Black bear taking a cool dip in the river

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This is the second bear I have run into (the first was close to really running into, only 25 feet away-need to get those pics up soon) in the past 2 weeks. But this one was not anywhere near town or residences, just out in nature where bears should be and apparently wanting to take a dip in the Arkansas River to cool off on another 90+ hot day.

At first I thought it was trying to swim across, but it just put it's body (and a big body at that) into a deep pool, and pushed against the current in place, sometimes dipping it's chin into the water. I am, btw, about 150 feet away on the other side of the river at my car (my camera and lens combo plus cropping lets me take photos that look much closer than I would want to be).

When the bear got out it walked into some thick vegetation and appeared to roll around on the ground (couldn't quite see that but that's what it looked like as tall vegetation fell over). It is refreshing to see a bear being a bear. SeEtta

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