Jackson Hole – July 2023

Dear friends (including the one who built me this website, as a personal project, just for fun. Incredible.) hosted us in Jackson Hole for two days on the way back from the East Coast. I think it is safe to say we made the best of our limited time!

While we were hiking up to Delta Lake we came around a corner and saw a grizzly cub. Notably and concerningly, we did not see the mother. Where there is a cub there is usually a mama bear, so getting the fuck away from the cub was of the highest priority. All the photos in the album were taken during the few seconds when I was walking as fast as I could away from the bear. Anyway, it was only later when I had some time to think that I thought about Earthjustice's successful 2017-2018 litigation to preserve Endangered Species Act protections for imperiled Yellowstone grizzlies, including this cub. Our litigation stopped a hunt that was to be permitted in Idaho and Wyoming.

All to say, had my colleagues failed, this bear may never have been born. As I write this in early 2025 it is looking very likely that there will be a renewed effort to strip ESA protections from grizzlies, so it is something I'm thinking about a lot.

Also of note: friends are great. And I see why so many people like Jackson. The Tetons feel like if you took the Farallon Islands and made them landlocked mountains.