Bear Country USA

As my 19 year old son so eloquently put it, “this is the coolest place ever!” For a minute there I had a flashback of him at 10. It must have been the look in his eyes. He must have taken two dozen pictures all more amazing than the next of bears scratching their backs on huge logs, pacing back and forth in front of the car and of course, bears fighting over the perfect spot to sleep or wanting their neighbors breakfast or simply because they crossed paths.

The most memorable experience though is once you have driven through the park itself you have the opportunity to step out of the car and roam around either in the huge over flowing log style gift shop, or outside along a path where the young cubs are kept as well as other animals mostly babies or smaller cats on display.

I brought my 12 year old (at the time ) daughter Lara there late in May when most of the babies are still little and cute. We were fortunate enough to know someone there so she was allowed to hold a timber wolf cub with the bluest eyes I had ever seen. We both had the distinct realization that in a few more weeks this animal would never go quietly into your arms. It was a rare opportunity and my daughter cherished every moment of it. Even if you don’t get the privilege of holding one of these babies it is still amazing to see them. It’s also amazing to see them in this environment as running into them elsewhere in the Black Hills would not turn out quite so well.

Bear cubs are down at the far end and there are generally dozens of them roaming around. Some have climbed up the several strategically placed trees filling every inch of every branch, having in some cases climbed over their brother or sister to get to another spot they feel is better causing the tree to bend unnaturally with the weight of all of them. This climbing over one another continues until workers come in with buckets to feed them, then, the fight for who can leave the tree fastest is on. We stood there for 20 minutes watching this outlandish production laughing practically the whole time. One very evident observation was seeing just how sharp and long there claws are, even at this cute, cuddly, stuffed animal bear size cub in front of you. My daughter looked differently at her stuffed bear she has slept with since she was two.