The Grizzly Bear of Storm Point
January 5th, 2009This is a true story about one of the many adventures I’ve been fortunate enough to experience in Yellowstone National Park. It was a pleasant day in late May, and my wife and I had decided to spend the weekend in Yellowstone National Park. We were staying at the Lake Lodge Cabins, and had spent most of the day simply touring the sites. We lived only a short 90 minute drive away from the park, but we never got tired of enjoying the spectacular natural wonders of Yellowstone.
As early afternoon turned into late afternoon, we decided that we wanted to take in a short hike somewhere near Yellowstone Lake where were staying for the night. During that time of year, most of the trails around the lake were closed due to grizzly bear activity. We spoke with a park ranger to ask for suggestions on where we might be able to get in a short evening hike. On this particular day, the Storm Point trail was open, and the ranger recommended it to us. The Storm Point Trail trail was an easy hike that led to an elevated point overlooking the lake. As we drove up to the trailhead, we saw a larger group of approximately 8 people just coming back from a hike to Storm Point. As a local resident, I certainly understood the possibility of bear encounters in Yellowstone, especially in late May. However, I felt more at ease seeing several people returning from Storm Point as my wife and I were beginning our hike.
The first portion of the trail led us through a larger open meadow filled with sagebrush. The trail skirted past Indian Pond before eventually following the lake’s shore and entering into a rather dense forested area. As we hiked into the forest towards Storm Point, I felt a bit nervous as though we were beging watched. I kept an open eye out for bears or any other wildlife that we might encounter on the trail. My wife was also nervous, and she expressed her desire to go back to the car numerous times. Determined to see Storm Point and the lake scenery, I insisted that we continue the hike. Eventually, we reached our destination, and enjoyed the spectacular view of Yellowstone Lake from Storm Point. We were both excited and took pictures of the awesome scenery.
Finally, we decided that we better return to the car before it got dark. We certainly did not wish to hike through bear country in the dark. We passed through the dense forest area without incident, and we both believed that we were “out of the woods” so to speak in regards to the risk of a bear encounter. Well, it turned out that we were sorely mistaken.
Just before we reached Indian Pond on our way back to the car, we noticed a coyote following us. Excitedly, I took hold of the camera that was hanging around my neck in an effort to photograph the coyote, which was only 10 yards away from me. As I took pictures of the coyote, I noticed that he was behaving strangely. The coyote would look at me and then turn his head to the left as though he was watching someone else or something else. I knew he was not looking at my wife, because she was behind me. Suddenly, I heard my wife say “Bear! Bear!”.
I quickly turned my head in a desperate attempt to locate the bear. I did not know what kind of bear it was (grizzly or black), where it was, how close it was, or if it was even charging us. As I scanned the trees in the direction the coyote had been looking, I suddenly saw a grizzly bear. The grizzly bear was less than 30 yards away, and our eyes met at what seemed like exactly the same time. I know the bear was surprised, because I literally saw him flinch as our eyes met. The grizzly was close enough that I could actually see the brown color in his eyes.
My wife was in shock and froze up like a large block of ice. She was stiff, unable to move, and kept her head down looking at the ground in terror. Having received my college education in wildlife biology and lived near Yellowstone Park for so many years, I knew a great deal about bears and how to handle an encounter. Still, it is difficult to describe the fear that comes with a close encounter with a grizzly bear. My first instinct was to run as fast as I could, but I stopped myself from doing that. I knew that bears can run up to 35 miles per hour, and any attemp to run away would likely trigger the bear’s natural instinct to chase us. There was no way that we could outrun a grizzly bear, and the last thing we needed to do was cause the bear to associate us as prey.
I grabbed my wife’s arm and pulled her next to me. I whispered to her “Don’t look at the bear, just move with me. If the bear charges, I will push you off the cutbank into the lake. You go down the shore and get help while I take the brunt of the bear’s attack”. The grizzly bear was looking right at us, and I decided to take two steps forward to put a tree between the bear and us. The bear responded by taking a step or two and stretching his body to look around the tree at us. I then took a couple more steps to once again remove us from the bear’s sight. The bear again responded by taking steps to look around the tree to view us. This “cat and mouse” situation continued for a matter of seconds though it felt like hours. Finally, the bear turned from a broadside to face us and took a few steps in our direction. At that point, I told my wife “Here he comes, get ready”. Suddenly without warning, the grizzly bear turned broadside to us again and simply walked away into the forest.
I immediately walked my wife into the opposite direction from where the bear had gone. We moved as quickly as we could and walked around the far side of Indian Pond to put more distance between the us and the grizzly bear. Suddenly, I noticed that we were surrounded by an entire pack of coyotes. There must have been 9 or 10 of them with the closest ones only being 5 or 6 feet away from us. Although they never attacked or attempted to bite us, it was unusual and frightening to have so many coyotes around us at such a close distance. We were able to see the road and our car once we got around Indian Pond, and then the coyotes were gone as suddenly as they had appeared. We made it to the car and returned to Lake Lodge where we had some food and a few drinks to calm our nerves. We shared our adventurous story with other park visitors as we sat in the Lake Lodge lobby. It is one of countless Yellowstone memories that we have made over the years, and it’s an experience that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
While it certainly makes for an exciting Yellowstone story, the incident could have easily turned into a tragedy. It is important to know what to do in case of a bear encounter. For example, running would have been the worst thing to do and would have likely resulted in a mauling. By joining arms with my wife, I made us appear as one larger creature rather than two smaller ones. The bigger you appear, the more intimidating you may be to the bear. That can reduce the probability that the bear will attack. It also helps to hike in groups of 4 or more as a bear may not like the odds that come with being so outnumbered. Still, there are no guarantees when hiking in bear country. A female grizzly bear (sow) with cubs is the most dangerous as she will attack anything that she perceives as a threat to her cubs. Surprising a bear that is on a carcasse or food source is also extremely dangerous. Bears will defend a carcasse or other food source vigorously. Finally, it is dangerous to simply surprise a grizzly bear. If surprised, a bear will sometimes attack as a response. In our incident, I believe we did surprise the grizzly bear. We were fortunate that the bear did not attack, and things turned out good for both us and the bear.
Grizzly bears are one of the many attractions of Yellowstone National Park, and most visitors hope to see one during their visit. However, remember to follow the bear safety rules while in the park. For more information about the grizzly bears of Yellowstone National Park, visit http://www.nationalparktravel.com/grizzly_bear.htm. For more information about bear safety in Yellowstone, visit http://www.nationalparktravel.com/yellowstone_bear_safety.htm. To learn more about Yellowstone Park’s bear management areas, visit http://www.nationalparktravel.com/yellowstone_bear_areas.htm. Finally, be sure to make your lodging reservations as early as possible since many facilities can sell out months in advance. Plan your next Yellowstone vacation at http://www.nationalparktravel.com/yellowstone.htm.