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  3. Backpacker gives grizzly bear right-of-way on Highline Trail

Backpacker gives grizzly bear right-of-way on Highline Trail

An unidentified hiker from North Carolina, right, crouches under a rock as grizzly bear passes him on the steep and narrow Highline Trail in Glacier National Park in Montana on July 28, 2014. Philip Granrud, the photographer who observed the encounter, said it was the only part of the trail where the hiker could climb down to avoid the bear. (Philip Granrud / Associated Press)
An unidentified hiker from North Carolina, right, crouches under a rock as grizzly bear passes him on the steep and narrow Highline Trail in Glacier National Park in Montana on July 28, 2014. Philip Granrud, the photographer who observed the encounter, said it was the only part of the trail where the hiker could climb down to avoid the bear. (Philip Granrud / Associated Press)

HIKING -- This amazing photo of a hiker retreating to a precarious position on a steep, steep, slope to avoid a grizzly bear on Glacier National Park's Highline Trail was published in The Spokesman-Review on Aug. 2, but only in one edition.

I'm re-posting for those of you who may not have seen it.

Montana photographer Philip Granrud captured the image of a North Carolina man's close call with a grizzly bear while hiking along the trail, which has a dropoff on one side and a vertical cliff on the other.

Everything turned out fine for the hiker and the bear.

Here's a TV video interview with the photographer, including some of his other bear photos from years of cruising through Glacier Park

Here's the Missoulian story about the incident that presented the photo op above.

 

Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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