'We heard a scream': Another hiker reportedly attacked by bear in Glacier National Park

May 29-LATEST May 29, 1:05 p.m. Glacier National Park spokesperson Autumn Sifuentes confirmed to SFGATE on Friday that "a surprise encounter involving a hiker and a bear occurred on the Grinnell Glacier Trail in Glacier National Park" on Thursday. The Grinnell Glacier Trail and the North Shore Josephine Lake Trail, which connect to each other, are currently closed, and no further information is being made available at this time.

May 28, 8:04 p.m. A bear attacked at least one hiker near Lake Josephine in Glacier National Park in Montana on Thursday, according to a nearby hiker who called for help.

Lake Josephine is located near the Many Glacier Hotel on the east side of the park. Many hikers pass by the lake, as it's on the way to the famous Grinnell Glacier.

The national park did not respond to SFGATE's requests for information, but according to a park alert, a section of the North Shore Trail along Lake Josephine was closed as of May 21 due to bear activity. The trail reopened on Wednesday.

Additionally, two hikers recorded a close encounter with two grizzly bears on the South Shore Trail of the lake, which the park has also issued bear alerts about, on Monday. The hikers deployed bear spray and were unharmed, but seemingly the encounter on Thursday left at least one hiker needing medical attention.

On Thursday afternoon, Devin Dufrene, his sister, and a group of three college students were walking along the north shore of Lake Josephine when "we heard a scream," Dufrene, 21, told SFGATE in a Facebook message. "Shortly after a person from the group in front of us was running back screaming, 'bear attack.'"

According to Dufrene, the trail where the incident occurred is windy with big blind spots.

Dufrene and his sister tried to calm the man shouting about a bear attack, to no avail. "He continued running and screaming," Dufrene said. He was able to connect to a satellite device and report the incident to emergency services about 1:30 p.m. before turning around and heading back toward the trailhead.

But then the group noticed a bear walking up the trail toward them. "Knowing there was an attack up trail and now a bear approaching from the opposite direction, we decided to ascend up the cliff side and wait for the bear to pass," Dufrene said.

After getting back on the trail, Dufrene ran into a group of rangers heading toward the site of the attack about 1:50 p.m. "The response time was beyond excellent," Dufrene said. The rangers told the group to return to the trailhead and make as much noise as possible. Dufrene noticed new signs saying all the trails past the Many Glacier Hotel were closed. Dufrene witnessed the rangers continuing farther up the trail, carrying an empty stretcher, he said.

This attack is the second in Glacier this month. Anthony Pollio, a 33-year-old hiker who went missing near the Mount Brown lookout earlier this month, was found dead with injuries that appeared consistent with a bear attack. "The sequence of events leading to the bear encounter remains under investigation; however, evidence suggests that this was a surprise encounter," a park news release from May 9 states.

The park hasn't released any new information on the attack, which was the first fatal attack in Glacier since 1998, when a sow grizzly and two cubs killed a 26-year-old park concession worker, Craig Dahl.

Bear experts say the recent bear attacks - Glacier's fatal attack earlier this month and an attack in Yellowstone National Park that seriously injured two brothers - are random. The vast majority of bear attacks typically occur when bears are surprised and react defensively to a human getting too close to its food or cubs.

Dufrene said the Lake Josephine incident didn't change how he felt about his first time exploring Glacier. He was glad everyone in his group was prepared, didn't freeze, and helped each other get safely back to the trailhead. "All in all, nature will do as nature does," he wrote.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 12:30 p.m., May 29, to correct the age of Anthony Pollio.

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This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 2:11 AM.