Yellowstone National Park (part 6): Importance of Being Ready

Basically the last thing I did in Yellowstone NP was to go for a short hike with Aaron. We were both reluctant to solo hike anywhere in the park due to the bear activity (really – it would have been stupid and reckless to do so), and to be honest, even with two of us we were still one short of what the park recommends. But we headed out for a short hike near Mammoth Hot Springs (yeah – more on that in the future… and yeah, I still have to get to the geysers). We started the hike not really being quite at all and were less than 5 minutes down the trail when I looked over and for a second I thought I was looking at one of those wooden bear cutouts people put in their front yards… but this was a very real black bear eating on a carcass. I managed a few quick shots but nothing high quality. As we were safely moving away, she went to the base of a nearby tree and laid down… her cub was up in the tree! I think Aaron might have got a shot or two of the cub, but I was not in a good position and never saw more than a fleeting glimpse of it. When we came back through, the bear and the carcass were both gone…