We live in the "BEARmuda Triangle". No really, that's what the rangers call this area. Black bear sightings are more common here than any other area in the park. In the 2 1/2 mile stretch of road between our store and the next junction we regularly see bears. We tend to see a mama black bear and her 3 cubs,
another mama bear and her one cub, and sometimes a young male. Not all black bears are black. We also see a few beautiful cinnamon black bears in the area. As the cubs are getting bigger, the families are roaming further away, but are still spotted around here frequently.
So what do you call a bear without teeth?? A"gummy bear" of course!!
One day a black bear went behind the store, climbed up on top of the restroom, and surprised an unsuspecting visitor coming out of the restroom. People said they weren't sure who was more scared, the visitor or the bear.
Another day we were walking to work and the mama bear and her cub were right along the campground road. We weren't sure if we'd be able to get to work, or if we'd have to call off for bears. We like to say that most of the time our commute to work is very pleasant, but sometimes it's a "real bear!"
You've heard of traffic jams, well here we have "bear jams". When someone spots a bear, they too often tend to stop their car right in the middle of the road. Then the next person stops to see what the first person saw, and before you know it there are people randomly stopped all over the road. We try to find a spot to safely pull off the road or we try to keep the traffic moving to keep the rangers happy.
Do you know what a "Bear-falo" is? It's when you think you see a bear way out in the distance, but it turns out to be a buffalo.
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| The cubs are great climbers! |
In the evenings after work, we typically go for a 'bear drive' or when we work the later shift we go in the morning. It's just not a complete day if we haven't had at least one bear sighting. Our record for one day is nine different bear sightings. We try not to count the same bears twice.
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| We have spotted these 2 bears together a number of times |
The bears that we are typically seeing seem used to people. We are told that the bear families stay close to the roads because those are areas that the older male bears don't like, so it is safer for the cubs.
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| This cinnamon black bear is collared and tagged. |
The bears in this area tend to ignore people as long as we keep our distance. But don't get between a mama and her cubs, because they are fiercely protective of their young. Bears are amazing animals and deserve our respect.
The bears in this area tend to ignore people as long as we keep our distance. But don't get between a mama and her cubs, because they are fiercely protective of their young. Bears are amazing animals and deserve our respect.
