Looking for Bear 399, A Day in Grand Teton National Park

On the first day the park opened lucky people caught a glimpse of the most photographed grizzly bear in the area. Bear 399 is a twenty-three-year-old sow grizzly bear. Her fame is because she has raised over twenty cubs and because she often is near roads, (she keeps her cubs near roads so boar grizzly bears will not kill the cubs.

On last Monday, she appeared at her favorite spring location and was accompanied by four new cubs. Now grizzly bears normally have one to four cubs. Nothing unusual there but what is unusual is her age had caused many to speculate that she would no longer have any cubs. Obviously, those who said so were wrong.

So as soon as we saw the image we had to go to the park and try to see her. George and Val also went and being aware of the virus danger we took two cars and wore masks. Arriving at Pilgrim Creek we saw the bear jam, or should I say a car jam. There were probably about one hundred people waiting patiently for her to show up.

We waited for four hours but she never did show. Still it was a great place to have a picnic and George and Val joined us, (we kept a six-foot separation). 

A Black bear had been spotted in the area and it did put in a brief appearance. As you can see in our photos. It was quite a ways away and people blocked our view, (I spotted the bear as it left the trees to cross the road, but it happened so fast that I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough to get a clear image). Renita hurried up to where it had disappeared, but she never did get a glimpse of it.

We did meet one of the best bear photographers we know, Rick Larson, and later learned that Tom Mangelsen was also nearby. We also learned much earlier two grizzlies had been spotted on Towgotee Pass. Two mountain blue birds flew nearby, but again no images.

It was time to return home and as we passed Willow Flats, we saw that it was filled with cow elk. They should start calving and that means the grizzlies will move there to hunt the elk calves. They are the main predator of calf elk and we did see one feeding on a new kill last year.

Still it had been a good trip. Anytime we are in a national park, it is a good day. We also got to see a black bear and we do not see bears every day. It is our first bear spotting of the year!  Right now, it is snowing here, but it is going to warm up Monday, so we are planning on heading back to the park next week. Clear skies