We've camped in another scenic spot. Bighorn Canyon national recreation area beside a reservoir. We took a drive to the other end of the canyon this morning with the aim of doing a few walks on the trails. The first track we decided to walk on was into an historic ranch. We had walked no more than 200 feet down the track when all of a sudden we looked up (we had been looking down as we were warned that there are stacks of rattle snakes in the area). On so doing, right in front of us, no more than 50 feet away and standing on the limb of a tree were a mother bear and two cubs. Of course we froze on the spot as we had been warned previously about what to do when encountering bears or mountain lions. We snapped off as many photos as we were game enough to before slowly retreating backwards back up the track. When we got back to the campground and showed the campground host the photos he was pretty impressed. He said that we were very lucky to see these bears as most people don’t. Our new friends Judy and Perry are very jealous as they decided to do a scenic drive through the mountains and didn’t see any wildlife at all.
Cinnamon bear and cubs
Oh, as an afterthought I guess we’d better show you some photos of the actual canyon. It is a truly unique and beautiful spot. We also met two locals yesterday (Lisa and Les) who came back to visit us today and took us fossicking in the hills. We found lots of fossils of shells and things called belemnite which is the rostrum of an extint squid (the tail bit). Anyway, all in all a very eventful day.
Our view from the campground
Devils Canyon
Bighorn Canyon
OMG they were close bears
ReplyDeleteWow, June and Hughie, what a special experience! I reckon if nothing else spectacular happens, the whole trip will be worth it because of those bears. Best wishes, Wendy.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was pretty cool. We've just spent 7 days in Yellowstone and only saw one way in the distance
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