Community Chat

[Mama Mia]

A very sad situation as he was killed by a grizzly bear. He had been reported missing a few days ago and when his body was found it was partially consumed and buried under vegetation. I just cannot understand why people donot obey rules such as never hiking alone, ALWAYS carry bear spray etc.

He was working for a medic company in the park. I certainly feel sad for his family to hear of his death, especially this way.

mm

[Perkup]

I don't undersand why anyone would want to "hike" and take a chance on tangling with one of Nature's finest, mosst fierce creatures.  The bear was protecting it's cub just as we would protect our children.  It's tragic that this has happened to someone, but he should not have been alone, and he should have had a means of protection - not to kill the bear, but to offer himself the chance to escape.

[esmeraldagooch]

Lots of ways to die there. Bears are only one.

[SusieQ_2]

It's amazing what people will do. Once when we were camping near Mammoth Mountain we stayed in a campground. We were told to lock our food up at night because bears were known to come looking for it. I looked out the window of the camper and saw a big bear standing near the bbq which was maybe 10 feet away. Sure enough there was a car with beef jerky in the glove box and an open window. The bear had no trouble getting the jerky and ripping up the car's interior in the process. 

Another time we were hiking in Yosemite and some other hikers said they had spotted a bear cub. We left but some other hikers were intent on finding it. We figured mama wouldn't be far away from baby and didn't want to take any chances. 

[AnikaBrodie]

YNP = Yellowstone National Park

Such a sad loss of the hiker who has not yet been identified.  It is said he was an experiened hiker. 

[Q4u]

I am always so sad to hear about things like this, when some precautions might have prevented it.

Our family has gone into these parks for years and years.  One of the most horrifying things I've seen are the families that have NO CLUE about these animals.  We once saw a man (with a camcorder) pull his young son along to get close to a huge bull Elk.  This mammoth beast was standing in a clearing and this man got to about 10 - 15 feet from it~!  All to take videos of it and his son!!  Thankfully it wasn't rutting season (when they go crazy) but even if this animal walked towards him he would have cleared that in a second or two, and even if the animal just tripped and FELL on either the man or child, it would have been horrible.  People were standing around just kind of keeping still and quiet while this idiot did his thing....  

We've seen tourists actually follow Buffalo tracks.... coming up behind a Buffalo is NOT a good idea.

Very, very sad to hear about this hiker....  

[Mama Mia]

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@Q4u wrote:

I am always so sad to hear about things like this, when some precautions might have prevented it.

Our family has gone into these parks for years and years.  One of the most horrifying things I've seen are the families that have NO CLUE about these animals.  We once saw a man (with a camcorder) pull his young son along to get close to a huge bull Elk.  This mammoth beast was standing in a clearing and this man got to about 10 - 15 feet from it~!  All to take videos of it and his son!!  Thankfully it wasn't rutting season (when they go crazy) but even if this animal walked towards him he would have cleared that in a second or two, and even if the animal just tripped and FELL on either the man or child, it would have been horrible.  People were standing around just kind of keeping still and quiet while this idiot did his thing....  

We've seen tourists actually follow Buffalo tracks.... coming up behind a Buffalo is NOT a good idea.

Very, very sad to hear about this hiker....  

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Q4U, thank you. We live about 70 miles from the park, and I just feel it inside when someone gets hurt. Tourists just don't think it apples to them. We've seen some stupid things up there too, mostly involving buffalo, they have had at least two gorings this year, people survived, but were lucky.

mm

[riley1]

Such a sad thing to read. When we've hiked, we always had a cow bell on our pack and like one of those air horns. Experienced or not, hiking alone is a no no.

[Mama Mia]

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@AnikaBrodie wrote:

YNP = Yellowstone National Park

Such a sad loss of the hiker who has not yet been identified.  It is said he was an experiened hiker. 

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Anika Brodie, yes, I read that this morning and that he'd been working up there a few years. So sad.

mm