Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Yes, I know I just posted yesterday..... but I had my first bear encounter today. Well, OK...it wasn't really an encounter. I saw a bear today. A real live one. Not behind a cage, not over a concrete barrier.

I was doing some work up at Moonlight Basin Ski Area. We were in an alpine neighborhood up on an elevated ridge line when we were looking down at some of the other houses. Then, walking down the street like it was no big deal

was a black bear. Was it huge? To me, it was huge. It might not really have been that big as far as bears go but I would not have wanted to get up close and personal with it if you know what I mean.

Sorry, but I don't have a picture of the bear. My camera was not ready and I was a bit surprised to see it in the first place. The bear, oblivious to us (or maybe it just didn't care) sauntered off around the bend in the road where we could no longer see it.

About that time we all remember that one of our partners in crime is in the area below us taking readings for the project. What this means is that he has a fluke meter and is intently studying the device and not paying attention to his surroundings. Imagine walking while reading a book.

So he answers the phone and I say "I don't know where you are, but start making a lot of noise and head back towards the car." He responds, "Yeah! Thanks man, I just saw a bear!" And naturally I had forgotten that I drove the car off and left him down there. Oopsie!

He later told me that was taking his readings and finally looked up only to be looking right at the bear! From his indications he was only about 60 ~ 80 feet from where the bear was and it was looking right at him! Fortunately, they both turned in opposite directions and walked off.

I just thought that was very cool and had to write something about it.

Also, the rivers are running high right now due to all the snow run off. I'm not sure what the volume is, but here is a quick pick of a massive rock in the Gallatin River on the way up to big sky. I'm sorry I couldn't provide a very good perspective with a frame of reference, but this rock is easily bigger than any car or SUV that you or I could own. These pictures are of the same rock.