David Wylie

Ran into a brown bear today in the Kootenays.

I was walking a trail at the base of Red Mountain in Rossland. I turned a corner and it was standing in the middle of the trail.

I stopped. Took a breath. Fought the urge to panic.

I just stood there standing as tall as I could and looked it in the eye. We stood there for a few long seconds and it turned toward the bush and walked back up the hill into the shrubs.

It looked at me, and I slowly started walking toward it.

I definitely picked up my pace as soon as I felt it was safe! There were a couple cyclists up ahead so I warned them.

My first thought was, “Oh crap, I probably should have read up on what to do in a situation like that.”

Thought to make noise, but to be honest, I didn’t really want to yell at a bear.