Close encounters of the furry kind

So, I was up in the Canadian Rockies about two weeks ago and hiked to Borgeau Lake and Mountain. On this particular day I was first on the trail to the lake and was wary of bears, calling out when blind on the trail and when my voice would carry across a concavity. On reaching Borgeau Lake, the terrain changed from forested to subalpine, small meadows with clumps of trees.

Shortly after this, the trail broke onto a rockslide with good visibility. There was a narrow creekbed and just a few small trees in the gut of the valley. On reaching the gut as the trail switchbacked to the center of the valley, I decided to stop on the rockslide and change clothes as it would soon become windier near a small lake just above. So, I sat down, unpacked my pack and prepared to change from shorts to long pants and to don a warmer shirt. All of a sudden over my shoulder and out of the corner of my eye I caught movement. A grizzly and two cubs silently appeared just 20 feet away, coming out of the gut of the valley. By the time I stood up (which wasn't very long!) she had closed, traveling obliquely, to my position, to just a little over 15'. I took a giant step towards the opposite side of the valley and then walked swiftly up a moraine until I was 75 yards away; my pack was still on the opposite side of the defile.

The mother showed no aggression, but neither did she show any concern. She just went about her business, unswerving in her route. She passed my pack but the cubs showed more than a little interest. I watched as the more agressive cub nuzzled just about all of my things (including my bearspray), showing particular interest in my food bag. I pretty much figured my food would be gone.

The mother then stopped on a meadowed hillside, 50' from my pack and for about 15 minutes tore up the turf looking for marmots. By then both cubs had joined mom. After what seemed like a very long time, I decided to pick up a rock and tossed it at my feet. This got me the angry bear look from the mom. No more rocks!

Eventually, mom and cubs disappeared into the hanging valley above. After a few more minutes I went back across the valley to my pack and repacked it quickly (nothing was torn, but everyting smelled like bear). I then had to decide whether to continue or not. I knew I didn't want to be perceived as following the bear trio and also knew I didn't want to pass them somehow and then end up having to descend past them later in the day. So I climbed up the moraine some 150' until I could see the area above the hanging valley (opposite the trail) and then did the same again higher up the valley to see around a blind corner. From the top of the moraine, mom and cubs were visible but from a safer 200 yards or so. They were moving swiftly towards the pass at the had of the valley. By the time I got my second view they had crossed towards the valley and meadows of the Sunshine ski area.

Conclusion: Mom clearly knew I was there as the wind was blowing and gusting downvalley. She was able to hide from my view (unintentionally, I'm sure) behind only a few isolated trees and very small rock bands. She was totally unafraid of me, but not agrressive either. But she was clearly in charge of the situation and not surprised (unlike me) and showed no aggression. Pretty scary.

I eventually continued up the peak after a whole lot of scouting and was delighted on descent to see about 6 hikers at the pass above the valley.

A great experience as it turned out. But it was amazing how silent she was and how little distance she allocated as a safety margin (if any, at all).

The funny thing is I'd brought a telephoto lens and tripod that day as I really had a feeling I would see a grizzly. But, of course, my camera was in my pack when even a wide angle lens would have gotten a good close up.
But even if I had my camera, there is no way I would have pointed it's prying eye at the bear from a close distance. (I eventually got pictures of the bear from the safer 200 yard distance.)