Black bear on Mt. LaConte, Tennessee (#WF0001)
Have you ever had a perfect photographic day? Once I hiked to the summit of Mt. LeConte, a 6500-foot peak in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I was sitting cross-legged on a rock outcropping with my camera and 300 mm lens in hand, photographing slate gray juncos bouncing around on the rock in front of me, when I heard the bushes move behind me. I turned around to see what had made the noise and found myself looking up at the head of a black bear protruding from the bushes, no more than four feet away. I looked up at it and it looked down at me. I don’t know if you ever had the experience, but what an adrenaline rush! As it turned out, the bear was highly cooperative, walking around me and out to the anvil-shaped rock where I had my camera aimed. There it looked forward and then sideways as if saying "do you want a profile shot now." There are days that truly are too good to be true.
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