Black Bear Takes Relaxing Bath in a Pond Before Eating a Lunch of Foraged Berries in the Olympic Mountain Park

When Kris Harken visited Olympic National Park in September 2014, he was able to capture this very rare footage of a black bear luxuriating in a pond before scampering off into the woods for a lunch of foraged blueberries.

This was a rare moment of a black bear playing in tarn (pond) atop Anderson Pass in the Olympics. I recently took a trip up to the Enchanted Valley in the Olympics National Park (9/2014). Upon reaching a tarn at the top of Anderson Pass, me and 2 others witnessed a black bear relaxing, swimming, bathing and playing in the tarn. In most cases, black bears, once they get the scent of humans, or notice them, they quickly scamper off into the woods. This bear calmly remained in his element, as though he didn’t have a care in the world. After having his / her fun, the bear slowly worked its way over to the bank and hillside and spent a good 20 – 30 minutes eating from the lush blueberries that were ripe.

via King 5