Bear Aware

We stayed at Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park. Since we stayed there three years ago, the park has installed bear boxes at all sites and has instituted a "Bear Aware" campaign. There was a black bear sow with two cubs and a cinnamon-colored black bear mornings in the area, but we never got up early enough to see them. However, during our trips up into Yellowstone, we were fortunate to see both a grizzly and a black bear. Both times the "Rule of Thumb" applied -- if you can't see the bear when you hold out your thumb on your outstretched arm, you aren't too close.

The grizzly we saw off the road near Canyon Village (per a ranger we met, an area not known for bear sightings, let alone grizzlies). The identifying hump on the back is quite prominent

A young black bear was ambling on the hill at Tower