“I was so scared. We do go hiking a lot but I guess you don’t really realize what you’re capable of or how to handle things until you’re in the situation.

The Daily Voice reports a 25-year-old Monmouth County hiker has been dubbed the “Calm Queen” after a video of her slowly walking away from a black bear on a Sussex County hiking trail went full viral. Julia Tupy was sitting on a lookout along “Stairway to Heaven” in Vernon when the black bear came sauntering out of the woods last Wednesday. She remained super calm and thought to herself:

“Bears tend to get startled if you start running. Their instinct is to want to run after you.”

Instead of running, she chose to slowly, quietly and calmly move away from the animal while warning other approaching hikers on their way up. Now she is known as The Calm Queen and that’s a pretty cool nickname. Well done.

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