COASTING 15 



followed this, cautiously, to the side of a dark 

 wooded canon where there was a bear den. 



From the den the trail led up the side of a 

 canon, across a little opening in the forest, and 

 then on top of a large crag. Here in the sunshine 

 the bear could see in all directions. Apparently 

 this bear had come forth from his den a number 

 of times and made his way to this crag to enjoy 

 a sun bath. 



Nearly all bears hibernate. Grizzly bears in 

 the Rockies near my home hibernate from three 

 to five months. I have found their dens in the 

 side of a canon beneath the roots of a tree, 

 beneath a number of fallen logs, or in a little 

 tunnel in a gravelly mountain side; and a few 

 times I have found dens beneath a regular hay- 

 stack of limbs, trash, grass, and bark which the 

 bear piled up and then crawled into. With his 

 stomach empty, about the first of December, the 

 bear crawls into his den and goes to sleep. He 

 appears not to eat or drink anything until the 

 next spring. But grizzly bears, and perhaps 

 other bears, occasionally come forth toward 

 spring for an airing or for exercise. 



I started to return to my camp by the cliff, 

 but on the way I encountered another fresh 

 grizzly bear track. I back-tracked this, plan- 

 ning to examine his abandoned den. But it 

 was close to night when I arrived, and as I was 



