Wildlife managers in Glacier National Park say they won’t take any action against a bear that bit a hiker last week in a surprise encounter on the Highline Trail, an airy route along the Continental Divide that is among the park’s most popular. A prominent segment of the trail from Haystack Butte to Granite Park Chalet will remain closed, however, until park rangers can determine that the bear, likely a male grizzly, is no longer in the area, according to a Sept. 23 press release from park officials.
Meanwhile, a 35-year-old Washington man is recovering from injuries he sustained Sept. 19 when he surprised the bear at close range near the spur trail to the Grinnell Glacier Overlook, the release states. The bear bit the man below the knee while members of the injured hiker’s party used bear spray to drive it away. They used a satellite communication device to contact park dispatch to report the incident and received instructions on how to bandage the wound. They were able to stop the bleeding with a first-aid kit.
“The hiking party was walking into the wind and faced foggy conditions, which could have contributed to the encounter,” John Waller, supervisory wildlife biologist, stated in the press release. “They were well prepared with bear spray, a satellite communication device, a first aid kit, were hiking as a group, and kept their cool when dealing with the bear.”
“At this time, no action will be taken against the bear, because it was a surprise encounter,” according to Waller.
With assistance from rangers and other hikers, the injured hiker continued on to Granite Park Chalet, where he was met by Two Bear Air and flown to the Apgar horse corrals, then transported by Three Rivers ambulance to the Whitefish hospital. The press release describes the injuries as non-life threatening.
Based on information from witnesses, park wildlife biologists have determined it was a grizzly bear, most likely a male.
Visitors should be on high alert during the fall season as bears are more likely to be active due to hyperphagia. As bears prepare for the long season of winter, during which they will hibernate, they need to eat as much as they can to prepare to go months without food. For more information about recreating in bear country, please visit the park’s bear safety webpage.
Other closures in Glacier due to bear activity include Sperry Trail between Sperry Chalet and Comeau Pass, and Oldman Lake Wilderness Campground.
Visitors are also reminded that trail access in Many Glacier Valley is affected in the Swiftcurrent area due to construction. For information on trail closures in the park, visit the park’s trail status webpage.
There has been one other bear-related injury this summer, which occurred in July when a Glacier Park trail crew member encountered a sow grizzly with cubs and received a bite on their hand. It was the first bear encounter with an on-duty park employee in 40 years, according to Icenoggle.
In July 2020, a Kalispell woman was running on Glacier’s Huckleberry Lookout Trail when she collided with a young grizzly bear crossing the trail and sustained minor injuries in the surprise encounter.
Prior to that incident, the last injury caused by a grizzly bear in Glacier Park was in August 2016 when an off-duty park employee startled a bear while picking huckleberries in the Swiftcurrent Valley. That incident also resulted in minor injuries.
In 2015, a 65-year-old man from Wisconsin was grabbed and shaken by a grizzly bear while hiking alone near Mount Henkel above the Many Glacier Valley in an incident that involved a sow with cubs. The hiker successfully deployed bear spray, causing the bear to release him and run away. The man received puncture wounds to his extremities.
And in August 2011, a 50-year-old Minnesota man was hiking alone on the trail between Many Glacier and Piegan Pass when he rounded a bend in the trail and encountered a sow grizzly with one sub-adult. The hiker was carrying bear spray but was unable to deploy it before the bear attacked, according to park officials. The hiker sustained bites to his left thigh and left forearm before the bear grabbed his foot, shook him, released him and left the area.