Bear Jams

Pictures this: you're driving along when suddenly all traffic stops.  Cars from both directions screech to a halt as people jump out of their vehicles with cameras slung around their necks.  They are clearly excited, talking rapidly in many different languages while running off into the forest chasing something.  Just off to the side of the road you see kids with their digital cameras held at arms length in front of their faces, squinting as they try to see the screens in the bright sunlight.  Meanwhile, one athletic middle-aged woman with a small telescope mounted to her camera jumps out of a nearby SUV and darts across the street in hot pursuit.  If this sounds familiar, then you too have been caught in a bear jam.

"No ma'am, that's not a teddy bear and no, your child cannot pose next to it."

Yes they're big and furry and kind of cute, but seriously, chasing after bears solely for a better picture?  Really?  Just 'cause it looks like a teddy bear, doesn't mean it won't maul your face off.  I understand that most people don't see much wildlife, but there is something about bears that just makes people absolutely insane.  I am not making this up either: I really did see people running off into the forest towards a bear to get a better look.  Don't get me wrong, I was curious too, so I pulled off the road at the next turnout and walked back to the jam.  But even after I got there, I stayed on the road and at least a couple hundred feet from the bear.  That's why my picture is so blurry.  Maybe one day I'll buy a bigger lens, but until that point, in the choice between a blurry picture and pissing off a bear, I'll choose a bad picture every time.