Where Wild Things Roam
Grand Teton National Park
The light was fading fast. A half dozen of us waited near a rise on the bank of the Snake River in the hope of a glimpse of Grizzly 399 and her two year and a half old cubs. They had been seen entering the willow thicket more than a half mile away. We had made a guess where they might be headed and hiked down the river to a safe viewing place. Time passed. Elk bugled, Mosquitoes swarmed. Just before complete dark, the three emerged through the densest of the willows. An elk swimming across the river toward us did a quick 180. The bears tested the air and ambled on. For the only time in 10 days I saw them, and only for a second, with their heads up, together, facing forward, two young cubs and their aging 18 year old mom. Soon they, too, will go their own ways. George, one of the Park's great rangers, who had earlier patrolled the roadside crowds, had hiked around and now waited with us, watching also in quiet awe. The whole encounter lasted only a few minutes, but in that moment I think I saw what nature and wild can truly be, as sometimes we can only imagine it to have been once, like some old scene we remember on some fading puzzle or movie poster. An image that flashes and is gone. But there really still is that truly wild place in our nature. Photo © copyright by Ed Fuhr.