BRUIN "COMES ALIVE" AGAIN!

The first bear of the year was seen on the Eagle Peak Trail on February 14. To those who remember Nature Notes of a year ago it will become immediately apparent that Bruin woke up just about two weeks earlier this year than last. The date of the first bear of last winter was February 28 when Ranger Carl Tice and the Naturalist found one just getting ready to leave the hollow cedar tree in which he had been comfortably sleeping the cold weeks away.

The first bear seen this year was a female who had, tagging at her heels, a last year's cub. This is an unusually early date for bears to come out of hibernation but the very mild winter with its comparative very light snowfall caused not only the bears but many other animals to vary their usual habits and customs a great deal. Deer have been in the vicinity of Longmire practically all winter, ranging about on the Ramparts Ridge nearby where their tracks were always found in great numbers. On the west side of the park deer tracks were found as high as 5200 feet - almost into the sub-alpine regions of Sunset Park.