LAKEWOOD, Colo. -- While most Coloradoans headed into the high country for Labor Day, two bears did the opposite -- and headed down to the suburbs.

One black bear decided to take advantage of the last day of the park's summer season, and was spotted early Monday early in Lakeside Amusement Park.

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Jefferson County deputies and the Division of Wildlife had been searching for this bear since he was first seen strolling a residential street early Monday morning.

One man who lives in the neighborhood told 7NEWS about how frightened he was when he first spotted the black creature.

"My first reaction was to run," Lakewood resident Arthur Stephens said. "Because when it got up on its hind legs, it looked like it was 7 feet tall to me."

Although deputies lost sight of the bear for a couple of hours, they found him again at Lakeside Amusement Park, asleep under a roller coaster. They were able to tranquilize him, tie him and carry him away.

Officials said that this 180-pound adult bear was one of the larger bears spotted in the Denver metro area in recent weeks.

The amusement park took advantage of the excitement. The entrance sign welcoming visitors to the park reads, "Bear With Us... Open At Noon."

The park was opened once the bear was removed.

The bear, which had not been tagged before, will be relocated in the high country.

Bear Spotted In Littleton Wood-Carver's Back Yard

There was also another bear in Littleton Monday morning. Police spotted a bear resting in a tree in a man's back yard in the 2700 block of West County Line Road in Littleton.

Since the bear had already been tagged, DOW agents tried to stay back in hopes that he would come down from the tree on his own and head back to the woods. Otherwise, since it is the bear's second strike, he would have been destroyed.

Luckily, the bear climbed down from the tree and fled back into the high country.

"We were really delighted that we were able to clear the people and cars and such, and the bear did leave on his own, " Division of Wildlife spokeswoman Cameron Lewis said.

Lewis said that wildlife officers shot rubber buckshots at the animal to remind him that being too close to people could be dangerous.

Ironically, the man whose back yard the bear inhabited makes a living by carving large wooden bears for people's porches.

Officials said that the 3-year-old bear appeared to have been tagged last year or the year before.

Lakewood's Sunday Sighting

Another bear was spotted on Sunday in Lakewood.

The cub was near Holbrook Park along the 800 block of Field Street.

The black bear was chased up a utility pole by a tiny, but very aggressive dog, 7NEWS reported. It didn't take long for wildlife officials to take over and do what they've had to do so many times this summer -- tranquilize it and cart it away.

"This bear looks to be about 1 1/2 years old, 60 to 75 pounds," wildlife official Cameron Lewis said. "It's probably just been kicked out of the den and it was hanging with its mom and is off finding its own territory right now."

DOW said that the tranquilization went really smoothly.

"It was one dart. The bear wobbled a little bit and fell into a big tarp that they were holding. It doesn't appear to be injured and is in good health," Lewis said.

After the bear had a towel wrapped around its head and had its paws tied, wildlife officers allowed a parade of people to walk by the bear and take a closer look.

"This is interesting. I never expected this kind of excitement but it's interesting," Bonnie Gookins from Indiana said.

Public Service cut off the power before the bear was tranquilized. The tiny bear did not have a previous strike against it so it will be tagged and released into the wild.