Bear 610 and Her Cubs, Grand Teton National Park

We had heard that the bears were out including one of the most famous, bear 399, (google). The number refers to the tag number on the animal but the reason she is so famous is because she inhabits an area where she and her cubs are often spotted. She is one of the most photographed bears in Grand Teton National Park.

So when we hard she was in the Two Ocean Lake area, along Pacific Creek, George and Val joined us and we headed to Grand Teton National Park. The park is fifty miles away but due to the highway construction it took us almost two hours to reach Two Ocean Lake.

Driving up the dirt and gravel road, thankfully dry, we stopped to glass large meadows. Having been told that the bears were hunting elk calves we expected to see elk in the area and Renita spotted a small herd of cow elk along Pacific Creek.

Reaching the trail head we stopped for a picnic lunch. Another car arrived and the driver asked us if we had seen any bears. We told him we hadn’t and he told us that bear 610, (google), a sow with two yearling cubs had been entertaining everyone at Willow Flats.

It didn’t take us very long to load up and head down the road to the Willow Flats area. Arriving we drove by rangers who had put out orange cones to block foolish tourists and keep the bears safe However the bears had moved into the dense willows and so we drove to a parking area nearer the dam.

Asking if the bears were still there a man nicely told us that the bears were moving our way and sure enough George spotted the sow and both cubs as they moved through a small meadow, (no surprise as George has hunted elf for fifty years and has made numerous trips to Alaska). By the time I got my camera ready they were already behind a big willow but shortly after they reappeared in another grassy patch.

They were several hundred yards away and so we used the 300 mm lens to take image after image as the sow and then the cubs mover out of sight. We repositioned ourselves further west but the bears didn’t oblige us by reappearing.

The willows were full of cow elk easily spotted by their white rumps. It was no wonder the bears were there as prey was plentiful! Talking with another man we were told that another bear had surprised a family eating lunch along String Lake.

As the sow and her cubs hadn’t reappeared we drove to String Lake but only spotted cow elk. Still it had been a successful outing as we had spotted three grizzlies. Bear 610, who is a daughter of bear 399 promises to provide lots of sightings in the future. We have spotted black bear in the Tetons but it is the first time, other than Yellowstone and Alaska, that we have seen a grizzly mom with her cubs. Clear skies