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Pam Cahill, exucitve assistant, Yellowstone Association, spotted this cub in Gardner Canyon, not far from the park's North Entrance. She reports: "On Dec. 1, I was driving down the hill to Gardiner for lunch. It was one of those beautiful, sunny winter days that we are so often blessed with. As I'm driving down the hill, I remember thinking that everyone had been talking about the little black bear they had seen [while] driving up and down the hill and I still hadn't spotted it. Having been an avid bear watcher with license plates reading "ICU BEAR", I was beginning to think I had lost my touch. As I was driving by the Boiling River parking lot, I spotted the black bear on the river side of the parking lot.

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I pulled into the parking lot and parked near where the bear was standing. It showed no interest in my presence at all. It was busy eating the green grass that was growing between the parking lot and the river. I actually sat in my car and took the pictures with a zoom lens so as not to disturb his natural behavior. The bear at one point moved a little closer to the car as he was eating and then wandered away in search of more grass. I was lucky enough to be the only person watching the bear at the time. When I left he was still furiously eating grass as if a little voice inside him was telling him to eat now, as hibernation was not far away."