5/29/18 - Bears in the Campground

We arrived at Grande Cache Municipal Campground in Grande Cache, BC, about 12:30.  There was a note on the door that read “Back at 1:00”.  I went inside the 5^th wheel to fix lunch, and George went for a walk to check out campsites.

When the sandwiches were ready, I went outside to find George. I watched a big black dog walking around by a motorhome nearby.  As it kept moving, I realized it wasn’t a dog, it was a mama bear with a cub following behind!

I grabbed my camera out of the truck and ran back inside the RV.  They wandered around the yard right outside the office for awhile.  The cub did documentary baby bear stuff and climbed a tree. 

They looked in the window of the office.  Maybe she saw her reflection in the glass?  Maybe she wanted a campsite?

She stopped to check out the blossoms on the tree--not sure if she was eating them or smelling them.  The cub's back in the tree again, rather proud of his vertical accomplishments.

And then they decided to continue their stroll.

When the manager arrived and we checked in, she was very surprised about the bears, and said she was going to call Forest Service right away.  Later I took my camera over and showed her the pictures.  She asked me to e-mail them, and later forwarded them to someone at the city office.  She in turn e-mailed me asked me permission to post them on the municipal website. I checked back a couple of times, but doesn't look like it happened--they're not very good pictures, taken through dark dirty window. 

I’ve decided that my career as a wildlife photographer will never get off the ground.  Honestly, when I went out to the truck to get my camera, I was rather nervous.  I don’t think that’s a very good attribute for a budding wildlife photographer, although really long camera lenses would help a lot.

Here's the link to Flickr and all the pictures:  Bears in the Campground