Tuesday, January 27, 2009

ABC Wednesday--B is for ...

I was looking into my travel folders for some Bs, but then got sidetracked by my Dad's album.

B is for BEARS
These pictures were taken at Yellowstone in 1929. They had such a casual attitude toward the bears. I can't even imagine.

In the 1960s, I rode through Yellowstone with my folks. We came upon a traffic jam, and what causes traffic jams in Yellowstone? Bearwatching. In this case it was a mama bear with two cubs. And, oh-oh, the cubs were on one side of the road and mama was on the other.
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Now one of the biggest warnings about encountering bears or any wild animal is "Do not get between a mother and its young!" And here were a whole stream of cars in that very position.
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Mama Bear gave the kids a signal, and they were very well trained. Up the nearest tree they went. Cub One scooted up his tree, a sturdy pine with a trunk about a foot in diameter. He made it to safety twenty or thirty feet up and waited. He was the smarter brother.
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Cub Two headed quickly for the nearest tree and scooted right up.
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To the top.
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Since this was a very young sapling, the top was about twelve or fifteen feet above the ground.
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At least it was until it had a young bear in it.
Once Cub Two made it to the top, the top made it in a nice arch to the ground.
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How have you interpreted the letter B? To see others, go check out the ABC site, and be sure to give Mrs. Nesbitt a "Hi and thanks." She started us out on the ABC Wednesday trail a year and a half ago.
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Those travel Bs will find their way into another ABC post some time. And for our more recent encounter with a Bear, have a look back here last summer.

4 comments:

Liz Hinds said...

Oh wow! I can just see the cub on the tree!

And those first pictures - gosh! I guess bears hadn't learned to be wary of man then and man could be less fearful too. In Whistler there were lots of signs about not encouraging bears because they'll end up getting shot. THose photos show a much more relaxed time.

Daryl said...

Wonderful ... I assume back then there was dont bother 'em, they wont bother you attitude ..

Michele said...

I am intrigued by these photos! I just love the age of these and seeing the old cars. How interesting to view these.

I have been educated left and right, up and down about bears here in the Rocky mountains not only from my husband but from a few of the classes I took when I moved here. I live in the thick of bear country but I have only seen 2 of them, thank goodness!

Wonderful post!
(Hug)

PERBS said...

Great photos to accompany your storyline. You are blessed to have the old photos.