A group of hikers lived to tell the tale after a harrowing encounter with a grizzly bear in Missoula, Montana. The event happened inside the Glacier National Park on August 30, 2020.
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Here is the story submitted to NBC Montana by Dulé Krivdich who captured the whole event on camera. According to him, both he and his wife had spent the day hiking and were heading back from visiting Hidden Lake. From a high vantage point they were able to witness the grizzly coming up on the unsuspecting hikers.
“I’d say a 500+ pound grizzly, came through a treeline, down a meadow and swiftly on to the trail itself to get to wherever he wanted to go. Now hikers just below on the same trail are totally unaware of what’s heading their way as we from above start yelling that there is a bear barreling down the same trail. As one yells back, “what do we do?” “Just start making a lot of noise!!! Don’t run!””
As soon as the warning was shouted, the bear made a bluff charge towards the hikers. You can hear a woman in the video draw a panicked breath as the bear closes in on the group. Once the bear has a direct line of sight to what could’ve been his next meal, he stops and turns away.
“Thank goodness that it all went well afterwards.” Krivdich wrote, “Other than that it was a beautiful day for a hike down to Hidden Lake.”
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It is estimated that nearly 300 grizzly bears live in Glacier National Park and the odds of coming across one while hiking is fairly common according to wildlife resource, Big Sky Fishing. Other animals that are common encounters are moose, elk, black bears, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and mule deer, all of which call Glacier Park their home.
Watch the video below to see the grizzly encounter.