September 5, 2014
Black Bear Cub, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Yesterday I saw my first bears on this visit to Jasper National Park which was nice because wildlife photo ops have been rather slow so far. The elk rut is beginning and I've seen a couple of nice bulls, but they haven't been in good locations for photography. Conditions haven't been very good for grand landscape photography either because it's been mostly cloudy with showers and wind in the evenings. So, I was quite happy to come upon a bear jam on my way to Maligne Lake yesterday afternoon with bright overcast conditions. I got out to look and apparently the Black Bear (Ursus americanus) sow with cubs that had been down the hill had disappeared. On my way back to the Jeep to leave, I saw some people rushing to another location because the bears had become visible again. They were making their way up closer to road level, so I set up in the Jeep to shoot as they came into a good position and was able to make a couple of good images of the spring cubs as they approached the road before crossing.