A hiker was hospitalized after a brown bear mauling on a South Anchorage trail above the Bear Valley neighborhood on Saturday, after what wildlife officials said was most likely a surprise encounter at close range. The woman’s injuries were not life-threatening, and firefighters helped her off the trail and took her to the hospital.
The bear emerged from a dense stand of alder trees on a narrow, switchback trail uphill from Bear Valley, where the hiker was with another person and three dogs. One dog was later found unharmed by a different group of hikers and returned home, a detail that suggests the contact was brief even as officials said the bear made brief contact before moving on.
The timing matters because Alaska Department of Fish and Game said it has received multiple reports of brown bears in the Hillside neighborhood areas this summer, and it is now putting up signs and flagging at trailheads warning people about recent bear activity. Fish and Game also said it has not received reports of aggressive animals or bears behaving unusually in the Bear Valley area this summer, which makes the weekend attack stand out even more.
Anchorage police, fire departments and Alaska State Troopers responded at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday to the scene about a half-mile up a trail from Kenai Terrace Road and Brewsters Drive. A police drone later spotted a single brown bear on a nearby hillside and was used to monitor its activity, in the department’s words, to ensure that first responders and the injured hiker remained safe during the rescue.
Officials said high winds and inclement weather may have helped create the surprise. The conditions could have reduced what hikers heard and saw on the trail, since stronger wind can carry sound away from a person and lower visibility in an already wooded corridor. That said, officials also noted that the hikers may have been making noise, and the bear contact ended quickly enough that one of the dogs was recovered unharmed.
The unanswered piece is what became of the bear after the drone tracked it on the hillside. Police and wildlife officials have not said whether it was moved on, stayed nearby or was tied to a moose kill reported in the area. For hikers in Bear Valley, the immediate answer is simpler: the trail now carries new warning signs, and the next encounter may not be as brief.
