Hi Al. I am looking for some information about human/bear incident in YNP on Wednesday, 9/15 and thought I'd run it by you because you may have heard about it when you were there recently. There was a bear jam up near Dunraven Pass from about 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 (Dunraven was about the only place the bears were being seen due to the unusually warm weather). A grizzly was feeding on pine nuts in the woods about 25 yards off the road and eventually moved along into a grassy hillside clearing about 50 yards from the road. The bear then started walking--and then running--down the hill to cross the road at about a 45 degree angle. There was a guy literally standing in the middle of the road with a small video camera pressed to his face who ignored all of the people yelling at him to get out of the road, but he never even acknowledged the shouting/screaming and just kept filming. The bear stopped at the edge of the road about 12 feet from him and, after walking along the edge of the road a bit, the bear returned to the spot where it first stopped. The bear walked right up to the guy--5 feet away--and sniffed him. The guy just kept filming. Luckily, the bear lost interest in him and crossed the road and into the woods. Did you hear anything about this incident? I hope someone reported him to the rangers and/or identifies him if he tries to sell this footage. He put my life and the lives of others in serious danger. Thanks. Gary
P.S. I too thought that this location looked suspiciously like Gardiner, which is where I stay when I visit YNP. The towns do start to look the same when you are weary from driving all over the park looking for photo ops.