This is prime Griz country - wild, lonely, windswept, cold, rugged and so damned beautiful that it takes your breath away. I don't know if I've ever hiked through any region of Yellowstone that I was more impressed with. Every sense is on full alert, every sensation heightened to the max. When you're alone miles from the trailhead, with a snow storm threatening to strike at any moment, and you know, know without a doubt, that you're in the presence of Grizzly, then you're alive, as alive as you'll ever be in your life. You need to stop occasionally and soak it all in, because it's a rare and precious experience.

It was along this stretch that I spotted the first of two bears that I'd see on this trip, high on the mountainside above the trail. It was so far away that it was little more than a speck moving fast across the meadows and ravines below the peak of Mt. Sheridan. Using my 300mm lens, I could just make out that it was a bear, but couldn't see enough detail to determine the species.

I moved on down the trail, heading south.