We just wrapped up a two week road-trip through Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Throughout the trip we experienced some pretty cold temperatures and frequent snow. The wildlife didn’t seem to mind and Grand Teton National Park did not disappoint. We had a chance to once again see the park’s most famous inhabitant … Grizzly 399. We first saw her back in 2018. Yes she is famous. She has her own Facebook page, T-Shirts, and a dedicated (and slightly whacky) group of photographers that chase around the park looking for her and her cubs. We called them the Bear-parazzi. It was pretty obvious when she had been spotted because they would all go speeding off. In one case, they left us by ourselves photographing a lone grizzly. That bear did not have a Facebook page, a commercial T-Shirt deal, or a Twitter account. I guess she wasn’t glitzy enough. I think she still uses AOL. We thought she was pretty cool.
This year was a particularly rare situation for 399. She was still with 4 of her cubs (two of which were brandishing collars that lacked any sort of bling) from two previous litters. She had just been spotted for the first time the day prior. Shortly after we left, she had apparently thrown the cubs out on their own. Kids hanging out on the red carpet are just bad form. It was a pretty impressive sight to see 5 grizzly bears in close proximity. The final bear pictures below are of 399 and her cubs. I think she must also have a media consultant because that evening, I kid you not, on Sirius XM radio we heard an old childhood classic.
Several of the other images below of a lone grizzly in the wild with nobody else around were far more majestic … and did not require a signed waiver. Equally exciting was finding a couple of fox on two separate days hunting in the early morning. On the other hand, one lone beaver who taunted us when we did not have cameras at the ready continued to elude me on five separate attempts. He needs an agent.
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