More than just a sighting

It is a beautiful day here at the Chisos Basin Visitor Center, one of only a few lately because of an unusual abundance of rain.  Looking around here in the basin you would lean towards thinking jungle rather than desert.  We were having a busy morning but during one lull in visitors it was my, (John) turn to walk this weeks interpretive program schedule over to the lodge front desk.  On the way back from the lodge I glanced up Appetite Hill to see if yesterday's bears were still around.  Bear is not the first thing I saw, rather it was a family of three - mom, dad and adult daughter scaling the side of the hill that faced the visitor center parking lot.

Dad and daughter were well ahead of mom.  It was mom that caught my eye as she was at about the half-way point and deciding that going all the way to the top was not in the cards for her today.  As I watched her crab-walk down a boulder, movement on another boulder a couple hundred feet to the left got my attention.  One quick glance and it was obvious it was not other people.  The sow bear from yesterday was still on the hill and she was none too happy about climbers being so close to the cave where she and her cubs had denned up.  Momma bear had a bead on momma people and was huffing and clomping her jaws loud enough for me to hear all the way down in the parking lot.

I called up to the lady who had now stopped and turned to wave at her family.  I hollered to her; "bear", and pointed at where it was.  I'll give her credit for not panicking but she was indecisive about what she should.  I hollered up for her to come down, now, but don't run!

As she was getting down the hill I trotted to the VC and grabbed a radio and started calling dispatch.  Cyndee grabbed the camera and started taking pictures through the window of the VC office that faced Appetite Hill.

By the time Cyndee got zeroed in to take the shot, one of the cubs had joined its mother on the boulder.  It was curious about what all the fuss was about.  And moms being moms, the human one had chosen to not immediately start her decent.  She was trying to communicate with her family that was now on the peak of Appetite Hill.

Cyndee captured the above shot just in case we needed it for identification purposes.  But later, when uploading the pictures from the camera to the laptop I enlarged one of the peak pictures and realized that Cyndee had captured the moment when daughter and dad finally understood that mom was telling them there was a bear.

"A what!!?  Where!!?"

All of this hollering between the top and bottom of the hill further "stimulated" the sow and she was now climbing in the direction of the voices at the top.  The people could not see the bear and the bear could not see the people but there was plenty of hollering and hand waving from the mom that they knew to go down on the opposite side they came up.  Just as I finished up the radio call to dispatch the folks on the peak disappeared down the backside of Appetite Hill and the lady walked into the parking lot.  The sow was almost all the way to the top but had encountered a vertical section and had started to go around the side, in the direction of the climbers.

Just about the time the law enforcement ranger (LE) arrived, some thirty minutes after making the radio call, the dad and daughter came walking into the parking lot up from the Window Trail.  They were a little wide-eyed as they recalled that getting down off the hill went without incident but they then encountered the sow and cubs on the trail.  It was a peaceful passing of the two families.

While the LE was interviewing the family the dad said that he had been coming to Big Bend for fifty years and had never seen a bear.  Well, he can't say that anymore.  Now he is going to have to tell the story of almost getting eaten by a bear in Big Bend.