Bear Country

As we walked into the campground, I saw this sign and wondered, "What would it be like to actually see a bear in Yellowstone?" Little did I know...

We took our 2nd annual Potts family camping trip to Yellowstone this July. This time the whole family was able to come (Jimmy came during the daytime). We went up the night before and stayed in a cabin in West Yellowstone. We had been wanting to stay in one of those cabins for 6 years and finally did it. It was pretty nice, actually, and cheaper than a hotel. We ate yummy Mexican food at The Grizzly Claw restaurant. We also drove into the park to scope out possible campsites for the next day.
Tony's family came up with us. This is his camper trailer he bought for cheap. It serves its purpose but is something to look at. Rob's up top taping a garbage bag over a hole so they don't get rained on.
The next day we couldn't get our first choice of campsites in the A loop of Norris Basin, so we went up to B loop and found 2 right next to each other. I wanted A loop because it overlooked the meadow and stream, but things work out like they should.
We set up camp and waited for everyone else to arrive. We found lots of buffalo droppings and a ranger told us they like to eat the grass around the tents so don't be alarmed if something is rubbing against our tent at night. A nice thought to fall asleep to. . .
As we were all resting that day, we heard gun shots going off and a ranger came to tell us a grizzly was in A loop and to keep the kids close. Rob, Tony, and I went to look. The rangers were keeping everyone back so we couldn't see the bear, but we did learn it had meandered right through the campsite we had wanted.
We went back to camp and the shots kept going off. Finally, everyone else arrived and we finished setting up. We ate a yummy dinner and dessert and made s'mores. The rangers told us that we would have to sleep in our vehicles or hard-shell campers that night because the bear wouldn't leave.
Rob and I went down to a hill overlooking the meadow and just as I got back up the hill from taking this picture, another grizzly came charging across the meadow. Talk about scary! We hurried and told the rangers and went back to camp.
Kareena and Matt slept in their mini van with their family of 7, Tamera slept in the cab of the truck, Jim and Kay slept in the back of the suburban with Kohl in the front seat, and Rob and I shared a twin bed in Tony's camper. It has beds for 4, but we fit 8 and a puppy.

That night one of the bears ripped up someone's tent for their cosmetics bag. We also heard the bison in our camp. Rob and I were the last to go to bed and when we were putting out the fire and lanterns we could hear the bison grunting and coming close. I wanted in that trailer, fast!

The next day was spent driving around Yellowstone. We've all seen Old Faithful and most of the popular sites so we explored the upper loop. It was gorgeous up there and we got to do some short hikes.

Mama elk and calf

CoyoteWe heard rumors of a mama bear and 3 cubs eating an elk so we stopped by and got some pics. We also saw another grizzly in a meadow on our way to camp.

That night the rangers told us we couldn't even get food out so we decided just to pack up.
When we were almost out, 2 brown bears crossed the road right in front of us. I couldn't believe that none of us had seen more than 1 bear in all our various trips to Yellowstone, and this time we saw 8!All the bear sightings and attacks that happened this summer didn't make me too keen on camping in Yellowstone anytime soon.

However, it was a fun time being together with the family.
(I actually started this post in July! Oops.)