IN THE PARK 1 1 1 



to keep us from approaching too closely and to 

 guard against the bears. This reassures us. We 

 know they are wild bears; that there is no hippo- 

 drome about it. Your first sight of a real wild 

 bear there in his native woods gives you just a 

 little thrill. It is not like a caged or menagerie 

 bear. You realize that there are possibilities of 

 danger and when, just at dusk, they came gallop- 

 ing down the hill — three of them, a mother and 

 two half-grown cubs — it was an event. 



The mother was very suspicious and, when she 

 stood up to sniff for danger, she looked as big as 

 the side of a house. • 



Our route the next morning to Old Faithful and 

 the Upper Basin lay by what is known as the 

 Middle Basin. 



The fountain and the great fountain geysers 

 give but little idea of the forces of nature that are 

 at work. . As you approach the Middle Basin, 

 playfully known as Hell's Half- Acre, you begin to 

 appreciate just what is doing here. You pass 

 forests denuded of foliage by explosions from the 

 mud volcanoes and geysers. Whole tracts of pas- 



