VIDEO: Yellowstone Bear Gets Very Close To Tourists While Chasing Elk

Yellowstone National Park is like nature gone beserk -- heightened, astonishing, and often terrifying.  It's like God's terrarium: full of fearsome creatures, dangerous hot pots, and it's all positioned on top of an apocalyptic volcano that, when it goes off, might just end civilization for a hundred years or so. 

So to witness an amazing and terrifying encounter at Yellowstone isn't all that rare.  Still, being present for this would have been something to remember, even for Yellowstone. 

A family was filming some of the thermal areas near West Thumb geyser basin in Yellowstone when they noticed some panicked elk running their way.  And then they noticed the bear following after.  

The frisson of fear begins when the elk run past the assembled people on the boardwalk, thus drawing the pursuing bear closer to them.  The concern is evident across the faces visible in the video.  And for a moment the bear appraises the assembled humans, perhaps considering whether to change his quarry, before darting back after the elk, disappearing around a bend in the trail. 

It's the kind of thing that, in any other state, in any other state park, might have been a once-in-a-lifetime event.  But for Yellowstone it's just par for the course -- bears and elk are always racing by. 

Check out the dramatic, and slightly nerve-wracking footage below!