September 19th, 2025

The last couple of nights had been cold. I turned the heat on in the RV to stay a bit more cozy.
The cold nights bring frost and with it interesting images.
In the early morning, I saw a bison half asleep. He was lying down like a rock, and he had a bunch of frost on him.
I am not sure if he was cold or not, but he didn’t seem too active.
I got a couple of shots of him until he got up and moved away.

As I continued driving, the sunlight came up and I saw these two very mild pronghorns in the fields. I got closer and they didn’t seem to mind, so I got some pictures and footage of them in the nice warm morning light.
One of them sat down and looked at me, giving me one of my favourite eye-to-eye shots.

Later in the morning, I saw two grizzly bears on the shore in front of where I was driving. I stopped and looked carefully at the map to see if I could find a good trail to get closer to them.
Indeed, there was a way, and I started walking.
The area was clearly bear territory, with multiple bear tracks and poops. It is pretty intense when you know there are bears around.
Every step is a careful look around you. Every sound makes your heart beat faster.
I walked all the way into the trail, and I got eyes on the shore, but I couldn’t see the bears.
I then walked back and realized that I was actually just above them; they had moved closer to the bank, so I could no longer see them from my vantage point.
Knowing their position, I managed to triangulate them and found an excellent positioning with my camera.
I was still a bit far from them, but I loved the footage. It was a mom with a cub, looking for clams or whatever else to eat on the beach.

A funny thing that happened is that, as I was observing the bears, I heard loud music and two girls came from the other side of the trail and are now heading towards the beach. If I didn’t stop them, they would have been face-to-face with the bears. I think I saved them from a terrible day.
I told them that the bears were right there and told them to go back up slowly and go away.
Can’t make this shit up.

I repositioned myself a couple of times, then the bear came up the bank, moving towards where I was.
I quickly gave them distance. She had already smelled me and seen me, and she knew I was not a threat. They kept moving through the bushes, and I decided that they had given me enough for the day, so I went back to the RV.
I found a nice place to stop and have lunch before continuing the search.

Lake view from the RV — The lake I stopped at to have lunch

It had already been a good day, but I wanted to try the notorious Pelican Valley Trail—a beautiful trail with a very high concentration of Grizzly Bears.
As I got to the trailhead, in the parking, there was a big male Grizzly right there. I didn’t have the proper positioning, and a few cars were looking at it. He left quickly, and I missed the shot.
In the parking lot, I met a guy who managed to spend about 15 minutes with him.
These are the lucky events that can give you some fantastic shots. Too bad I was late.

We decided to hike the trail together for a while. The sun was setting, and the trail was supposed to be closed at 7 PM.
We did not see any bear, but on the way back, the big grizzly was again in the parking lot. Once again, I didn't have a clear or good enough shot, which really annoyed me.
But all is good, just seeing these creatures is a great experience every time, especially that close.