Glacier National Park is Blackfoot ancestral land. The Blackfoot people believe that grizzly bears can see into a human heart and read a person’s intentions. This is mama grizzly and her cub when we first encountered her on the trail and she went into high alert.
Here is mama after she looked into our hearts, approved our intentions, and took one of several naps. We spent several hours watching mama and cub, and have encountered bears every day since, both in Glacier and Waterton National Parks.
Here mama and cub are both relaxed enough to nurse in our presence!
She knew we were here, and looked at us regularly. We respected her space and never moved close enough to provoke any anxiety.
We watched her forage,
turn over rocks, hunt for rodents,
and fish.
We watched baby bear scratch his back on a little pine tree,
and we saw mama yell at him!
.
This is mama bear’s home. She is as magnificent as her surroundings. Grizzly populations have been decimated in the wild. I have a lot more bear and other wildlife photos to share with you, but wifi out here is far less present than bears! This my first connectivity in days and it won’t last!
I miss you and your blogs, and send you cheers from the wonderful wild grizzlies who see into our human hearts and look to us for protection~
cindyknoke.com 
Amazing post Cindy
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So happy you enjoyed it and cheers to you!
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those bears are so cuddly that I just want to give them a big Bear Hug
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Laughing, looks can be deceiving, but they do look like teddy bears don’t they!
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Boy, what a sight it must have been to see Mama grizzly and her cub…and fortunately you have the best of hearts so I bet you could have gone up and petted the baby cub 🙂 Wonderful and thrilling shots…lucky, lucky you 🙂
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Thanks much Randall. Such an amazing experience on so many levels. Truly magnificent creatures. Heartbreaking to consider that so many people want to kill them when they see them. There are only approximately 300 grizzlies left in Glacier.
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Just superb. What a priviledge to be allowed to share their space for a short time. I hope that they survive. 300 is not many at all.
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You are very kind and I am so pleased you appreciate these incredible animals. 300 is not enough and Yellowstone’s grizzlies are under threat because bark beetles are destroying the forest they depend upon.
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Awesome, what a wonderful experience. Thank you Cindy 🙂
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Thank you more for your kind appreciation and be well my friend~
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I look forward to every one of your posts. But. Please be careful out there!
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Awwwww. people like you are what keeps me bloggin! ❤
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Aaaw – this is why we love teddy bears! Fantastic shots as usual. Must be a very long lens…
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Exactly, on both counts! Thank you!
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Cindy,just awesome pictures. Thank you! Hugs! Veraiconica
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Hugs back 2 U X 2!
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BEARy wonderful post!
And – love momma’ bears home.
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She’s a rocking mama grizzly with her mini-me, isn’t she! I am going to post more photos of them, because they knocked my socks off!!
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Thanks. I look forward to all that you share!
❤️🌹
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Yay!!!
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Great photos Cindy. What a wonderful experience
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It was one of those life highlights! Thank you for recognizing this~
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Look into our hearts indeed Cindy. You said it all. Animals can sense when we mean them danger or are trying to invade their space. They felt no threat from you and allowed you to share their space. And look what you were able to get. How beautiful. Mama and her cub in their every day life. Love these pics Cindy, sharing them now!!! 😉 xoxoxo
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Yes, you are so right about animals ability to read people. We all know this about dogs and horses, but it is even more striking with wild animals and wild birds. One thing I repeatedly notice about wild animals is that by the time I find them with my telephoto lens, they are already looking directly at me. They know I am there before I do!
Thank you so much for your wonderful friendship and be well both of you~ ❤ ❤
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You are a brave wilderness scout Cindy. Holy cr–ap!! Especially with cub in tow. She’s really something special to see and witness candidly in the wild. Bravo! Our friends have a home in Valemont BC. It’s not to far from Jasper. They regularly see bears and often walk with spray and bells. Roy says he doesn’t worry about outrunning a bear, he only has to outrun Karen, ha! He says it every time we hike, but we still laugh. I think I could outrun Karen, so I feel safe too LOL.
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How can you tell grizzly poop from black bear poop? Grizzly poop is full of bear bells and spray!! Laughing….. My bad. Actually mama and mini-me were the thrill of the trip and I am going to post more photos of them both. They probably had just eaten because they didn’t once look at us like lunch! 😉 😉
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laughing with you! I’m going to share that one with my mountain friends..snort
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I love a woman who snorts.
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I hope you don’t mind all my comments and likes but I am just trying to catch up with all of your posts 😀
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It is incredibly kind of you! I have no idea how I got unfollowed from you. This happens sometimes. I wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t visited. Thank you.
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it’s fine…I was actually away from WordPress for a while for some personal reason. I just thought I could catch up with my favorite bloggers 🙂
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so glad you did!!
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The looking into one’s heart seems like a great ability of animals in general, Cindy. But this mama bear looked in this series of photos and your other post, right at your camera, assessing you through your eyes. Do you feel that we learn about this through Native American culture, too?
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I suspect Native Americans knew a lot more about wildlife in general than the while settlers. So much of their beliefs and values incorporated the wildlife they lived among. They imitated bird and wild life calls, read tracks, knew about animal behavior. They often named themselves after wild animals, and saw animals as spritual beings. I knew when I read about the Blackfoot’s belief about bears that they knew more than I did, and then amazingly, it seemed to come to pass. The bear accepted my husband and I the whole time we were there. She looked at me a lot and I have the photos to prove it. When, the other people came with the dog, she charged. They were disrespectful of her space, and body language, and maybe she saw that in their hearts. It’s interesting isn’t it. I don’t pretend to “know” anything. I just find some things, like this, amazing.
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Jealous! Being able to see those bears up close and personal would be so awesome and the landscape is equally spectacular. I also had a funny thought about the difference with photographing grizzly’s in the wild compared to the sleepy koala bear. My niece gets koalas in her backyard but all I’ve seen is their backsides.
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Actually I think photographing koalas is harder! I tried several times, but they are always way up in the eucalyptus curled up in balls. Hard to get good shots!
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Reblogged this on penpowersong.
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Reblogged this on LIVING THE DREAM.
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