Tourists at Old Faithful on Sunday were seeing more than a geyser erupting, an enormous grizzly bear was roaming parking lots and snow banks.

And this isn't a first, according to the park rangers three or four bears are frequenting Old Faithful.

A full grown grizzly was seen walking in front of the only restaurant and gift shop at the famous tourist attraction.

"It was really exciting," said tourist, Joey Hall.  

Two rangers in SUV's attempted to herd the grizzly away from people.  When the bear was slow to respond, they fired cracker shots to startle it away.

"We try to teach them developed areas are for people and the bears can go anywhere else," said Kerry Gunther, Yellowstone Bear Management.  

Park rangers say this big guy isn't the first to wander near Old Faithful in the past few weeks. He said at least three or four bears are roaming nearby cleaning up bison carcasses.  

Gunther said it's been a hard winter for bison and elk with all of the snow and ice on the ground.  Food has been difficult to find, so many of the animals move to thermal areas where the snow has melted.  But even still, some are dying off once they get there and this year, park officials say there are quite a few bison carcasses near Old Faithful that are attracting the bears.

Many of the trails around the the parks thermal features have been closed because the bear danger.

"We have closed much of the thermal area so bears can clean up bison and we can keep people safe," said Gunther.

The thrill of seeing the bear is something many tourists won't forget for a long time.

You might think bears wake up from hibernation starving and cranky, but park officials say bears are sluggish after hibernating and they see very few injuries this time of year.

Bear Closure Area

Red outlines the area near Old Faithful closed to tourists because of bear activity.  Source: NPS