Last Tuesday, me and my friends Todd and Annie Jurasek spent a full day exploring the mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park, near Estes Park, Co.

We had built up quite the hunger, so before heading back to the lodge, we went to a barbecue restaurant we enjoyed the day before.

But at 8:30 it was closed.

We decided to pick up some fast food on the way back, so I pulled out of the parking lot and drove off.

Less than 200 yards away, I looked to the left and couldn’t believe my eyes.

A large black bear was sitting on top of a rock about 75 yards away.

“That’s just a statue,” Todd said as I ran out of our SUV with my camera.

“Maybe so, but I have to see,” I replied.

As I focused my camera, I was not sure if I had missed some sort of elaborate statue all of the times I had previously passed by this spot or was looking at an actual bear.

After all, it was dark and it was only lit by street lights from down the road.

As I adjusted my camera settings, the bear moved it’s head and I knew I was looking at something special.

Todd and Annie quickly joined me and we were astonished this large bear was sort of chilling on a rock on the side of the road in the neighborhood. Todd has just prayed for us to have a bear encounter and the Lord responded quickly.

He hung out for another minute or so and then lumbered off the rock into the darkness.

Interesting Colorado Parks & Wildlife Department (CPWD) officials made this post this post on Thursday.

Tuesday a bear was seen walking near downtown Estes midday, around 12:30pm. Local LE officers were able to haze the bear away from downtown and it went up a tree near the Birch Ruins.

Wildlife Officer Rylands arrived on scene to assess the situation and help make sure people were not approaching the bear. Rylands asked the bear if it could please remain up in the tree and take a nap until nightfall when there would be less people and cars moving about. Thankfully the bear heeded his request and made itself comfortable on the branch.

CPWD officials posted a photo of the bear in a tree and it’s hard to tell if it’s the same one we saw the same day.

Either way it shows bears on highly adaptable animals and will move into area of human habitations.

If you encounter bears in these settings or in the woods, be careful not to approach or spook them and never feed bears. Obey all bear safety guidelines in parks and respect the fact these beautiful animals are potentially dangerous.

Summer 2020 is the “Summer of the Bear” here at Higher Calling Wildlife and this encounter was a personal highlight for me.

I love black bears and I love Estes Park, Co.

Amazing place.

Amazing animals.

Chester Moore

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