The Three Bears

We watched this mother bear and two cubs sauntering along the Gunnison River.

While visiting the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado, Keith and I encountered a wet, brown bear.  She was wandering along a roadside flanking the Gunnison River.  We were in a car, so we slowed and watched as the bear scurried across the road in front of us and up a hillside.  There the bear stopped to look back at us, and I snapped a couple photos.  The bear began to snort so we decided to leave; we didn't want to stress her.

As we continued our drive along the river, Keith glanced in his rearview mirror and saw the bear returning to the roadside.  Another much smaller bear then popped out of the brush.  This was a mother bear and her cub. 

We left the bears alone and drove on toward the Gunnison Dam, our original destination.  While admiring the dam and the lime-green river flowing downstream, we once again saw the bears.  This time they were on the opposite side of the river and there were two cubs!  We think that the mother bear had already carried one cub across the swift moving current and was coming back for the second cub when we surprised her.   Once we left, she completed her task.  That explained why she was wet.



The cubs were adorable.

We watched the bears amble along the riverside for some time.  We were downwind of them across the river, and they didn't seem to realize we were nearby.  What an honor it was to watch the family!

Later, we flagged down a park ranger and reported our sighting.  He was surprised, telling us that no bears had been spotted in the area up to that date.  We showed him our photos and he thanked us for making the report, noting there was a campground and picnic area downstream from where we saw the bears.  The bruins were headed upstream, but for the sake of the bears as well as for the people recreating along the river, notifying officials of the sighting was important.

We wish the little family well!