LIVED THROUGH THIS
Never Run from a Bear
For way too long, I responded to danger by freezing
“The worst thing you can do is the thing you’ll want to do most,” the park ranger explains.
I’m standing with three friends under a tent at Apgar ranger station in Glacier National Park, allowing mosquitos to dance around my legs. To backpack legally through the most grizzly-bear-populated park in the lower 48 states, we are required to listen to this sermon.
I hang on every word.
I’ve never backpacked before. I’ve never even been to Montana. A woman died from a grizzly bear attack just a week ago, a few hours away, when his 400-lb. body mangled her tent looking for food.
“People walk by grizzlies all the time without knowing it; they blend in with the scenery,” the ranger continues. “But if you find yourself in a bear’s space, you talk to the bear. You keep your eyes on the bear. You walk away from the bear. But whatever you do, no matter what your gut tells you, never, ever run.”
Most of the time, bears in the wilderness see humans as equals, not to be bothered with. But when humans become moving targets, the bear’s predator brain is triggered. He follows.
