Overview

• The 29-year-old deployed bear spray but the animal made contact, causing significant but non-life-threatening wounds to his chest and left arm.
• National Park Service medics walked him out to the trailhead, transported him to the Lake Medical Clinic, and he was then flown to a hospital.
• The encounter occurred about 2.5 miles from the Pelican Valley Trailhead in the Pelican Valley Bear Management Area northeast of Mary Bay on Yellowstone Lake.
• Park staff have closed the Turbid Lake Trail and are sweeping the area to ensure no other hikers are present as the investigation continues.
• Yellowstone says no management action will be taken against the bear, and notes this is the park’s first bear-injury incident since May 2021.