For some reason I have always loved bears. Growing up I had armfuls of stuffed bears and they still happen to be one of my favorite zoo attractions. When we started traveling out west I was excited about the prospect of actually seeing a bear in the wild. I know they are dangerous, but just one passing glimpse from a car window would be enough for me. Some mornings we would wake up from camping in Wyoming or Colorado, and there would be paw prints in the dirt or trash strewn about, but it was the only evidence that a bear had been in the area.

I remember one vacation to South Dakota when I wanted to see a bear so bad that my family went to one of those cheesy drive through bear parks. It was a very hot summer and i can recall feeling a little bit depressed by the tiny black bears sacked out from exhaustion in dead trees. I didn't get the impression that these particular bears had the same luxuries that other bears find in zoos.

The last time I was in Montana my mom and I were causally hiking around a trail In Glacier National Park. It was early in the spring season, and my mom and I were a fair distance apart; both of us ambling along at our own pace. I heard some loud rustling in the bushes ahead of me; a sound I knew was made by a large animal. All those tips about playing dead and ringing bells sped through my mind. I know that I had always wanted to see a bear, but not before it was about to eat my face off. My thoughts finally settled on the tip to make noise as not to come upon a bear and startle it. I started singing loudly (I don't sing) and took off down the path towards my mother. Not one of my smoothest or smartest moments, but it luckily worked in my favor. I still to this day have no idea what was really rustling in those bushes. However, I still look forward to someday seeing a bear in the wild from a safe distance.

Anyone else desperately want to see a certain animal in the wild or have any good wild animal encounter stories?