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Queen
We are seated in the Hallo Bay meadows on the edge of a bowl of sedge grass. Off to our left is grizzly mother Queen and her third year, male cub. The two of them have their heads stooped to the ground, vigorously and swiftly grazing through the iridescent green sedge grass. Sedge grass is up to 25% protein, and this is the reason why grizzly bears prefer eating it over other grasses. The stalks are spiky, wide and stiff and turn the meadows into miles of brilliant chartreuse food. Queen’s cub starts to make his way towards us, and Queen pays no mind to the fact that we are now closer to him than she is. He slowly chews his way in a large circle, returning back towards mom. Queen eventually eats her way in our direction, moving closer and closer to where we sit, which is in the taller, less nutritious grass bordering the sedge. We sit near the edge of the sedge, hoping she might choose to come and graze close to us. It is our firm belief that the bears should be allowed to set the boundaries of how close they want to get to us
Queen chews, and chews, takes a few steps in our direction, and chews. She eventually gets closer and closer, until she is so near we can hear each blade of grass being yanked and ripped from the earth. We hear the sound of her flat, wide molars grinding the grass. We listen to the force of her breath exhaling in deep huffs out her large and long nose. She has a long, horizontal scar across the bridge of her nose. Her head is stooped low to the ground making her spine rise high, revealing her incredible height. Her limbs are wide and strong. Her entire body is fluffed out with thick, golden hair. Her face is round, full, and bushy. She inches closer. Her snout reveals its extreme dexterity as it crinkles and folds, moving left and right independently of her head to grasp bites of grass. It reminds me of a tiny elephant trunk, her lips grasping and yanking the grass like we would use our fingers.
It is times like these where time stands still. There exists nothing but a bear, and her breath, and our enraptured moments with her. That is partly what we find so special, such a gift, about being with the bears. When we are in Katmai, there is nothing but the present. It is pure mindfulness, pure presence. There is nothing but the moment. In fact I find it impossible to be there, and not be in the moment. I always pack along a book to read, but find it impossible to ever open it up. Just sitting, breathing, smelling, hearing, staring, touching the ground, feeling the energy of animals, fills you to the core with an intense calm that is meditation at its finest. If only more people realized the power of places without humans to rejuvenate the spirit, bring us glimpses of enlightenment, to make the human mind drop away. It makes you a better person and it is so simple, and it is free. All we have to do is protect these spaces, honor them, allow them to exist without fatal disruption. It is so simple, yet why can’t more people see? Be still with a patch of grass, a tree of birds, a stream moving over stones, and you understand the simple power of being in a space without human distraction. It doesn’t get any better than that. And the best of this best is to be with an entirely intact ecosystem that still has large predators. That is so rare and special on this continent. We must honor and protect that with everything we have.
Queen leisurely makes her way back towards her cub. She reclines slowly into the grass, rocking back on her rounded spine, glancing around. Her huge cub puts his front paws onto her torso and begins to nurse. Queen glances around and her brown eyes look our way every now and again. She appears relaxed, yet as most nursing grizzly bear mothers, she scans around with vigilance every minute or two. Once satiated, her cub lies down in the grass, resting on his belly but not falling asleep. Queen goes immediately back to work grazing. From behind the two bears I see a streak of orange and realize it’s a brilliant, orange fox racing through the meadows! I wonder if it is the fluffy fox from a few nights ago, the ethereal fox that appeared out of the mist. She goes dashing through the meadows her fluffy hair shining in the midday sun. Watching Queen and her cub against the backdrop of a racing fox and the looming Hallo glacier, a white river of ice, seems almost too special to be real. I look upwards to the mountains that border the meadows and spot the brilliant, white patch of snow nestled into the green folds of the mountain face. The snow forms a perfect heart, and is visible from almost everywhere in the bay. The shape of this last vestige of winter’s snow seems to say it all.
© 2008 Jessica Teel |
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