bears!

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Bear Bathtub’ Caught on Camera in Yellowstone

Photos: Mollie Rivera

(Photo © Ron Niebrugge - Check out more of his work here!)

Grizzly portrait by Lachlan S. | Find us @upknorth

Pictures by Thomas Mørk

Two more wilderness residents: the black bear and the grizzly bear.

This shaggy bear was confused by all the commotion.

“My whole life, I’ve been interested in wildlife,” Wesley Larson (@grizkid) explains. “When I graduated college, I got sucked into the idea that I needed to make a lot of money. But I eventually decided to do what I was passionate about.” Wesley, a Montana native, left optometry school and seven years later, he’s a biology grad student working with black bears in Utah and studies polar bear in the Arctic. It’s hard work, often in eyeball-freezing -70 degree Fahrenheit (-57 Celsius) weather — seriously, his eyeball froze once — but for Wesley, it’s a dream come true. His goal is “to get as much information as possible” so that no human activity — from oil drilling to park picnicking — harms endangered animals. It also means he takes in amazing views, fosters orphaned raccoons and spends quality time with bear cubs.

British Columbia, September by Stormpeak_1

Bears playing with a balloon.

Bow Valley Parkway, Canada, 06/30/16