First Bear

It was a good day to have off, sunny and 70. In the morning I climbed the stairs and did the year's first walk around the upper terrace road which is closed to everyone but skiers and snowshoers in the winter. It's a nice quiet walk now when still closed to cars.



Later in the day I heard that right near where I took the above photo, someone had seen a black bear yesterday.





This afternoon I went to a farewell party for my summer boss whose last day is Friday. We shared a couple hugs, I chatted with friends, and snacked on shrimp and chocolate-covered strawberries.

In the evening I headed out for a casual stroll around the neighborhood and was told there was a bear up the road. I only had my small camera with me but decided to go see anyway. I had to part a herd of brown elk to get up the hill where I found a small crowd watching this bear.



A ranger came along and moved us back so I started to leave when I noticed that three of the elk were heading straight toward the bear. I decided to go back and wait for further developments. In the photo below, the bear is to the left and an elk is in between the signs.



I have no idea why elk would choose to walk up to a black bear (which will be eating elk calves in the near future) but the bear showed no interest and soon walked down the path for home.