Hiker Killed in Yellowstone

[Rex Clifton]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/hiker-kille...ry?id=32965459

Tragic.

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[map man]

This was not in a remote part of the park. The grizzly attack took place on a trail popular as a day hike (Elephant Back Loop Trail), especially with people staying at Lake Village on the north shore of Yellowstone Lake.

[fiddlehead]

I wish the article would have stated whether he had bear spray or not.
But a griz with cubs is something to stay (far) away from.

[rocketsocks]

or their kill. Smell a dead animal, move away from the area, immediately. I don't like people poking in my food either.

[Offshore]

I wish the article would have stated whether he had bear spray or not.
But a griz with cubs is something to stay (far) away from.

One of the articles I read stated that he was not carrying bear spray and that he was from Montana and this was his third year working as a seasonal employee for a company that operates urgent care centers in the park. Hard to believe he could have been unaware of the potential danger of grizzlies.

[Marta]

Actually, if you live in the area, it's easy to be lulled into a false sense of security by the lack of bear encounters. At Two Medicine last weekend the campground host gave an impromptu talk (the regular speaker was late in arriving) in which he stated he had been hiking in Glacier for the last 64 years, except for a couple of years while he was in Vietnam. He had even spent six or eight years as the GNP bear management officer. In all that time, he has been bluff-charged twice and used bear spray twice. Does he carry spray with him 100% of the time when he goes out? Yes, he does.

He said a number of interesting things about bears.

First--he said grizzlies are way smarter than black bears.

Second--as part of his job, he would sit at vantage points and scan hiking trails with his binoculars to watch human-bear interactions. He would see bear feeding not far off a trail; observe hikers approaching; see the bear hear them and move away, still feeding; see the hikers pass; then see the bear move back close to the trail. He said bear bells are extremely ineffective in alerting bears to your presence compared to speaking, clapping, and calling out.

His personal practice when approaching a blind corner, rise beyond which you cannot see, or dense brush is to call out in a normal tone of voice and clap his hands. Five seconds later, do it again with your voice at the same volume. Five seconds later, do it again. The first call alerts the bear to your presence. The second and third allow the bear to judge your rate and direction of travel.

Third--A grizzly's body position indicates whether they are bluff-charging or attacking. Standing up tall is bluff charge. Head down and running towards you is intent to attack. His closest encounter with an attacking bear was a female with two cubs who ran straight at him. He sprayed her--the cone hit her full in the face with a bit touching the cubs--she turned aside and fled into the woods.

His main comment as he was retelling his close encounters is that they happen unbelievably fast. Almost too fast to react.

[Offshore]

Actually, if you live in the area, it's easy to be lulled into a false sense of security by the lack of bear encounters. At Two Medicine last weekend the campground host gave an impromptu talk (the regular speaker was late in arriving) in which he stated he had been hiking in Glacier for the last 64 years, except for a couple of years while he was in Vietnam. He had even spent six or eight years as the GNP bear management officer. In all that time, he has been bluff-charged twice and used bear spray twice. Does he carry spray with him 100% of the time when he goes out? Yes, he does.

He said a number of interesting things about bears.

First--he said grizzlies are way smarter than black bears.

Second--as part of his job, he would sit at vantage points and scan hiking trails with his binoculars to watch human-bear interactions. He would see bear feeding not far off a trail; observe hikers approaching; see the bear hear them and move away, still feeding; see the hikers pass; then see the bear move back close to the trail. He said bear bells are extremely ineffective in alerting bears to your presence compared to speaking, clapping, and calling out.

His personal practice when approaching a blind corner, rise beyond which you cannot see, or dense brush is to call out in a normal tone of voice and clap his hands. Five seconds later, do it again with your voice at the same volume. Five seconds later, do it again. The first call alerts the bear to your presence. The second and third allow the bear to judge your rate and direction of travel.

Third--A grizzly's body position indicates whether they are bluff-charging or attacking. Standing up tall is bluff charge. Head down and running towards you is intent to attack. His closest encounter with an attacking bear was a female with two cubs who ran straight at him. He sprayed her--the cone hit her full in the face with a bit touching the cubs--she turned aside and fled into the woods.

His main comment as he was retelling his close encounters is that they happen unbelievably fast. Almost too fast to react.

I'm in the NE, so black bears are my main concern, but these observations are pretty much spot on with what Stephen Herrero talks about in his book, including how fast attacks occur. He raises an interesting point that bear spray may be better than a gun, unless you are pretty much as good as a shot as a sniper. Bear spray is more forgiving in aim, etc. Unfortunately here in NJ laws don't differentiate between bear spray (technically an EPA-registered pesticide) from general pepper sprays used for self defense and limit size to 0.75 ounces - making bear spray illegal to possess. Despite that, its in every REI and outfitter in NW NJ (heart of bear country). I hike on my own a lot and may or may not carry it...

I like the the idea of calling out in a normal voice three times when approaching a blind turn. I'll usually clap and say "Hey Joe". The "Joe" was a suggestion in Herrero's book - saying "Hey Bear" may be misinterpreted by other hikers as saying you spotted a bear. (One time a guy name Joe answered me from around a turn.) It also astounds me how many solo hikers I come across (both day and section/thrus) that hike with headphones on, oblivious to everything around them. The Bluetooth speaker alternative make actually help in bear avoidance, but can be really annoying to other trail users in the area.

[nsherry61]

One thing I'm curious about, but we will probably never know, is if possibly the hiker responded to the grizzly bear encounter like they may have been trained to deal with a black bear encounter.

For grizzly's, if they charge us, we are supposed to be completely non-threatening, drop to the ground face down and cover the back of our necks with our hands. This behavior with black bears is considered dangerous because they may decide to eat us if we don't fight back. Most often black bear charges are bluffs and if we stand our ground or act aggressively toward them, they almost always back off. Grizzlies, on the other hand, (with very few exceptions of course) do not eat people, and charge because they feel a threat. Grizzlies will more likely follow through if you act aggressively toward them, especially if they are protecting a cub.

If this hiker acted as they may have been trained to do for black bears, when charged, they did exactly the opposite of what should have been done in the event of a grizzly charge.

So, my question, again, probably never to be answered, is did the hiker act appropriately for a grizzly charge, and if not, would have acting appropriately saved their life?

. . . regardless, a very sad situation indeed!

[MikeN]

My adult daughter and I were backpacking in Yellowstone two weeks ago. It was the first time either of us had been there. We got to the park in mid-afternoon and the campgrounds were all full (of course, in summer). We had our backpacking gear with us and, knowing that we could register for a backcountry camping site, I went to the backcountry permit office in the ranger station and registered for one (which is incredibly easy to do and get).

You are required to watch a 20-minute film telling you the possible dangers of hiking and camping in the backcountry areas of Yellowstone before they'll give you the permit, including the possibility of encountering bears and how to act toward them if you do. The film didn't minimize the danger of bears (both grizzly bears and black bears are found in Yellowstone), but I would say it made it seem like they were an acceptable risk as long as you are careful (bear spray is not required). The rangers do tell you before they give you the permit that when you go out there "you are on your own."

On the way to our trailhead, where you are to leave your car for the night, we even saw a large bear beside the road "posing" for tourists stopped alongside the road, many getting out of their cars as they took his picture (including many selfies). We did not have any trouble that night or while we were there in our quite isolated campsite (we saw only one other party of 3 backpackers as we hiked in about 4 miles, and they were camped about a half mile away from us), aside from a few mosquitoes and a small animal that chewed a hole in one of our tents during the night, near where my daughter had left a granola bar inside her tent!

In light of this bear attack, however, I feel we were extremely naive and lucky (we didn't even have bear spray with us, which I think should be required of all backcountry hikers in Yellowstone). Since returning home I discovered that there were at least two other fatal grizzly bear attacks in Yellowstone in 2011, and now this. Chilling.

[Tipi Walter]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/hiker-kille...ry?id=32965459

Tragic.

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Part of highway driving is injury and death in vehicle wrecks. Part of wilderness travel is death by bear. Both are accidents and should be considered as such.

[tdoczi]

Part of highway driving is injury and death in vehicle wrecks. Part of wilderness travel is death by bear. Both are accidents and should be considered as such.

careful now, if THEY hear that and it makes sense to them, one of them is liable to try and outlaw motor vehicles or some other such nonsense.

[tdoczi]

Since returning home I discovered that there were at least two other fatal grizzly bear attacks in Yellowstone in 2011, and now this. Chilling.

out of how many millions of visitors? the fatality rate for bicycle riding is probably substantially higher.

[Coffee]

It is a very sad story and still statistically improbable to be killed by a grizzly, and even less so with black bears. I've reconciled my fears with respect to black bears but grizzly bears are a whole different ballgame entirely. I'm not sure that I would ever hike in grizzly country solo. This will be a problem since I eventually want to hike the CDT.

[tdoczi]

It is a very sad story and still statistically improbable to be killed by a grizzly, and even less so with black bears. I've reconciled my fears with respect to black bears but grizzly bears are a whole different ballgame entirely. I'm not sure that I would ever hike in grizzly country solo. This will be a problem since I eventually want to hike the CDT.

i used to feel the same. then i hiked solo in grizzly country, seeing several bears, including a mom and cubs, and didnt die. fear gone.

[Coffee]

i used to feel the same. then i hiked solo in grizzly country, seeing several bears, including a mom and cubs, and didnt die. fear gone.

I've hiked in grizzly country only one time. It was a very short day hike from Lake Louise to the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House and back. I was irrationally nervous the entire time I was out.

[tdoczi]

I've hiked in grizzly country only one time. It was a very short day hike from Lake Louise to the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House and back. I was irrationally nervous the entire time I was out.

i literally had nightmares before my trip to glacier. for real. first day there did something i thought id never do and signed up for a ranger lead group hike. it was as bad i had always thought those things would be, so the next day i just went for it (kind of had to anyone, had lots of plans that required it) by the time i got above treeline i was fine. walking through dense forest for the first 3 or 4 miles was definitely nerve wracking.

i'm still more "afraid" (for lack of a better word) of venomous snakes. i'd rather turn a corner and see a bear (even a grizz) in the trail 100 yards away than see an awake rattler i'm 5 feet away from.

[MikeN]

out of how many millions of visitors? the fatality rate for bicycle riding is probably substantially higher.

Millions of visitors? In the main areas of Yellowstone next to the roads yes, but my guess is that only a very small percentage of those millions venture into the backcountry areas of the park where a bear attack is probably more likely and where you are essentially "on your own." I realize even then the risk of being attacked is small, but I guess my point is that you shouldn't be naive, like I feel I was, about wild animals and take the necessary precautions, like having bear spray with you in backcountry grizzly areas.

With all the tourists and crowds at the main sites, Yellowstone has the outward of appearance of being something like the Disneyland of the Rockies. You are warned to stay at least 100 yards away from any bear you see, but I saw many people taking "selfies" of themself with a bear in the background only about 20 yards away. While we were there, at Yellowstone, one woman was gored by a buffalo when taking a selfie with the buffalo in the background. Many tourists don't seem to know that these animals are not Bambi and Yogi.

[tdoczi]

Millions of visitors? In the main areas of Yellowstone next to the roads yes, but my guess is that only a very small percentage of those millions venture into the backcountry areas of the park where a bear attack is probably more likely and where you are essentially "on your own." I realize even then the risk of being attacked is small, but I guess my point is that you shouldn't be naive, like I feel I was, about wild animals and take the necessary precautions, like having bear spray with you in backcountry grizzly areas.

With all the tourists and crowds at the main sites, Yellowstone has the outward of appearance of being something like the Disneyland of the Rockies. You are warned to stay at least 100 yards away from any bear you see, but I saw many people taking "selfies" of themself with a bear in the background only about 20 yards away. While we were there, at Yellowstone, one woman was gored by a buffalo when taking a selfie with the buffalo in the background. Many tourists don't seem to know that these animals are not Bambi and Yogi.

in the same post you state (not incorrectly) that most of the visitors to yellowstone stay along the roads. you then go on to state (also correctly) that those people are the ones who do most of the stupid stuff. the people being gored by bison are largely of the stupid tourists along the roads variety.

look, i'm not advocating acting foolish in grizzly country, but because everyone 1-2 years a hiker gets killed by a grizzly bear is no more reason to be "chilled" than, as tipi suggests, automotive fatality statistics. and for sure, a great many people drive stupidly, that isnt in dispute.

the background in yellowstone or glacier are safer places than any busy highway or large city. that someone just recently proved that nowhere is 100% safe doesnt change that in the least.

[tdoczi]

Millions of visitors? In the main areas of Yellowstone next to the roads yes, but my guess is that only a very small percentage of those millions venture into the backcountry areas of the park where a bear attack is probably more likely and where you are essentially "on your own." I realize even then the risk of being attacked is small, but I guess my point is that you shouldn't be naive, like I feel I was, about wild animals and take the necessary precautions, like having bear spray with you in backcountry grizzly areas.

With all the tourists and crowds at the main sites, Yellowstone has the outward of appearance of being something like the Disneyland of the Rockies. You are warned to stay at least 100 yards away from any bear you see, but I saw many people taking "selfies" of themself with a bear in the background only about 20 yards away. While we were there, at Yellowstone, one woman was gored by a buffalo when taking a selfie with the buffalo in the background. Many tourists don't seem to know that these animals are not Bambi and Yogi.

and in what ways do you think you were naive? not carrying spray? maybe. but also naive is the person who thinks the spray is guaranteed to save them in the unlikely possibility of a confrontation. again, i think it is easily shown statistically that accidents with people hurting themselves or other humans with that stuff are fare more common than cases in which it has saved anyone's lives.

that said, i carried it on my first trip out there. if i go again would i carry it again? i dont know. if the can i have is still with me and not expired, i guess i might as well. if i have to buy a new? i really don't know.

[ChuckP]

An interesting (long) background article has been posted at Slate.com on grizzlies in Yellowstone. Still working my way through it but thought I would share the link:

http://www.slate.com/articles/health...lowstone_.html



My wife and I are heading to Grand Teton next weekend for a week of day hiking. It will be interesting to see what the prevailing mood is.