There is a good chance to get a glimpse of wildlife when topping a ridge

Climbing to a ridgetop can be a very good way to get a close up view of wildlife (maybe too close).

Three weeks ago I was off trail climbing a slope of tall whitebark pine near Togwotee Pass, west of Dubois, Wyoming. I was clanging my trekking poles together and whistling now and again, hoping to give any nearby Grizzly advance warming of my presence.

At the crest of the ridge, I surprised some elk, who were close enough that both of my border collies (on leash) noticed them right off. The dogs got excited but neither one barked, which makes me believe I have a couple of good mountain dogs, who will allow me to see plenty of wildlife in our backpacking adventures in the years ahead. Both dogs are just now two years old, and allready have traveled with me to Danaher Valley in the Bob Marshall Wilderness of Montana, as well as on several trips near Yellowstone and to the high country of Colorado.

I was thinking of seeing the elk while topping that ridge after reading an account of two backpackers in Yellowstone who did the same thing, but surprised a mother bear and three cubs at the ridgeline.

According to an article in the Billings Gazette, Thomas Crosson and a companion were hiking off trail when they "crested a ridge and surprised a grizzly."

The two backpackers turned and headed back the way they came, but the bear charged down the slope towards them. They dropped to the ground and played dead. The mother bear bit Crosson's leg and picked him up and shook him, leaving him with puntcure wounds and a broken leg. (broken fibula)

The bear turned towards the second backpacker, who had his pepper spray ready, and gave the angry grizzly a shot in the face, which caused her to abandon the attack and leave the area with her three cubs.

This again proves that pepper spray can be very effective in a close encounter with a bear. (I have read reports that it has proven to drive off bears 90 percent of the times it has been used). I keep my pepper spray tied to a chord around my neck, with the hope that I could reach it even if I was knocked to the ground.

Lying dead is not an option for me, since that would leave my dog backpacking buddies on their own fend off the bear. Us three would make a stand, and hopefully the pepper spray would work, as it did in this case.

Read the official National Park Service News Release regarding the attack here: http://www.nps.gov/yell/press/02104.htm