YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming – YouTuber and Yellowstone fan Stan Mills had a pretty scary close encounter with a grizzly bear while hiking off-trail in the National Park, sharing the experience to his account.
“This is a close encounter (20 feet) with a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park. I came face to face with this grizzly on top of a little mound. How did I handle the situation?“
THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF OFF-TRAIL HIKING. Doing so requires an immense amount of knowledge and experience, and most of us will never be able to do so safely. Please stay on trail, no matter where you’re hiking.
Yellowstone National Park technically doesn’t prohibit hiking off trail outside of thermal areas (you definitely have to stay on designated trails and boardwalks in thermal areas), but there are some caveats with that. First of all, hiking solo and silently anywhere in the park is unsafe. 91% of people injured by bears within Yellowstone since 1970 were either solo or with just one other.
Yellowstone National Park requires that guests stay at least 100 yards from both bears and wolves (25 yards for other animals). A big part of staying safe around wildlife is making sure the wildlife knows you’re coming, so you don’t experience a situation like Stan Mills’ 20 foot encounter with a grizzly. Shouting “hey bear” periodically will help in alerting animals to your presence. If these animals can hear you approaching, they will usually flee.
