I don’t know why but today I am obsessing over these massive creatures and my desire to photograph more of them. Harkening back to June of 2016 along the Trans-Canada Highway east of Banff National Park.
We happened across this beast not far off the road and needless to say, I hit the brakes hard and pulled over. It was only in view for a few moments but the encounter yielded my best pics of a Grizzly to date.
While I have photographed a few others, mainly in Yellowstone and the Tetons, those encounters suffered from issues with bad lighting to long distances to obscured views. Some day I hope have “that encounter” that will at least partially satisfy my photo dreams.
Perhaps next year if we are able to head to Alaska like we are planning.
Naturalist George Ord gave the Grizzly its classification, ursus arctos horribilis, due to its intimidating character. Lewis and Clark studied and wrote extensively about grizzlies including relaying one story in their journals of an encounter during which Lewis was actually chased by one. Not an enviable position to be in for sure!
