Bear Curious Yellowstone

We drove from Denver to Cody Wyoming to spend the night at the eastern edge of Yellowstone National Park. It was about an 8 hour drive. Our goal was to be up early and in the park before the crowds. We heard bears were more likely to be seen early.

We got up early, grabbed coffee and some box lunches. We rolled into the park, which was about an hour drive from our hotel. We arrived right when it was opening. We climbed up over a mountain pass and immediately saw several people with big cameras taking pictures to left of the road. We stopped got out of the car, and saw a famous east Yellowstone mama bear named "Raspberry" and her cub of the year "Jam".

We drove further into the park past Yellowstone Lake, then north through Hayden Valley and saw a lot of bison. Then we headed to Artist Point near Yellowstone Falls. We hiked down to the edge of the Falls to take it all in.

We continue to drive north into Lamar Valley, stopping for a picnic lunch along the way. He started to get super paranoid about grizzly bears while we were eating and we were laughing like crazy.

We drove through Lamar Valley looking for grizzly bears, as if it was our job. We made the decision to drive out the north east exit of the park through Cook city and over the Beartooth Highway. Our destination was Bozeman for two nights.

We had no idea what a commitment this was until it was too late. But driving over the Beartooth Highway was absolutely breathtaking. We are from Colorado. We drive on highways up in the sky more often than most, but this trip was near the very top of any drive we’ve ever been on.

After a very long day, taking some of the best pictures we’ve ever taken seeing things that we just couldn’t believe we ended up in Bozeman ready for a long night sleep.

For those keeping score at home. Day one two bear sightings.

We started the day with breakfast at a very lively place called Jam. Excellent coffee and excellent breakfast choices everyone enjoyed.

After that, we headed out to the Hyalite reservoir with our paddle boards and fly rods to do some paddling and fishing in the sun. This was a short drive from Bozeman and very scenic. Cold water on a hot day was the perfect reset button after that huge day in Yellowstone.

When we got back to Bozeman, we went to dinner at Blackbird Kitchen which has to be the best restaurant in town. Absolutely delicious appetizers salads and Italian food.

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Well, enough of this loafing around it’s time to get back to looking for grizzly bears. We got up early checked out of Bozeman and headed Southwest towards West Yellowstone so we could enter the park from the opposite side that we did a couple days back.

This side of Yellowstone is quite a bit busier but after maybe a 15 minute wait in line we got through. Some of the more traditional things you will see in Yellowstone on this side the geysers the mud pits, areas were smoke is coming out of the ground, etc..

After a few hours of this, we stopped for a picnic at Yellowstone. Lake still had not seen any bears for the day, but we were super paranoid and laughing quite a bit about what we would do if a grizzly walked up to us and took our food.

Once we finished our picnic, we decided it was time to start heading towards Jackson. So we headed straight south to leave the South gate of the park. We stopped to see a waterfall along the way and then got back in the truck.

We continued to look for bears. Right as we pulled through the gate leaving the park before we entered Grand Teton we looked over to the left and saw a few people looking down into the river from about 50 feet above. There was a crack between the folks and I was looking from the passenger side of the car and I saw him. A giant 600 pound male grizzly bear walking slowly down the Snake river.

We watched him walk down the river for a good 20 minutes from the bank above absolutely amazing to see this thing in the wild.

We continued our drive into Grand Teton National Park. The most scenic of all mountain ranges in the country was lush green summer scenery, and we took our time rolling in to Jackson to check into our hotel and then have a quick dinner and a great night sleep.

Running total after day 4 =3 Grizzly bears.

We woke up early in Jackson went and picked up brealkfast and food for our picnic lunch. Breakfast was from the Bunnery, which people simply could not stop talking about. The Bunny is a full on factory of cinnamon rolls so you can just imagine the scene sugar, sugar, sugar.

Once we had our backpacks ready and filled with snacks, we headed up to Jenni Lake to hop on a boat that would take us to the far side of the lake so we could hike up into the Tetons .

The Tetons are jagged and beautiful. It’s hard to put them in perspective as you look at them. They look like mountains should look if they’re gonna call themselves mountains.

We had a rigorous hike for a couple hours, straight up with waterfalls and a constant threat of grizzly bears.

We had a picnic up on an east facing cliff, looking out over the flat part of the park.

After Jenny Lake we headed to Jackson Lake beach for more chillin and paddle boarding. After a full day we headed back to downtown Jackson, which is a very crowded place in the summer. Walked around for a bit, took the pictures you should take when you’re in Jackson and went back for a great night sleep.

Our final day in Wyoming we stopped by an iconic photo spot called Mormon Row. There stands a few homes from early residents of the area with the beauty of the Tetons towering behind them.

The last stop a road named Pilgrim Creek. We read online you’re likely to see some bears up that way we drove around some gravel roads to look like we were going to see a bear, but no such luck.

So we decided this time to head back to Denver. We were 15 minutes into our drive trying to get comfortable in the car and we came over a pass and spotted three more grizzly bears in a valley stream next to the highway. One mama and two cubs.

Total for the trip =Six Grizzly Bears in the Wild.