Keith Kerr was running in Kootenay National Park in B.C., not far from the Alberta boundary, when he suddenly came face-to-face with a mother grizzly and her cubs in an open meadow. “I was being cautious making lots of noise,” said Kerr, who was running the Rockwall Trail near Floe Lake. He added he was aware the area was active with a well-known female bear and her two cubs. But despite taking precautions, he says the moment everything changed came fast. “I had surveyed the meadow for mama bear and her cubs but didn’t see anything,” he said. Kerr thought that might be the right time to send a quick text to his wife. “I literally pulled my phone out of my pack.” That text, he admits, was never sent. “I got about 10 words into the text when I came upon a very small shrub and one of the cubs popped out,” Kerr recalled. “He saw me instantly and gave me the surprise look of a lifetime that was probably the same look I gave him.” Within seconds, the second cub appeared. “And it was at that time I heard the gnarliest sound I have ever heard in my life. A low gurgling growl.” Kerr says that’s when the mother bear emerged. “She comes around the corner not really on all fours, but not on her haunches either,” he said. “I knew grizzly bears were fast. I had no idea how fast they were.” At that moment, Kerr realized just how close he was. “I am within five or/to six feet of this grizzly bear. I don’t know if she’s 400 pounds or 500 pounds or what she is, but she’s big,” he said. “And she’s pretty angry at this point.” “I literally thought this was going to be it for me.” The encounter quickly escalated as the bear made repeated bluff charges. “She fake bluffs me here again. She only runs about 15 to 20 feet towards me and stops,” Kerr said. “I’m still backing up and then she comes right out and then she’s right in front of me.” Despite having bear spray ready, Kerr hesitated. “I considered spraying her, but I was downwind,” he said. “She’d already fake-bluffed me four times.” Instead, he began backing away down a slope. “I’m backing down the ravine while taking my pack off, trying to get my bear spray out,” he said. “I was scared.” At one point, he even tried to use his pack as a distraction. “I tossed my pack hoping she would just look at it, but she didn’t care about my pack,” Kerr said. “All she wanted was for me to back up.” The entire encounter lasted roughly 75 seconds. “I think I was just saying, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay,’” he said. “She was right there.” Kerr believes the situation changed when the cubs became separated from the mother. “All she wanted was to protect her babies,” he said. “You can’t blame her for that.” After the bears eventually moved off, Kerr says he met up with other hikers who had captured part of the incident on video. “They’re like, ‘Yeah, we got some of it on video,’” he said. “And all three bears just high-tailed it over a hill.” Kim Tichener, president of Bear Safety and More, says bear encounters often come down to surprise, distance and how people react in the first moments of contact. “The problem is that we’re in their environment,” she said, adding that people should make noise, avoid moving silently and travel in groups to reduce risk. She says bears will typically avoid humans if they have early warning, while surprise encounters are more likely to trigger defensive behaviour. Despite the harrowing encounter, Kerr says he plans to return to the trail. “I’ll be back out on that trail next month,” he said. “Rockwall is a great trail.” But he’s taking one lesson away with him above all else. “You have to have your head up,” Kerr said. “The only bad time all day was sending that text.” “It was just terrible timing,” he said. “And it just takes a split second.” Parks Canada had already issued a warning for the Floe Lake Trail and Numa Pass area, where a female grizzly and her cubs had been spotted behaving curiously — even investigating campground food lockers. The organization is reminding visitors to travel in groups, carry bear spray, make noise and stay alert for signs of wildlife.
