A bear of a tale... in Estes Park

While locals prepared for visitors, a bear was sighted at Castle Mountain Lodge. We called him Cinnamon Bear! He is a yearling black bear - yes, they can be brown in color! Cinnamon discovered a guest’s ice chest in the back of a pickup and began feasting on fruit and vegetables. After filling his tummy it was time for his nap in the top of a pine tree. After an hour napping in the rain Cinnamon climbed down the tree and looked for a warm spot. Unfortunately, the first warm spot he checked out was the laundry room where we were working. We turned and he was about eight feet away and entering the doorway where the two commercial clothes dryers were running. When we turned around he ambled away. Then we exhaled.

WHILE CUTE, REMEMBER THAT THESE ARE WILD ANIMALS, UNPREDICTABLE AND BETTER VIEWED FROM AFAR.

The rest of the story… Cinnamon went around the corner of the building and found where the hot air from the dryers was being discharged and he appeared to be a happy camper, sitting with his face upturned to get the full benefit of the hot air on his rain-soaked face. We ran to get a camera but he ran away before we could get a picture--bummer!