Better with Bears

It's been a while since Dan and I have been to the Pryors all by ourselves. But all of our friends had other plans for the weekend, so it was entirely up to us to choose our own entertainment. 

Yes, another dead tree picture! 

On Friday, Dan suggested revisiting an area where we had hiked before (read about that adventure here) and going a different direction. Sounds good to me! We walked up a closed road for a little bit before veering off to a destination point on one of the "fingers" overlooking the canyon. As we walked, we noted interesting rocks (a few might even have been arrowheads or speartips), and investigated some claim markers. Eventually, we reached the spot that we had determined would be the "turn-around" and sat down to eat lunch. We noted some signs of bear activity - a torn-up stump and some old, dry scat - but there was no sign of life in the meadow below us. The wind was definitely not in our favor, so as we started back for the machines, Dan hung back while I went ahead. He was hoping that maybe my scent blowing back through the trees might push something out into the open for him to photograph. 


After I had walked for a bit without seeing Dan coming behind me, I decided that he must have, in fact, seen something. So I circled back. Except he was behind me, so of course, he was not where I left him. I retraced my steps again, and before long, I spotted him. He was patiently scanning the landscape around him with his binoculars. Suddenly, his whole demeanor changed, and he was taking pictures. I hurried to catch up, and I caught just a glimpse of black fur disappearing into the trees.

He said it was a sow and two cubs, so we started cautiously, but quickly, down the hill. When we spotted them again, we saw that she actually had three cubs! But once again, they dropped out of sight. Dan blew the predator call once, but then decided that calling in four bears might not be the wisest thing to do, especially since we did not know exactly where they might come from! We continued around the tree line and came to a cattle trail. Sure enough, there were bear tracks in the soft dirt. We had missed them. Just then, we both heard the rustle in the trees and looked up to see black fur in the green leaves! Wow! She came down out of that tree FAST! With the wind blowing our scent right to her, we knew we had seen the last of her, so we went in the opposite direction back toward the atv's. 

Not the best photo, but it was the only opportunity we got! 

They came this way! Awww, baby bear! 

Hiking back to the machines, I commented to Dan that it would have been a good hike even if we had found only pretty rocks and dead trees. He gave me his little smile and replied, "Yeah, but it's always better with bears!"  

Saturday morning, we were ready to ride! We explored some new roads and trails (well, new to us), and just enjoyed the sunshine and the ride. We were on the way back to the camper when we saw a couple of atv's stopped in the road. A flock of bighorn sheep were just off the shoulder, and lo and behold, they were ewes! (Almost all of the sheep we ever see are the bachelor herds.) As the ewes made their way across the road, I spotted a baby one! We have looked and looked for little ones without success. Finally, we had one! Neither mama nor baby was in any hurry, and we had ample time for pictures. What a great ending to our outing.