After having a good time in Yellowstone, made better by having snagged three days at three different campgrounds within the park because of last-minute cancellations by others, we headed back to the Tetons where I was pretty confident that I would be able to find a place to legally camp on Forest Service land.On the way, we passed the Turners Triangle X Ranch (pictured above…read more about the amazing place by clicking on the link) where I have fond memories. More than two decades ago I arranged a pack trip through them into the Bridger-Teton Wilderness with 10 guys from my wrestling team. It was an outstanding bonding activity. We combined horseback riding, fishing, camping, hiking, and a little high-meadow football on the pack trip using the expert guide service the Turners’ provided (including Mark and his cousins), with a short trip to Yellowstone, and a week at a sports camp at the University of Wyoming. What an amazing experience! I hope, before I get too old, to repeat something similar with family, minus the sports camp. Mark told me that he got his father, John, and mother, Mary Kay (she told me it was the first time riding a horse for a week in 20 years for her, when we had breakfast at Dornans with them), and the rest of the family, including his teenage children, to the wilderness on a pack trip earlier this summer. If you like the outdoors, camping in the mountains, and riding horses, while somebody else takes care of the mules and the cooking; I don’t think you could have a better adventure.
Now to the family I intended to talk about when I sat down to type…Bear 399 and her four cubs. After a bumpy ride up the Forest Service road, we found a great place to spend the night. Across the Snake River Valley you could see the whole Teton range. It was the clearest day we had seen so far. Of course, I took some photos to remember what was for me the most beautiful campsite in my life. The next morning, I knew I wanted to get up early and head to the Oxbow Lake area where the bear family had been hanging out.
After a hot breakfast of eggs skillfully cooked on the camp stove by my wife (a rarity when we camp because I am usually happy with a quick breakfast of yogurt, so we can get on the way and try to see it all), and another bumpy ride back down the gravel road, I parked along the main road for a short while at the overlook to the lake where several people were paddling kayaks and paddleboards. Some had cameras ready; some equipped with long lenses. Not much seemed to be happening. There were no cars along the road where we had seen (but not been able to photograph) the bears nearly a week ago. I took a few photos and we got back in the van. Miss Daisy got in the back. We drove slowly for only a couple hundred yards when a National Park Service Wildlife Management guy in a neon yellow-green (chartreuse for you people who know your color names) walked out in front of the van acting like a school crossing guard. Me being a master of the obvious, called out to my wife, “There must be a bear.” She called out, “Where.” I said, “Right in front of us. Can’t you see the Ranger?” She quickly unbuckled her seat belt and climbed over the cooler to the front seat as I grabbed my camera.
Things were happening fast. From the right, out of the bushes, 399 stepped out onto the road staring at the crossing guard as she sniffed the air. We were first in line. Not as close as the ranger, but pretty close. I should have quickly put the car in park and turned the engine off as I had seen the guides do in Tanzania and Kenya, but I panicked a little. My wife squealed in excitement, like a much younger person, “Where are the cubs?” Bear 399 squared off with the ranger as he looked 399 in the eyes and slowly backed toward my van. Momma bear turned and started walking towards the trees on the other side of the road. Then two cubs walked across the road toward their mother at a confident pace. My wife exclaimed with excitement in a tone usually reserved for her grandchildren when they do something extraordinary, “How cute!!!” A few seconds later another cub crossed the road at a slightly quicker pace. My wife said, “Where’s the fourth?” with a slightly worried tone. On cue, what looked to be the smallest of the four bears, sprinted out of the brush trying to catch up. All I could say was “Wow!” The ranger waved for us to continue on our way, and the guy behind us in a big U-Haul truck honked his horn impatiently. I took the next left and drove down a gravel road to the other side of the Oxbow Lake to set up and see if the Kayakers were going to be rewarded and get good picture opportunities of 399 and her four cubs swimming. A crowd formed along the bank, having the same idea as me, but after about an hour of waiting, there was no sign that the bears were going to entertain the crowd. We had places to go and people to see.
Please click here and you can see a Photoshopped image compiling all the bears in one shot. The actual photos follow in the gallery that confirm my written account (though I really wish I had turned the car off to get sharper images) and a few other photos from the sunset, campsite, and the rest of the day. I can see why Mengelsen says 399 is his favorite subject.