Photographer captures close grizzly bear encounter in Glacier National Park

By Pete Thomas

Hikers in bear country should always pay close attention to their surroundings.

Joshua Wade Covill and his wife Stephanie were exploring Montana’s Glacier National Park recently when they spotted a grizzly bear following closely behind a hiker who seemed unaware of the looming threat.

The Covills were hiking Hidden Lake Trail on June 25, and were a quarter-mile away when they witnessed the close encounter.

Covill later wrote on Facebook, “We watched this young grizzly bear walk right up behind this guy and he HAD NO IDEA!”

The unidentified hiker probably was fortunate that this was not an adult grizzly bear. When the man finally turned around, he and the critter were startled.

“When he turned around, they both jumped backwards and the bear ran off downhill,” Covill wrote.

Covill updated his Facebook post this week to explain that the encounter ended before he had time to shout a warning to the hiker. “By the time I noticed the guy in the background when I was taking photos of the bear, it was over and the bear was going off down hill,” Covill wrote.

The National Park Service cautions hikers to “be alert while on the trail, and always be on the lookout for bears.”

The agency suggests hiking in groups and making noise while on trails to lessen the chance of a surprise encounter.

–Images used with permission of photographer Joshua Wade Covill 

Comments

[Kevin Schwartz]

I'm the hiker. How old do you say the bear was? If he/she would have been two or three years older what would have been different??? You journalist and photographer's seem to know a lot about these bears. BTW I met this photographer and he knows he met me at the lake when I gave him and his girlfriend a tip on the waterfall. When they saw me later and thanked me for the tip they never mentioned to me they had photos of me and the bear. They did ask me if , " are you the guy who was in front of the bear". Anyway, I've hiked and fished with these bears in Alaska and they are not man eaters. Feel free to reach out if you want more info.