A Grizzly Encounter

By Derek Meier,
Graduate Student

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem including Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks are considered to be the largest intact natural ecosystem in the lower 48. With such wildness and wilderness comes the unique and privileged opportunity to observe some the largest and rarest of charismatic mega-fauna in the United States. On an ominous fall day threatening an early winter storm, my friend and I had the incredible opportunity to observe four grizzly bears.

We had heard of TSS groups earlier in the week seeing a family of bears near the Oxbow Bend turnout and Lozier Hill. Apparently this family of four has been well known to locals for the previous two years. We were looking for an adult female with three, two year-old cubs. We felt the chance to see them was remote, but the possibility to cast some tracks in the soft silt of the oxbow and Snake River was good. We started looking for tracks in a dried up pond where the signs of hungry bears digging into the soft earth exposing tubers and roots were everywhere. There were a couple of tracks laid down on the grasses and wilted vegetation, but none so good as to warrant a cast.

We expanded our search to the broad floodplain of the Snake River just south of Oxbow bend. This area of the park is indeed magical. Although close to busy turnouts overlooking the Oxbow itself reflecting Mount Moran and the northern Teton Range, a short walk downstream will take you into the wild heart of the park. Aspen stands and sagebrush intertwine on the river steps letting you glimpse bands of elk drifting through the trees. Tundra swans, grebes, ring-billed gulls, widgeons, and mallards alight from the water when you break through the willows into view of a hidden bend. A family of river otters frolic on a slippery embankment then slip into the water to chase sluggish trout. The water table has dropped markedly–due to the decreased desire of water of those further downstream–exposing saturated, muddy slopes that leave undistinguishable tracks when moose, elk, otters, or coyotes step to the waters edge to drink and forage. Our family of bears, of whom we’ve been looking for, have apparently decided not to risk getting stuck in the deep, sucking mud.

With no tracks or actual bears sighted Sarah and I decided to head back to our dens and forage the silver fridge at TSS. Knowing that our chances of a sighting were remote at best, we were happy just to be outside in the grandeur of the park. “Are those moose up there?” Sarah asked while slowing down behind a car just south of Moran Jct. As we approached closer we both realized our mistake, “There they are, the grizzly bears!!”

With my camera ready and the bears just 50 yards away walking down the fence line in a horse pasture, I started shooting. The three two year-old cubs followed their confident mother closely, largely ignoring the increasing mass of onlookers and vehicles.

We were able to drive ahead of the four and just as I steadied my camera, the mother stood up. Eight feet of pure wildness watched the fence-line behind me, probing the air with her nose. The cubs ran up to her in sensing their mother’s heightened awareness. As I glanced over my shoulder three horses came galloping up, standing forward, erect in a straight line spaced evenly apart. A challenge!! The mother bear ran out into the field away from the horses, tight with anticipation. She once again stood and this time each of her cubs joined her in a sentinel role by standing and sizing up the threat the horses posed.

At this moment the horses advanced once again. The female grizzly decided that this last act was just too much to handle and hastily retreated followed closely by her three cubs into the taller sagebrush and aspen stands.

The horses returned to the rich grass after the four bears went seeking easier paths. Sarah and I, still speechless, said a farewell to the bears as we too turned for home. Before Saturday, I had always known that GTNP was home to the great bears. However, they were still only part of my imagination. After today, they are part of my reality, as real as the reflection of the mountains, the smell of sage, the whisper of aspens……the presence of grizzlies.