Christine and I went up to Flagstaff Friday for a Copper River Salmon BBQ with our daughter, her family, and the in-laws. Wonderful time!! But that's another story. I usually get up at the crack of dawn so I thought I would go looking for Black Bears early Saturday morning (before everyone else got up). I first went up Mount Elden where I had seen a Black Bear last year. But nothing. Not even Elk or Deer. So, I decided to head further up the San Francisco Peaks and into the Coconino National Forest. First I came across eight female Elk. Like most Elk in Arizona, when they see humans they run away quickly. (Arizona is a big hunting state). But I took this spur (4x4 high clearance required) deep into the forest and came across two Black Bear Cubs playing amongst the rocks:
When they saw me they turning and started running away:
I did not follow them because I could not see the mother anywhere. (I have a rule not to get close to bear cubs unless I see the mother, the mother sees me, and the mother is OKAY with my being around). So, I kept my distance looking around for the mother when the Bear Cubs came back:
As you can see from this photo the cubs aren't looking at me. They are looking for their mother, who still is out of the area. Soon the cubs began crying and whimpering. Within about a minute, the mother came (not running but walking quickly):
As soon as the cubs saw "mom" they headed straight for her:
Mom saw what was going on and turned around to walk away, glancing back to be sure her cubs were following. It was over.
Although a wonderful and memorable experience, none of my photos were great. The cubs did not look at me, they kept looking for their mom. Even when mom came it was difficult to get a good photo of her through all the trees, leaves, etc. And, as I said I don't get close to Bears unless I know that they are comfortable with me around. That did not seem the case here.
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