the bear

While driving around Lake Mary in Mammoth Lakes, I came upon another car going the opposite direction on a fairly narrow part of the road. The other driver and I skillfully navigated the dilemma and as I was preparing to give the driver a "thank you!" type wave of the hand before continuing down the road, I noticed the driver looking directly at me while frantically pointing towards the ditch on his side of the road. I was confused at first, but suddenly this massive bear comes lumbering out of the forest, not ten feet from my car, heading the direction I had just come from. I pulled over, hoping to safely grab my camera and snap some photos, but the bear kept heading away from me and cut across a lakeside meadow, showing me it's backside the whole time. That's when I realized that it was heading towards a different section of the road, on the other side of the lake. So I turned the car around and excitedly made my way to where I estimated the bear was headed. And to my good fortune, I parked the car right as the bear was entering high quality camera range. And proceeded to stay within range for close to an hour. It was big and beautiful and clearly not afraid of humans, as it meandered it's way through the meadow, around the marina, even climbing on the docks and swimming through the water, before continuing it's exploration around the lake. It was the best and longest bear sighting of my life, and marked an incredible end to an already memorable road trip.
​
"People probably have revered bears for as long as we have interacted with them. And while bear worship is not a part of most modern religions, it is natural for us – even those of us who have never seen a bear – to be awed by such magnificent and formidable creatures."
-Charles Fergus