I was in the N.T. of Australia looking for the world's largest salt water Croc.  Saw one of these guys leap (yes leap) out of the water to grab a bird out of the air and then one tried to jump into our boat.  Nuts!

Scuba, Amber Jack and Bull Shark!  More to come with that story...

I was going to the outhouse in Glacier National Park right after the big fires a few years ago. It was early morning, the beginning of Oct. The ice crystals in the mud crunched when I walked over them. The brand new outhouse already had a bite from a grizzly bear out of it, and a sign warning about grizzlies had been obviously knocked down by a grizzly as it was covered in muddy fur prints. As I approached the outhouse, I heard a noise and about 6 feet away was a grizzly was going to the outhouse too. I suddenly no longer had to 'go!' Luckily he/she bolted away.

A moose walked across my path at Snowbird, UT.  I was really scared because she was so close and with her baby.  We both feared for our lives!

Most memorable - Being 25' from Dall rams in the Denali ram country above Polycrome Pass with Frank Craighead in the early 70's. It lasted for 2 hrs with the rams just roaming around us enjoying life. 

I was sitting in the woods, half asleep at the base of a tree.  When I woke up, a gigantic grandfather elk weighing in at about 1800lbs was looking at me.  I could see his pupils and couldn't breathe.  We just stared at each other.  His rack was at least 5 feet across and he was so close that I could barely see the far ends without turning my head.  He shorted, turned away and walked off.  I sat there for about 20 minutes catching my breath.  

Sleeping out in the open one dark, quiet, moonless night in the middle of the forrest; I woke to the sound of footsteps approaching from behind me.  I could tell the beast was walking on two feet, step by step, slowly approaching me.  The sound convinced me it was a large animal and the chilling noise made me shut my eyes in fear.  After a few moments, the beast stopped and stood motionless behind my head.  I tried to suppress my breathing and be as still as possible, hoping not to provoke an attack.  I was frozen in fear, waiting or the inevitable.  To my relief and survival, the animal turned and headed back into the woods.  To this day, I don't know what it was, but I will never forget the fear of that night.  

We were visiting Yellowstone National Park last spring.  There was still a considerable amount of snow on the sides of the road.  Going back to our campsite at Fishing Bridge, we encountered a male bison meandering up the middle of the road.  He was about 1,000' from us when and impatient guest blew his horn.  The bison turned and started running straight out our truck!  There was nowhere to go as there was traffic on our left and deep snow on our right.  My husband held on the the steering wheel waiting for the impact.  The bison lowered his head and realized we went another bison!  He turned just before hitting our truck.  I didn't know how close he was because I was shooting it through the camera.  Check out the slide show on the front page of our blog:  http://lastofthegreat48.blogspot.com/