Storm Point: A Yellowstone Hike That Turned Wild

Daphne on Travel Talk Show recalls a risky hike in Yellowstone with her husband. They encounter coyotes and a grizzly bear. Despite the husband's wildlife expertise, fear sets in as the bear approaches. Following his instructions, they make themselves appear big and move towards a tree for safety. The tense situation is heightened by the curious coyotes observing the unfolding drama. Welcome back to Travel Talk Show. I'm Daphne and I'll be your host again tonight. So this is the follow-up to the one interested previously last week. And I was sitting here today, I was thinking to myself, hmm, I have been doing a lot of posts lately on social media for both the TikTok and the Instagram, a lot of wildlife and the pictures that I've taken over the years for the wildlife. When I lived in Montana and in Alaska, I have encountered quite a bit of wildlife, probably a lot more than the normal person could ever even fathom in a lifetime. And then I thought of one particular time when we lived nearby Yellowstone and we decided to go take a particular hike that we'll never forget. And it's called the Storm Point Tales. And it's a journey into the Yellowstone wild, crazy adventures that you can have there. Imagine stepping onto a trail where the whispers of the wind over the Yellowstone Lake blend with the crunch of your hiking boots on the earth, Storm Point Trail, a place of serene beauty, endless horizons, and the promise of an adventure. Oh boy, if you go kidding. But as with any journey into the wilderness, what starts as an idyllic hike can quickly transform into a heart-pounding encounter with the raw, untamed power of nature. And wouldn't you know it, this was the one hike, the only time, back probably three years, that we never took pepper spray with us, or even any kind of anything. Because we were thinking to ourselves, hmm, this is a quick little hike, just a quick in and out, we'll be fine. Well, on this particular day, the sun was dappling on the forest floor, it was a beautiful night, it was in the early evening hours, so it was probably like 6 to 7 o'clock in the evening, but it was like late May, early June-ish probably, and we could feel the air slightly getting colder, as what it always does when it gets into the evening hours, it cools off significantly, and we were already out to the lake point, taking pictures, and loving it, because it was such a beautiful night, and there was no wind really, and it was just really beautiful, and you could smell the pine trees, and you could see Lake Yellowstone in its glory, and it was quite a beautiful hike. Our car was back at the parking, kind of, not lot, but a little parking area, right by the road, and people were driving by it all the time, and so you could still see the car, kind of, sort of, from where we were there at the point, but at that point, we were just like, okay, well, we better head back in. We had some plans earlier, or later that night, to meet up with some friends at Lake Lodge for happy hours, and so this was the quick little hike we were going to take beforehand, and bob back to there. We had already checked in, and we were good to go, so this hike was supposed to be just quick and easy, and back, and that would be that, but here it is. So, on this particular day, talking about the forest floor, and the evening hours, and the air, and the sweet smell of pine, the whole, as you can picture it, you can kind of feel the sun down on you, and you're walking along, and you're talking and chatting, taking pictures with your camera, and just oblivious. At this point, you think you're so close to the car, everything's good, nothing's gone wrong, and then you come out of the trees, so there's, like, this heavily forested area, and then we came out into this clearing, like a meadow area, and then there was, like, a hill, and then a pond, and on the other end of the pond was where the parking area was where our car was parked, and we didn't grab a backpack, no bottled water, no bear spray, no nothing. We just had our cameras and ourselves. As I said, we were just going to do the quick hike in and back, and so as we came out of the trees, there was two coyotes sitting there, and my husband was behind me, so I was the first one out of the trees, and I come out, I see the coyotes immediately stop, because this just doesn't feel right, right? Like, what is going on? And my husband's behind me, so you instinctively just reach behind you, and you just kind of stop them, because he's busy with his camera, not paying attention. Typical of men. Anywho, so I'm, like, pushing him back a little bit, and he stops, and he's kind of still trying to figure out what I'm up to, and he notices the coyotes, and he's like, oh, aren't they cute? And he starts taking their pictures, and as I'm standing there, I'm like, this is something that doesn't feel right, and these coyotes, they don't normally come up to you like that. Like, they were brazen, like they just came right up to us. They didn't, like, want us to pet them or anything like that. They were just, like, curious and sniffing us and walking around us, and one in particular was looking up the hill towards where the ponds were, and right on top of the hill is where he seemed to be looking at, so I rose my eyes up to kind of meet where he was looking at, and instantly, I saw exactly why everything was, and it was a young grizzly bear at the top of that hill. It had to be about a hundred yards, maybe, from us. It wasn't very far in the scheme of things on how fast those things can run. Immediately, I froze, and I said, bear! And my husband just, he knows I don't play around with that word, because we do enough hikes and everything in that area that we know it's a very real possibility that getting into a bear situation is very high. He immediately himself got into defense mechanism mode, realized that these coyotes weren't there to be our best friends, and both of us knew kind of what that meant. Perhaps they were following their little friends, because we were the main dinner, and they were going to get the scraps. So, he, as a husband would do, he skirted in front of me. The bear hadn't really figured out that we were there yet, and my husband hadn't seen the bear yet. He just took my word for it, and when he ended up doing it, it was kind of like, we were far enough out of the trees that we couldn't really go back into the forest, nor do you want to, because that would have been like caging yourself in, and not being able to see what was coming. So, we kind of skirted out. He kind of pulled me aside him, and as he started to look up the hill where I had been looking, we had seen this lone tree over to the right side of us. It wasn't very far from us, but the stupid coyotes were still nipping at our hills. It was so annoying, but petrifying, and we just kept kind of inching our way over to this tree, while my husband was trying to make sure I was like right there beside him, trying to keep an eye on the coyotes, but yet, wanted to see what exactly I had seen, to make sure, probably, that I really had seen a bear, but it was definitely a bear. And so, we make our way over to the tree, and as we just about get to the tree, my husband looked up completely at this point, and him and the bear, because the bear hadn't noticed us yet, so the wind had just shifted slightly at that point, and so, if anybody knows anything about bears, they can't see you or hear you necessarily, but they can smell you. And he caught our scent, and locked eyes with my husband almost immediately at the same time. It was, and he himself was like, okay, okay, we're going to be okay, we're going to just make ourselves look really big. My husband's a wildlife biologist, so it's not like he doesn't know what to do, and he's worked with bears before, at a grizzly discovery center in West Yellowstone, years before. So, that's why I always felt comfortable hiking with him, because I always figured he knew what he was doing, but clearly in this situation, it was, we were, yeah, it was a little challenging. So, yeah, he was like, okay, let's make ourselves look big, and the bear had, now at this point, which he had been broadside, like facing the side towards us, he moves and faces us head on, and I mean, anything at that point could happen. And at this point, I was so paralyzed with fear that I couldn't even look up again to see the bear. I was just ready to take whatever was coming, because I knew I wasn't going to be able to outrun this thing, and I knew we had these coyotes sitting there. I was kind of dawned, like, I didn't know what to, I was, it's like those dreams or nightmares that you have where you're frozen. Like, you just can't even think what to do at this point. Well, thankfully, Hubby was thinking, and he was like, okay, spread out your arms, and I just did exactly everything he said to do. And we spread out our arms, and he kept an eye on the bear. You do not look at a bear in the eyes. So, at that point, even though they had locked eyes, he looked away, so he wouldn't look aggressive to the bear. And so we both used our wing stands and separated that far apart from each other to make ourselves look really big, and inched our way over to the tree. And as we're inching over to the tree, and the bear is still walking towards us, thank goodness he wasn't running at this point, because he was still making his way towards us. The coyotes had kind of put themselves between us and the bear, like, off to the side, watching. It was like a movie to them, like, what's going to happen next? Like, come on, come on, let's get this going. It was, I mean, I could see them out of the corner of my eyes, like, in my peripheral vision, because I wasn't looking up otherwise. And as we got closer to the tree, my husband started having his game plan, because this is just how my husband operates. He's like, okay, he's coming towards us, and of course at this point I'm ready to pee my pants. He's coming towards us, so what I'm going to do, and we were up on a bluff above the lake at this point, where we came out of the trees and you kind of come up a hill, just the way that this hike was. Then when you went down to the lake, you weren't quite down on the lake either, so, anyway, we were on the bluff with this tree. He goes, okay, so, I'm going to enter way over to the tree, we're going to try and put the tree between us and the bear, but if that doesn't work and he still keeps coming at us, I'm going to push you off the bluff into the lake and you can swim downstream or whatever and go get help. Oh, lovely, that's what I'm thinking. Oh, easy peasy, yeah, you just push me off the bluff, we'll go, I'll just walk down, swim myself out and get out somewhere and figure it out. Yeah, okay, but I was just whatever. Frozen with fear, listening to what he was saying, I'm comprehending the situation we're in, and it's not good. The damn coyotes were still there. They were still walking around us, coming in and coming out. That made the whole situation that much creepier. It was just beyond anything that you could even dream up in a nightmare. And as we were good and we were spread out, we were making ourselves big and he was still talking, we were both talking back and forth. I couldn't even tell you what I was saying. I don't remember to this day because the adrenaline was pumping through me. I was terrified. It was not the optimal situation. And as we were just about to the tree, the bear was coming even faster and walking faster towards us. And he goes, okay, okay, he's coming, he's coming, get ready. And then all of a sudden at the last minute, the bear veered off in the direction of the forest where we had just come. And he just sauntered away. And the coyotes and us were just kind of standing there like, okay, is he coming back? What's going on? And my husband looked at me and goes, okay, let's get the hell out of here. Of course, I'm like, yeah, that sounds good to me. Like, I think we just totally diverted ourselves away from stuff. Sounds good to me. And so we started going the right way, like to the right, because where the pond was and where the bear had been when he had originally been on top of the hill, he was on the left side of the pond. So we wanted to make our way to the right side and kind of like bushwhack it the wide way around just in case he came back so we could keep the pond in between us, if that was going to be a thing. So we started walking very fast. I remember my husband picking up a big stick of some sort, and he had to like kind of keep flicking it at the coyotes. They were still following us, not only the two, but all of a sudden there seemed to be a pack of them. Like there was four or five coyotes following us. So if it wasn't bad enough that we just actually got out of the bear situation, maybe, because we were terrified he'd change his mind and come around again. We were making our way around with coyotes, and they were at this point nipping at our heels. I don't know if it's because they were disappointed and they decided to take matters into their own hands. I have no idea to this day. But he picked up the stick and he was like shuffling them off as we were making our way. And I'm trying to walk or run or whatever you want to call it at this point, but again, the adrenaline is just going through your body. You're still terrified. You're not out of the situation at this point. And I was like in this weird stiff fast walk thing. I'm sure it looked hilarious, but looking back at it now, I mean myself now would probably crack up with the way I probably look like. I was on a stick as I was running. But we had the coyotes on our heels, and he's trying to fend them off with the stick. And then we're still wondering where the bear is. So I had to keep looking back. He was busy with the coyotes, and I wanted to ensure and make sure that that bear wasn't coming back our way. So we got around the widest part of the pond. I started to feel much better. And it felt like at that point, the coyotes started stepping away from us. And as we got, because we were getting closer to the road now where the cars were. I don't know where the other people were that night, but oh, there was two people. That's right. I forgot about that. So as we got to the midpoint on the other side of the pond, I think a couple was coming onto the trail. And we started waving at them. And that's when I think the coyotes disappeared. And we were like, don't go the trail, bear, bear, bear. And we finally got back to the car. I think we chatted for some, to this day, I don't even really remember. Because you have to remember when you get into an encounter like that. And I mean, we were very, very lucky because we got away. Like, I still don't understand how that happened. But it was a younger grizzly bear. So maybe he didn't quite know what we were or didn't quite know what to do in the situation. And maybe coyotes screwed up his, who knows. But I just remember being back at the car, being so relieved but mad at ourselves that we didn't have the pepper spray with us. We've had it on every other hike that we've ever done in the park together. And so, I mean, the one thing I will remember the most that night, and it sounds awful, well, it's not awful, but some things you never think of, the aftereffects of when your adrenaline rushes through your body like that, is we went to go have happy hour with him. Yes, we still went and had happy hour. Well, now we had a story to tell. And they were outdoorsy people like us. And I mean, you know, the thing that scares them out of you? Yeah, there's definitely got some truth to it. Because that adrenaline rush through your body. I never went to the restroom more in my life than that night while we were at happy hour. I literally had to leave the table several times. Because it was just still running through my body. It was crazy. And but you know what, I think after that day, I was always terrified of hikes wherever bears were before. But I think after that day, I realized that it's okay. Like, you can get out of the situation. If you remain calm, and you follow all the rules that they teach you. And you don't lock the eyes, if you don't look at them head on, it's just there's so many things that we did that day that was right, without any safety mechanisms like pepper spray, or maybe that maybe that was why everything was okay. I don't know. Looking back to it to this day, though, I think that's when I started to have a better appreciation for what the wild and the wilderness and wild animals in their own and how we should respect and understand that. And if you're in those situations, just stay very calm. And maybe me being paralyzed and not freaking out and yelling or any of that probably saved us too. And it was just instinctual, but also terrifying. Yeah, it was every bit of what I thought it would be if I ever ran into a situation like that. But anyhow, I just wanted to let you know that one story. It's probably one of our best ones. We actually have a few, and I will have future podcasts and telling you more stories. We've lived several years in Montana, several years in Alaska, we have a tendency to find things that other people don't normally run across. And so that's going to be fun to share with you all. But don't be scared. Don't be afraid to hike in Yellowstone because there's nothing like it. The views, the wildlife, the scenery, the crisp mountain air, it's just, there's nothing like it. It's an amazing place to see and do different things that you would never be able to do back home. So I don't want to leave you scared to not go to Yellowstone and not enjoy for what it has, Old Faithful, it's got Lake Yellowstone, it's got the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone with the Grand Waterfalls, it's got Nana's Hot Springs. I could go on and on. I know that park like the back of my hand. I've lived all around it, and I've hiked so many trails in that park. And it's just absolutely stunning. And so maybe someday I'll go back to Stone Point Trail. Will it be any time in the near future? I need to get in better shape. That's for sure. I need to get in shape and ready to be ready for anything. Anyhow, thank you for joining me today. I think I'll stop there. And I hope you enjoyed my story. And I hope whatever plans that you make for the summer, if you're in any of our national parks, please take a hike and see something you haven't seen before. Maybe you'll experience something you haven't experienced before. Have a good night and we'll see you next time here on Travel Talk Show. Thank you.