Most of the walking I've done has been in Scotland. Here I have encountered a range of wild animals that have presented problems; a bull, a Highland Cow with a calf, an angry dog, the goats on An Teallach and of course swarms of deadly midgies. None of these quite makes the adrenaline rush as much as meeting a bear, like this one we saw near Jasper in the Canadian Rockies. Happily on this occasion I was able to take the photo from the relative safety of the car window, and we didn't come face to face with any bears when out on the trails. We followed the instructions, and made a lot of noise, and so our bear-spray was returned unused on every single walk we did. Nevertheless, just seeing a few of these magnificent animals was a bit sobering. They move like a wall of muscle, and could rip you to pieces if they took the notion to do so. Seeing a few tourist running towards a wild bear trying to get a photo with an iPad, while park rangers yelled "GET BACK IN YOUR VEHICLE!!, was a very disturbing sight. Do we really live in an age when people risk their lives for a selfie? Madness. I'd love to get a good photo of a wild bear, but I think a 500ml Canon L lens might be needed first. Having observed these beautiful animals, I have no aspirations to run at them with an iPad and risk my neck for a handful of Facebook 'likes'.
Not amazing photos, but more than made up for by the amazing beasts. Amazing to see them...
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