Grand Teton National Park, Day 1

It’s about a five-hour drive from Casper to Jackson and the plan was to go in Grand Teton National Park and hope we would see bears. After all, two years ago we had lucked out and encountered 399 and her four cubs. Crossing Towgotee Pass, we drove to Moran Junction without seeing any wildlife. Entering GTNP we encountered a traffic snarl just past Pacific Creek Road. The crowd were using their binoculars and spotting scopes, but no one was taking pictures. Parking we got out our equipment and asked what the excitement was. We were told that grizzly bear 610 a daughter of 399, and her triplets, had been feeding on an elk carcass in a stand of willows/aspen. They had almost disappeared into the willows. We did get several pictures, but they were over three hundred yards away. Not a good distance but we still had seen grizzly bears. They disappeared into the willows and so we waited.

After waiting for an hour and a half we decided to make a quick run up to another spot which sometimes held grizzlies. Most of the people had left in search of bear 399, Approaching the Oxbow Bend, we encountered another traffic jam. This time the star was an otter that was sleeping on the ice shelf.

A small area of the bend had opened and several trumpeter swans, common mergansers, sandhill cranes and pied billed grebes were also using the open water.

The otter was sleeping on an ice shelf and woke up. It cleaned itself before devouring a piece of fish it had left for a snack. Before it dove into the water several ravens quickly appeared to clean up some scraps. We did not spot any more wildlife as we drove to Leeks Marina. Ditto for a drive on Park Road past Willow Flats to Signal Mountain where the road was still closed. Returning to where the bears had been, we parked as the bears were coming out of their napping place. They were still far away but the sun was right, and we could see the sow and her three subadults. She has a dark coat of fur where as her three offspring all have blonde colored coats. Several people told us that the bears had put on a show for the past three days. We were tired and headed to Jackson to get a place to stay. At last, our long trip was over, and we had been rewarded with seeing four grizzlies! Clear skies