Two grizzly bears followed a hiking group down a trail in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, for 20 minutes much to the surprise of the people.
Their hiking guide, Phoebe Nicholson, kept her cool and directed the group to “keep walking nice and slow” as the bears – a mama and cub – walked behind them at a distance around 10 metres away. Phoebe said the bears seemed quite calm and disinterested and didn’t make any aggressive moves. Well, except for one small one from the cub.
“The baby one did a few quick runs at one point, which may have been what we call a ‘bluff charge,’ which is where they kind of run at you to see what your reaction is going to be,” Phoebe told CBC News.
But Phoebe’s training kicked in. “From my training, I know that that is a normal thing. The best thing to do is, of course, to stay calm and keep a slow, slow pace, so that’s exactly what we did.”
Although she said the experience was “pretty intense” it was “pretty amazing experience” too. The bears eventually broke away and went in a different direction at which point the group let out a big sigh of relief.
A few members in the group shot some video of the bears sauntering on the trail behind them.
@cbcnews Two grizzly bears followed this hiking group down a trail in Banff National Park, Alta., for 20 minutes. Phoebe Nicholson, who was leading the group, said it was “pretty intense” but also a “pretty amazing experience” to be close to the bears. "The baby one did a few quick runs at one point, which may have been what we call a 'bluff charge,' which is where they kind of run at you to see what your reaction is going to be," she said. "From my training, I know that that is a normal thing. The best thing to do is, of course, to stay calm and keep a slow, slow pace, so that's exactly what we did." Nick de Ruyter, WildSmart program director at the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley in Canmore, said this encounter wasn’t all that uncommon. Bears use hiking trails for the same reason as humans — it’s easier than tramping through the underbrush. #Bears #Banff #Hiking
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