day clearing trails with his saw, Ranger Bob looked down the trail he was traveling on and saw a huge grizzly bear lumbering toward him. The bear was unaware of his presence so far, but he knew that it would be a matter of moments before he would be noticed, so he knew he had to act fast. Being a Ranger, he knew he could not outrun the bear and he also knew that if he played dead...he would soon be dead, so his only option was to quickly find a tree and climb it until the bear passed on. So he dropped the saw, which made some noise, and found a tree that had enough lower branches that he could make his way up the tree, which also made for some noise as well. Being a curious creature, the grizzly made his way toward the tree to see a small green ball scurrying up this tree and making a whole lot of racket. The bear stood up and placed his front paws high upon the trunk of the tree and began pushing the lodge pole pine back and forth...trying to discover what this green ball was...and because of the tapered shape of the pine tree, the top of the tree where Bob was clinging to began to sway back and forth....Ranger Bob was hanging on for his life. This went on for 15 - 20 minutes and when the bear was convinced that Ranger Bob was not coming down, he went on down the trail...back toward Bob's cabin...Well, Ranger Bob thought to himself that he would wait a few minutes before climbing down, knowing that the bear was still down the direction of the trail he had to travel. After a few minutes, the bear returned, but this time he had another bear with him. They eagerly approached the tree where Ranger Bob was held prisoner when the first bear began pushing on the tree again. The second bear joined in from the other side of the tree and pushed back against the first bear's efforts causing the tree to sway beyond comfortable levels...Ranger Bob knew he couldn't hold on much longer with all of this whipping and jerking going on but to his surprise the bears finally stopped their harassment...and went down the trail...yep, toward Ranger Bob's cabin. At last, a moment to catch his breath, Ranger Bob prepared to climb down the tree and try his luck... when he noticed the first bear coming back down the trail again...this time he was carrying a beaver under his arm!
This was approximately 1957 when I was 12 years old. The bear was probably a black, but we never got a picture, so I can't prove it. This family vacation marked the first of almost-yearly visits that I have made to this wonderful National Park.
After waiting in a 'bear jam' for what seemed like forever, my father stopped the Olds to take a picture of the bear which was across the road on the far shoulder. In those days, one would take a reading with a light meter, adjust the shutter speed and aperture opening on the camera, and then take the picture. Dad rolled down the car window to take the light reading and then turned his attention to the camera (Argus C3) in his lap to make the necessary adjustments. When finished, he brought the camera to his eye as he turned to the spot where the bear had been. While my father was adjusting the camera, the bear had made a speedy approach to our car, probably thinking that the newly opened window meant a hand-out. Dad only saw black through the viewfinder, so he lowered the camera and found that he was nose-to-nose with the bear with only 3 to 4 inches between. Dad quickly engaged 'drive', rolled up the window and shouted "Oh you old *#@$\~% you". When Dad shouted, the bear 'snorted' and backed away. We were several hundred yards down the road before we realized that the stuff on Dads' face and left shoulder was bear-mucus and the foul odor in the car was mucus and bear-breath. The mucus and breath were blown into the car when the bear snorted just prior to our speedy departure!
Our first trip to The Park, my roommate had a broken leg. She is absolutely crazy about moose. I saw a fairly small moose walking in the woods not far from the road, but she missed it. So I made a u-turn, drove till I spotted it again and parked. She still could not see, so I went into the woods to make a little noise and see if I could get it to come out to the road. It was still walking away from me, so I followed it for several hundred feet till it came to a clearing and turned around ... and it was a grizzly. I froze. It looked at me as if to say "Lady, I am so tired of tourists" and walked away. When I got back to the car, Cheryl said "it must have been a bear rather than a moose as all the animals in the woods came out and crossed the road to the other side."
Last summer I went over to The Park by myself one evening after work. My new self-improvement project is learning all about the wild flowers. So I found a nice little clearing between the East gate and Sylvan Pass and sat down with wild flower book in hand, and was examining the flowers, identifying them in the book and memorizing the names. Pretty soon I became aware of a snuffling sound behind me. I looked over my shoulder, and there some thirty yards away on a hillside was a grizzly and her cub. They were turning over sticks and stones and eating grubs and paying no attention to me, so I just sat and watched. Then a car stopped, and pretty soon there were half a dozen cars, people out on the side of the road pointing and taking pictures. Still the bears went on munching away. Then some yahoo decided he wanted a close up of the cub and started toward the hill with his camera and tripod. The sow spied him, stood up on her hind legs and let loose with that "scream-growl" (I mean, hearing that in the wild while you look at the bear will freeze your blood), and he ran for his life. Lucky for him that bears cannot run downhill. Everyone got back in their cars, and the two bears walked off into the woods. They never did see me ... of course, I could not move for another ten minutes.
We have seen lots of black bears, usually near Tower Junction, including one cub just old enough to be by himself, who was running around a clearing, tripping over a log and doing somersaults, and jumping spread-eagle into a small pond. We watched him for an hour, and his favorite play thing was a strip of cat tails growing at the edge of the clearing - he would run and jump spread-eagle into those, too.
Thanks for your page. Gail
A family was touring through Yellowstone when the father pulled over to check his map for directions. There was another family getting ready to eat a picnic lunch on the opposite side of the road. The picnickers had just set their picnic basket on the table when a bear came ambling out of the woods right for them. They all scattered for the car, the father ended up on top of the car with everyone else inside. The bear took the picnic basket and walked off into the woods to the amazement of the one family and the amusement of the other. The family swore that it was Yogi, but no one saw Boo Boo, so it could not be confirmed! The other family shared their lunch with the picnickers, but there was just "bearly" enough. (Okay, okay I added the last line - I just couldn't resist it!)
I was 11 years old when my family embarked on our annual Yellowstone vacation. As occurred every year, my parents offered $5.00 to the first person to see a bear. This offer always was made but I had never seen a bear in my life time. So one evening at about 5:00 pm, we went to the "Whiskey Flats Picnic Area" (located between Madison and Old Faithful, it has since been named "Picnic Area" because the sign always got stolen.) We were having our favorite dish, macaroni and cheese with tuna fish. As dad was cooking it up on the portable stove, a van came cruising into the picnic area and raced toward us. Mom went white, not knowing who was in the van, nor what they were going to do to us.
Suddenly the window was rolled down and the passenger was yelling "There is a bear headed for you!!!" Mom freaked!!! So us children, being obedient to our mother, became hysterical, just like our fearless mother. "Everyone in the truck (Bronco)!!!" she yelled and then proceeded to throw us all in. So mom and us kids were sitting in the truck shaking and white with fear when we looked at dad. There he stood in front of the stove cooking the macaroni and cheese with a smile on his face. We all started screaming at him but he said that no bear was going to eat his dinner.
Then "The Bear" came out of the woods and continued to make his way toward what he thought to be his" dinner. He was about 50 feet away. When dad saw this grand daddy silver-tooth grizzly coming straight toward him, he decided that dinner was done! He kind of jogged toward the truck, hopped-in and proceeded to dish up the macaroni and cheese. Meanwhile, the bear realized that we were humans and his dinner was no longer available; thus, he lazily departed. But I assure you that we didn't eat a bite and remained horrified of the recent threat for the following couple of hours. After the bear was gone, mom immediately began scolding dad for being so stupid. But I don't think he listened; he was too upset at himself for leaving the camera at home!
The rest of the night was filled with talk of what could have happened had the van not warned us of the approaching bear. Since this memorable trip, we have seen many bears, and every time we have that special privilege, we are reverenced with admiration and respect for the all-powerful and mighty bear that had once invited himself to dinner with the family.
My first summer to work in the park was 1993. I also worked in the park the next summer. Between both summers I encountered five grizzlies and one black bear. My first sighting is still my favorite story.
It was my first day of work in Mammoth, Yellowstone. Another employee and I decided to take a short hike up Bunsen after work. Along one of the switchbacks in the trail we noticed a cow elk and her calf. Since it was late May we had been warned about how mothers protect there young. So we took a shortcut to keep from encountering the mother. Farther up the mountain we came across a moose in the trees. We quietly skirted around. On top of the peak we had a grand time playing in the snow (both of us are southerners).
We were so excited on the way down that we forgot about the moose. When we noisily approached it, it began to snort and paw the ground. However we were able to escape. Our hearts beating fast, we began counting our blessings when we arrived at the previous switch back. Instead of one elk and a calf, we saw a herd of elk. We stopped to look and questioned where the calf was. About that time a silver back grizzly raised his head out of the grass. He was about 100 yards away and we were frozen. Then we realized where the calf was. The grizzly bent down and picked the calf up and retreated a few steps up the hill. There he stopped and released the calf and looked straight at us where we were still frozen. Once again he picked up the calf and retreated. We took this opportunity to duck down a hill and run. We made it back safely to the trailhead and counted our blessings that the herd of elk had been there. What a way to spend my first day in Yellowstone!
My uncle told me the story of two visitors who spotted a large moose. After taking several pictures, they begin getting braver and started taunting the moose. Suddenly the moose turned around and charged them. One man quickly climbed a tree, while the other ran for a small cave in the rocks. The moose followed the man on the ground, and he just ducked into the cave as the moose rattled it's antlers on the rocks. The moose took a couple of steps back when the man hopped out of the cave. The moose charged again, the man ducked into the cave again and promptly out again when the moose backed off. They repeated this sequence two or three times.
The man in the tree hollered telling his friend to stay in the cave and let the moose calm down. His friend quickly hollered back "Stay in the cave, hell, there's a bear in here."
Some of our all-time favorite bear stories include:
A family gathering in the 50's with Aunts,Uncles and Cousins, and a trout dinner cooked on a wood stove in the Fishing Bridge cabins. Long after dark, my Uncle Melvin volunteered to empty the fish grease out of the big iron skillets. This was years before bear-proof garbage containers came into vogue. He headed out carrying a large hot skillet to dump and reached the two metal cans fenced in a wooden holder. Realizing the cans were piled high with boxes, he nudged one of the very large "boxes" over with the hot skillet. The large "box" let out a large roar and chased him full speed back to the cabin! His daughter, Laverne, not realizing he was being chased by a bear breathing down his neck held the door shut! He let out a war hoop. She opened the door just in time to let him slip through. The next morning there were a lot of paw prints and a trail of grease! I don't remember him ever taking the garbage out again!
My Father's Favorite Stories:
The first one was about two ladies carrying a sack of cookies headed for the restroom at Tower Falls. A roadside bear a short distance from the restroom was thrown several cookies. Without thinking about it, the pair went on their way to the restroom. Within a few moments of their arrival 8 or 9 ladies ran out of the restroom screaming - dresses up and pants down! The bear polished off the rest of the cookies and returned to the roadside.
The second is about a cowboy from Texas who roped a two year old Grizzly at Dragon's Mouth. The bear was bothering people in the area. I don't remember staying to see how that story came out!
We often, through the years, would head for West Yellowstone to watch Grizzlies at the town dump. As soon as it got dark, cars would line up with their lights headed toward the smoldering garbage. The first to appear were the big sows with older cubs, then newer, more cautious mamas with small babies. After a while a huge bear with lots of battle scars and a tooth sticking out the side of his mouth, Snaggle-Tooth, would arrive. He was just huge, 1000 pounds or more, looking as if he could whip his weight in just about anything! When he was done, other smaller males would come in, and about dawn a few brave black bears would venture in. It was a great thrill for us to watch 30 or 40 Grizzlies in one night. Snaggle-Tooth was shot at the dump some years later, which had a lot to do with the dump being closed. He now stands in the museum at West Yellowstone. The Craigheads who did a wonderful study on the Yellowstone Grizzlies tracked the movement of the bears in the park following them to dump sites in the park and on the park boundaries. In the 50 years of Yellowstone summers I've watched and enjoyed the wildlife of Yellowstone. My first bear was when I was 2 in 1948. He came up a hill, stood up and put his paws on the window. I tried to crawl under the seat. I saw my last Grizzly last summer in the meadow above Fishing Bridge. A young female closely watched and protected by Rangers.
