Do It Differently Personal Training

As we were leaving the park one day, we spotted a black bear wandering through some rocky hills by the road. Whenever the cars start pulling over and people are scrambling to get their cameras, there must be an animal around. As we were gawking at this amazing creature, a Yellowstone visitor parked their car, walked in front of ours, and shouted, “What is it? What do you see?”. We were urgently whispering, “A BEAR…A BEAR!!” “What? What did you say?”… “A BEAR…get back in your car!”. “Oh, a BEAR!…where is it? Where do you see it? I want a picture, where is it?”

Some people are pretty disrespectful of the power of nature and wildlife, and will do almost anything for a picture. It’s amazing and frustrating, and something you have to breathe through as to not let it interfere with your experience at Yellowstone.

Approaching hungry and angry levels, we finally made it back to our homestead and fired up the stove for some dinner; the gas-fired stove where I nearly killed our family by accidentally turning on the gas for the oven and never lightening it (see the rustic stove in the photo).Fortunately, those brilliant chemists add that smell to the gas so you can prevent your untimely death.

The famine and fatigue levels were mounting and we knew it best to stay focused and get everyone fed and not discuss photo-seeking tourists, or major life-events at this point. We were finally sitting down to eat and I saw a flash of black through the window and figured it was the town bison again. Then Ben noticed some more activity at the cabin behind us, and got up from the table. “Ah guys, there’s a bear in the yard, oh wait no, he is walking up to our car…oh man…HE’S ON THE PORCH !”  Talk about a bonding experience with your neighbours!

We all gathered in the yard to discuss our sighting and the excitement that followed. Ben went ahead and strapped the bear-spray to his belt for the repeated trips back and forth from the car.

The next day as we wrapped up our visit to Yellowstone with a trip to Old Faithful,

we were impressed with the calm camaraderie among the visitors all waiting patiently for the next eruption. We were all sharing various stories from our time in the park. One gentleman took the Beartooth Pass and said he had to change his shirt once he got to the top of the mountain. He said his hands were permanently fused in a claw shape  from gripping the steering wheel so intensely.  Another person heard us talking about our bear visitor and after the impressive geyser did its thing, he asked us where he could go to see bears. Apparently, he’d been looking for a performance area. (they actually used to provide those up until the 1970’s in Yellowstone by feeding the bears garbage).

All of our most impressive animal sightings were on our drives into and out of the park. The animals have us humans figured out and they seem to stick to the less populated areas (or so it seems). That man standing by the mule deer is a park ranger, so I figure he has some awareness of space and distance. Notice his car door is open for a quick escape should the beast decide to charge.

This was my favorite bear sighting by far!