Bears!

A grizzly nuzzles a yearling cub while foraging near Hellroaring Creek. My return to Yellowstone National Park was supposed to be a quest for winter wolves. Instead, it was bears, bears, bears.

I wasn't mad.

🐻🐻🐻

I saw my first cinnamon black bears. About half of Yellowstone's black bears are brown or cinnamon. This yearling cub and her mom just out of frame stayed in the same patch of woods for several days.

I caught up to this grizzly family as they slowly worked their way down a mountain ridge. We also saw distant male grizzlies on a bison kill surrounded by wolves, but they were too far to photograph.

Mom was groggy from hibernation and still needed lots of sleep throughout the day. She had a real "go in the other room and play" vibe with her rambunctious twin cubs.

The rolypoly cubs were in good shape coming out of hibernation. They're off to a fantastic start as mom digs up spring roots and looks for the occasional ground squirrel.

 

I had been planning an April visit to Arizona until I saw a YouTube video of birders driving long stretches of desert scrub without seeing much. And I thought if I end up driving endless distances to not see wildlife, I would want to not see bears, ha.

A black bear grazes grass along a roadside in the evening light. Seeing so many bears made the spring trip special and reminded me why Yellowstone is one of my favorite places.

I had great fun with the usual cast of characters in Yellowstone that I'll share in coming days. But the bears were definitely my favorite part of the trip.