Where Are They Now? The Heartwarming Tale Of The Wholesome 'Double Rainbow' Guy And Why Paul 'Bear' Vasquez's YouTube Channel Remains Posthumously Active

The day Hungrybear9562's Double Rainbow video was posted may have been the day when classic YouTube peaked.

The now-iconic viral video shows firefighter turned trucker turned Yosemite farmer Paul "Bear" Vasquez gazing in awe at a double rainbow (all the way across the sky) for nearly three-and-a-half minutes, all the while exclaiming in excitement about witnessing such a natural marvel.

Vasquez's adoring reaction to the sight he saw just outside his farm near Yosemite National Park captured hearts after the initial excitement veered off into sheer awe. Between sobs and tears, Vasquez repeatedly asks, "What does this mean?"

It's clear that Vasquez was not only whooping in excitement at having seen a double rainbow end-to-end, but he was also having a distinctly touching spiritual experience.

Paul Vasquez sadly died in 2020, toward the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. His YouTube channel (Hungrybear9562), however, has been posting videos on a nearly daily basis ever since. In his videos, Vasquez walks around his farm, shows off the sites and sounds around Yosemite, and loves on his adoring partner.

In case you're unfamiliar with his touching story or merely looking to reminisce on a simpler time on the internet days of old, here's how the Double Rainbow Guy does it all, four years after his passing.

Who Was The 'Double Rainbow Guy,' And How Did He First Go Viral?

The so-called "Double Rainbow Guy," as he's often remembered, is one of classic YouTube's most wholesome legends. Back in January 2010, Paul "Bear" Vasquez posted a grainy video to his YouTube channel Hungrybear9562.

The unassuming video opens with him saying, "Whoa," as he gazes out from his farm into the sky above the Yosemite Valley on January 8th, 2010.

Vasquez shuffles around his vantage point to get a clearer view of what he now knows is a double rainbow — end-to-end, the entire semi-circle.

"Double rainbow all the way across the sky," he whispers. He cries out, jubilant, ecstatic, giddy with happiness, before his thoughts turn awe-struck. He begins to cry, and repeatedly asks, "What does this mean?" and cries, "Too much! Too much!"

Prior to this viral clip, Vasquez had been sharing videos of his life since 2007, from back when he harbored failed dreams of being a cage fighter to when he set up his farm near Yosemite. But his life and work didn't receive widespread attention until July 2010 when talk show host Jimmy Kimmel of all people shared a link to his "Double Rainbow" video, calling it "funniest video in the world."

When Kimmel saw the video, it had 800 views, but in just a short few days, "Double Rainbow" hit a million. Now, 14 years later, it's since topped over 51 million.

One of the first viral off-shoots of the Double Rainbow video was a Schmoyoho video that autotuned the original clip into a song, initially gaining more viral traction than Bear Vasquez's own video.

Who Was Paul Vasquez, and How Did He Become 'Yosemitebear62'?

Paul "Bear" Vasquez did a brief press and commercial run in the years following his viral video, and it was through these interviews, and through the thousands of videos he posted sharing details about his life and work, that people began to piece together who the Double Rainbow Guy really was.

Vasquez was born in East Los Angeles to a father who worked as a bus driver. He became a firefighter when he grew up, putting out fires for two years before he quit his job and moved to Yosemite. He then worked for the national park in a number of roles: security officer, emergency medical technician, fixing public signs, and backcountry utilities, before he bought an eight-acre plot of land and settled down with his then-wife.

Vasquez married into the Yosemite Native American community and had two kids with his wife before they separated amicably. After his divorce, he became a truck driver for 10 years, drove through 48 states and Canada and gained 200 pounds. He decided to remedy his health problems by losing 180 pounds and becoming a cage fighter, and losing the one and only match he ever fought.

In a 2015 interview with CNN, Paul Vasquez had this to say about his journey, "Yeah, I’ve had an interesting life."

What Did Double Rainbow Guy Do With His Viral Fame?

The virality of "Double Rainbow" ran parallel to, but spiritually surpassed, other viral videos from the "classic" YouTube era. While personalities like Rebecca Black went viral largely due to people sharing her videos in a mean-spirited way, it was nearly impossible to hate on the Double Rainbow Guy.

Kimmel brought Vasquez onto his late-night talk show for a hilarious interview, where his infectiously joyous personality is put on full display. Vasquez repeatedly lay-ups Kimmel's friendly jabs into surprisingly deep insights into the human condition, joking about how he was completely sober "in that video," and how people don't need cheap thrills to enjoy nature "although those videos are out there" too.

Vasquez also featured in several commercials following his internet fame, one for New Zealand telecom company Vodafone, and another for Microsoft.

But to his credit, Vasquez never monetized his actual Double Rainbow video. "The video is sacred," he said, saying that his life is largely the same as before his viral video, except that he does a "lot of interviews."

What Happened To The Double Rainbow Guy, And Where Can You Find His Videos Today?

In a 2014 interview that Bear Vasquez posted to his own YouTube channel, he says that before his Double Rainbow video went viral, he had been trying to live as a starving artist and was slipping into a deep depression. Despite his homestead in Yosemite, finances were tight and he was losing sight of his future.

The financial and emotional boost he received from the Double Rainbow video fortified his spirit and his belief in God, despite his clarifying that he is not religious as he does not believe in "intermediaries."

In the decade after his viral fame, Vasquez continued to record and post daily snapshots of his life, from videos three minutes long to over 30.

In a 2019 upload, Bear Vasquez talks about how he knows he doesn't have much time left. The video shows him with a grey beard and glasses perched on the tip of his nose. Vasquez muses about his prolific YouTube posting habits, estimating that he probably has over a decade's worth of videos scheduled for upload in the event of his death.

Bear Vasquez then died on May 9th, 2020, at the age of 57. It’s unknown what caused his death, but according to a post on his Facebook days before, he was tested for the coronavirus and suffering from an unknown ailment.

He didn't seem worried or fearful about his death, in fact, the Facebook post from a few days prior showed Bear joking about how excited he was to be reincarnated.

To this day, you can still find Paul "Bear" Vasquez's videos on his YouTube channel @Yosemitebear62 — and it seems like there will be plenty more to come in the future.

For the full history of the Double Rainbow Video, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.