During a three day trip to Whistler, BC Canada, my father and I hoped to see some bears, which we were told were plentiful around the area. After searching carefully, though unsuccessfully, in a park near our AirBnB, we tabled the idea for a while and went to shoot the beautiful fall colors around a nearby lake. We followed a road that traveled all the way around the lake and finally came to a park. We exited the car and started walking to the shore. Before we could get there, though, we came across a group of people looking up. We followed their line of sight and, low and behold, there was a huge black bear munching on what were, apparently, delicious berries high in a tree. There was a problem, though: the bear's weight was far too much for the thin branches and before long, he came crashing down to earth from a height of about 15-20 ft. All of a sudden, we were about 30 yards away from this huge animal. I looked around quickly and surmised that I could run faster than the slowest person in the group, so I wasn't too worried. As everyone took a cautious step back, the bear shook himself off and promptly climbed back intro the tree to resume his meal. Although the tree trunk and branches shook a bit after that, there were no more incidents. And about five minute later, a ranger came and shooed all of us onlookers away.