If I Were Going...: 2026 Stevens Family Calendar -- September

Bears!

September’s calendar page is all about Bears, coming off an unusual year in which there was NO page dedicated to Bears. Yep, our 2025 calendar had one lone Bear photo in the opening section and that was it.

This annual calendar was born years ago out of a one designed to highlight Bear photos, so you know 2025 was an anomaly. But, the Bears are back.

Previous calendar shots: Black Bear, 2017; Brown Bear, 2024

The photos on this page (and one in the opening section) came from two separate trips and two separate locations. One was a trip that Caty, Scott and I took to Yellowstone National Park (as you know, practically an annual pilgrimage) where we captured both Brown (AKA Grizzly) and Black Bears. The other was a solo trip Scott took to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where he had great encounters with adult and baby Black Bears. So, let’s take a look.

The main page features both types of Bears and both locations. The largest shot is a mama Black Bear and her adorable cub at the edge of a stream in Cades Cove in the Smokies. It was a tough shot to pick because Scott got three extraordinary photos of this pair.

We opted for the one on the left for the main page and used the upper right for the calendar page; we didn’t use the lower right

We opted for the one on the left for the main page and, then, used the one on the upper right for the calendar page. We didn’t use the lower right The photo on the lower right ins a young Grizzly named Quill that all three of us photographed on a glorious Bear-filled morning on the shores of Lake Yellowstone.

Caty took the shot, left, that we used; Scott took the other four of the same Bear;
I got some good ones, too, but didn’t put any of mine in the mix

The top three photos are a sequence we all took of a Bear named Jam being pursued along the lake’s edge by an amorous Boar.

The shots Caty and I took were so seamless that you can’t even tell I took the first two
and she took the third

And, we had so many more that we did not use ...

Like this one …

... these six by Scott …

… and these two

Plus, we used Jam’s run again with the silly shots on the back cover

Caty captured Jam with her guard down and her tongue out

That’s not the end of Quill and Jam. Let’s take a look at the calendar page …

Calendar Page

We didn’t veer at all from the theme, keeping this page purely about the Ursus (Ursuses?).

We started off by returning to those beautiful Black Bears Scott photographed in the Smokies. He caught one feeding. We used one shot in the opening section and one on this page.

The calendar page features the photo on the left; the ones on the right didn’t make it

We also had to pass on these five

The next shot on the page was a lucky moment where a Bear named Storm (or maybe its twin, Rain) gave us a great show (you’ll see more shots below). On the way down the mountain, he (most people now assume both twins are male, but it’s not definite) stopped for a back scratch.

I’ve paired it here with a shot we used from before he came down the mountain; Left: Caty Stevens

I mentioned above that Jam was being pursued by a Boar. The next photo on the calendar page is one we chose from many of that suitor.

This was one of the few where I pulled out far enough to get the full reflection
(things were happening fast and it was tough to remember to frame the whole shot)

We had a few other pictures of this big guy that did not make the cut …

Walking along the lake; Photos: Scott Stevens

Walking through some of Yellowstone’s ubiquitous downed trees; Photos: Scott Stevens

A portrait of Jam shows up in the next slot on the calendar page, taken on that same day.

A beautiful Bear; Photo: Scott Stevens

We had a difficult call to make to fill the next slot, choosing between a shot of Quill and a shot of a Yellowstone Black Bear, both striking similar poses with nice lighting.

Ultimately, Caty's photo of Quill on the left won out and we didn’t use Scott’s shot, right

Many of our trip are in pursuit of Bear cubs. In both Yellowstone and the Smokies, we have had, historically and last year, much better luck with Black Bears than with Brown. The calendar page shot of a mama Black Bear with her two cubs points out an issue that confuses many people when trying to identify Bears.

These are all Black Bears: a Cinnamon mom with her Cinnamon and Black cubs

We rejected an almost-identical shot of all three and a close-up of the cubs

The final choices on this page came back to Storm, who entertained us by romping, swimming, sleeping, scratching and generally having a good time. A two-year-old Brown Bear, he was enjoying his first year alone after being “released" by his mom, another famous Bear named Snow.

We used the running shot on the left and did not use the one on the right

We also rejected this running shot …

And, this photo of him playing in a reedy pond

Too many photos, not enough slots.

Other Unused Photos

We had two more shots from Yellowstone that we considered and didn’t use. Both were wide shots of more distant Bears …

This one Scott took of a Bear on a hillside ...

… and this one at the crest of the hill

We believe that the first one is Quill, but we are not sure about the second. While most people go to Yellowstone in search of Brown Bears, which have a very restricted range in the lower 48, the Park also has a very high number of Black Bears. We looked at three more Black Bear shots from the park that we did not use …

Scott took these two of a Bear we tracked across the wide field across from the Roosevelt Lodge

This one was near Petrified Tree just down the road

Although we didn’t have an overload of Bear events to chose from last year, we did have a few other shots in the pool we didn’t use, starting with some Brown Bears from Denali National Park in Alaska ...