The Glacier National Park hiking trail was marked as an active grizzly bear area and while hiking, we saw a LOT of grizzly bear scat. The scat was along the trail and located about every 50 yards or so and it was new.
As we continued on the hike, we were being very cautious and aware. Then we spotted a grizzly bear down below us in a meadow area. We stopped and snapped pictures feeling pretty safe with about 300 yards and a steep hill between us.
We continued on and ran into a ranger a bit later and he explained that there were actually two bears in the area – we had seen the larger of the two. He told us to be cautious on the way down and yell out, “Hey Bear!” each time we turned a corner or had a blind spot.
We headed down and followed his instructions. Then, once we had relaxed a bit and were on a very slight “S” type curve – our lead hiker (there were 4 of us) raised his hand and said stop…bear. Two of us backed up and readied the bear spray. The two in front stood and calmly started making noise.
The grizzly bear looked up, raised his/her nose and sniffed a bit. Then the bear ambled off the trail and disappeared into the foliage. We waited a while, still making noise and then scooted close together and moved on.
We kept watching in front and in back and actually saw the bear again swimming in the lake away from us.
It was the scariest and at the same time most fun experience I have ever had!!! The bear was amazing!!! Beautiful really.
Keeping our cool was tough and the desire to run away was very strong! But the grizzly bear was not doing anything that made us feel threatened. I am glad we had done a bit of research before going into the park. It would be a terrible shame to have a bear injured or put down because we were unprepared and unable to react in a manner that kept us all safe… grizzly bear included!
Comment from Perry
Wow, Sherri. Great story! You said you took some photos? Do you have any to share?
Glad you were prepared, too! Always best to be educated and prepared in grizzly bear habitat.
Comment from Anonymous
We will be hiking in that area in a few months. Can you provide a date when your encounter took place?
Comment from Sherri
I have been in the park twice. Once in July and then in late August. Our encounter with the bear was in late August – that said – we saw a lot of wild life during both trips. It is a great park! Enjoy your hike and be sure to post about it after so we can all enjoy your hike!
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Recent Glacier National Park Grizzly Bear encounter near Swiftcurrent Pass
I was hiking down from Swiftcurrent Pass the other day, just after the closure.
I was well aware of bears in the area and was doing a lot of yelling. The only sign that I had seen was scat just past the last bridge before the climb.
Near Redrock Lake I turned around to look at the approaching weather coming in. I turned around back to the trail and all I saw at about 10 feet away was the backside of a grizzly bear heading away into bush.
Sight time about 3 seconds. No time to reach for bear spray or use the camera, which was in my hand.
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