We decided to explore Cochrane's backyard a bit over the weekend so we took a drive out toward Kananaskis Country and then into Peter Lougheed Provincial Park.

We ended up stopping at Lower Kananaskis Lake and had a picnic, threw some rocks into the water and then went on a short hike. 

All of a sudden I noticed that we were the only ones around. There were a few people close to us at first but now it was just us.

I started feeling anxious and just had a feeling that we should head back. 

So I convinced my family that we should turn around and go back towards the truck because I just had a feeling there might be bears in the area and we weren't planning to do this hike and didn't have bear spray on us.

Sure enough, my intuition was right (despite my husband saying "there's no bears here, we're fine" multiple times).

As we approached the parking lot we saw two fish & wildlife trucks.

One of the officer's asked us to get into our vehicle.

So we did and I was able to grab these photos of a mom and her two cubs.

I've never seen grizzlies in the wild before. We spend a lot of time camping each summer and I see the occasional black bear but this was a first for me.

It was pretty amazing to see, especially since I was safe in our truck when I saw them.

If you look at the photo and see a trail behind the bears, that's where we were. We were that close!

Have you seen grizzlies in the wild before?

Have any great pictures?

Send them my way!

~Lauren