| Guarded grizzly at Old Faithful, 1984 |
| I had been out walking the geyser trails earlier in the day and decided to return to my room in the Old House section of the Old Faithful Inn to take a short nap before continuing for the rest of the afternoon. I was awakened by a commotion outside, and from my window I saw this scene. A grizzly was at the far end of the Old Faithful Inn parking lot, calmly feeding in the grassy area that borders the lot. A pale green ranger vehicle slowly followed along, making short, loud bursts of noise through the loudspeaker, apparently attempting to move the bear along more quickly. The griz seemed oblivious to all of this as it slowly moved at its own pace and on its own terms. The mounted ranger near the center of this photo calmly urged bystanders to stay back, as another, less patient ranger in the distance (standing just left of the person in the dark shirt and pants who appears have hands raised to take a photo or look through binoculars) rather frantically and nervously warned the people near her to move back. They paid little attention. During the next 25 minutes or more, I watched as the bear slowly worked its way toward Old Faithful geyser, clearing the boardwalk and seating area. It was possibly one of the few times Old Faithful has erupted in the height of tourist season without the usual attentive audience seated and standing nearby. My last view of the grizzly was as it moved from the geyser area in the direction of the (original) Snow Lodge. I was later told that it walked past the employee housing area before continuing on. |
| Photo (c) F. Markley |