The summer sun was setting behind the mountains. We were visiting Jasper National Park for the first time and had just been to Maligne Lake. It was my first trip to Bear Country. Mom, Dad and I roamed around and took some pictures. I tried to throw stones as far as I could across the lake, and now we were going back to our hotel. There was nobody else on the road, and it was quite late. I had high hopes of finding lots and lots of wildlife on this trip. It was only the first day, but we had already seen some elk, as well as a grizzly bear, climbing up a rocky hill as we drove to the lake a few hours ago. I was staring intensely through the thick trees on the side of the road, trying to spot any animals. I took a sip of water when suddenly, my Mom shrieked and Dad slammed on the brakes! Everything on the seats went flying ahead because of the sudden stop.
“What happened?” I asked, my heart racing quickly. Mom was frantically gesturing on the road ahead. What I saw was enough to give me goosebumps. A huge grizzly, the same one we saw before, had stepped onto the road in front of our car and was gazing at us with his small black eyes. Dad barely managed to hit the brakes in time. He was so close to the passenger side that I thought he would smash our hood. We were shell-shocked. No one was able to say anything.
“It’s it’s …. A bear….a grizzly bear” I whispered in a shaky voice.
No one replied, their eyes were peeled on the bear. The staring game continued for a few seconds, then the bear made a move toward us! We panicked, and Dad started reversing. He maneuvered the car to the left and drove ahead of him. Seeing this, the grizzly started chasing us! He stood on his hind legs in a show of strength then he ran right at us. Dad was driving the car at 30 because although we were truly frightened by the idea of the grizzly attacking our car in the isolated mountains, we also knew that it was a great chance to grab some footage of the bear. So he slowly sped along while the bear came running after us.
We thought he was going to catch up and attack when all of a sudden he stopped. Hmm, that surprised us. Then we realized what made him abandon his chase. Another car had just arrived at the scene and now we were not alone. Seeing he was outnumbered by two cars full of humans he decided to give up the chase and started strolling down the road at a much leisurely pace. The other car’s windows rolled down and they started clicking pictures too.
The bear then saw some delish berries hanging in the outgrowth and clambered down the roadside for a feast. He was absolutely devouring the bushes! And so we got a very funny video of him, and everything he got up to. That was the end of our adventurous first day in Jasper. We went back to our hotel and rested for the next day!
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