Splish! Splash! He Was Taking a Bath by Robby Edwards
Waterton Lakes National Park, August 2006
One of the reasons Rachelle and I wanted to visit Waterton Lakes was to see the Prince of Wales Hotel, which sits in a very scenic location overlooking the town of Wateron on a peninsula of land between Middle and Upper Waterton Lakes. We got our first view of the hotel from a picnic area along the shore of Middle Waterton Lake. While I was photographing the hotel, I heard a splashing sound behind me. Expecting to see someone playing at the water’s edge, I was quite surprised to instead turn around and discover a large black bear leaving the water about 150-200 yards away.
I called out to Rachelle to come down to the shore to see the bear, while I made my way back to the car to fetch my telephoto lens for a better shot. When I returned to the shore, the bear had moved a few hundred yards further down the shoreline and then went back in the water.
Rachelle watched the bear frolic in the water, while I took several shots. Eventually, he left the water, shook himself dry, and then disappeared into the woods. All of these shots are cropped from the originals to highlight the bear.