‘Really, really frightening’: Grizzly encounter prompts bear warning in Kananaskis Country

A Calgary couple is glad to be unharmed after a close encounter with a grizzly, but the pair made it out with a message: always be prepared in nature.

What was supposed to be a quick hike to celebrate their anniversary turned into a close encounter with a grizzly bear for one Calgary couple.

A Saturday stroll for Howard Mah and Lori Arnason was quiet until the pair stopped to take photos and spotted the dangerous animal along the trail.

It happened on July 19 on the trail to Troll Falls.

“We had been out and seen black bears (before), but never a grizzly and never that close to us, so we just thought, ‘How do we handle this?’” said Arnason.

The pair started slowly walking back down the trail, and Mah started taking a video of the bear as it followed the two.

“It got really large, and it showed its claws, and I felt like it was going to attack us,” said Arnason.

“So that was really, really frightening.”

Mah admits the couple was not properly prepared—they thought it would be a trail full of people and hadn’t planned the hike beforehand—and did not have bear spray.

“It was so frightening when he made the lunges, and you’re just thinking, ‘What do I do? What do I do?’” said Mah.

“So I put up both of my hands, made myself as large as possible, and just roared as loud as I possibly could.”

That’s when the bear finally left the trail and the couple made it back down to their vehicle to warn other hikers and wildlife officials.

Alberta Parks has since issued a bear warning for the area around Troll Falls after a “grizzly bear bluff charge.”