A wildlife photographer's evening in Glacier National Park nearly went very wrong. While heading back to the car after a few uneventful hours shooting at a lake near Marias Pass — nothing to show but deer and mosquitoes — a blondish-brown shape came toward him on the trail. It was a grizzly cub, big as an overgrown Saint Bernard. Fascination lasted a second; then the penny dropped. Where there's a cub, there's a mother.
He shouted "Hey, bear" in a cracking voice. The cub barked an alarm and bolted into the trees. Then he turned around and the sow was already charging at him, running fast and low to the ground. He managed to pull the bear spray from his chest holster and hold it out as she closed the distance. The Adventure Journal piece cuts off there, behind its paywall, but the setup alone carries the lesson: this is exactly the scenario that gets people hurt in bear country.
The details matter for anyone planning to hike in Montana's most famous park. A cub alone on a trail is a genuine red flag — the author's instinct that the mother was close by was right, and she covered the gap in seconds. Bear spray is only useful if it's accessible. His was strapped to his chest, which is why he could free the can and aim it while a charge was underway; a canister buried in a pack would have been useless. And vocalising early — announcing yourself with a loud "hey bear" rather than sneaking or freezing — gives a startled animal the chance to identify you as human and move off.
Glacier is one of the best places in North America to actually see grizzlies, which is precisely why hikers need to take them seriously from June through September, especially in the quieter corners of the park like the Marias Pass area along the southern boundary. Wildlife photographers and birders are arguably at higher risk: the habits that make you good at the first — patience, quiet, lingering at dawn and dusk — are the habits that bring you close to the second.
You don't need to give up the park. You need to hike in groups where possible, make noise on blind corners and in brush, carry bear spray on your person (not in your luggage — airlines ban it) and know how to use it before you need it. Travel writer Joe Glickman, who documented his own Glacier grizzly charge for Adventure Journal, summed up the right attitude years ago: it's not fear that keeps you safe, it's preparation.
Who is this for? Anyone adding Glacier to a Montana road trip, or ticking off the Continental Divide trails this summer. Read the full account before you go — the ending is worth the subscription on its own.
Original reporting: Adventure Journal.