In a spine-chilling moment, a runner had a close encounter with a mother brown bear and her two cubs on a hiking trail in Sierra Madre, California.
Laura Gold, the runner, managed to record the harrowing experience on her phone as she faced the adult bear that unexpectedly charged towards her.
Gold’s video shows her trying to scare the bears away by yelling and stepping back, but the bears continue approaching her. Visibly frightened, Gold took deep breaths while retreating and can be heard reassuring herself with, “Alright, alright, we got this.”
On social media, Gold explained, “While I was trail running alone, I was about 5 inches from hitting the mama bear after turning a tight blind corner. To avoid hitting her, I stopped as fast as I could and almost slid down the mountain. I had already seen the cubs, so I knew I wasn’t safe.”
Gold also whistled and stepped back until the bears were no longer visible in the video. However, the bears lingered on the trail until Gold encountered a male hiker who assisted her.
She described how the trail split behind the bears, with both paths descending the mountain. In the video, Gold’s trembling voice can be heard saying, “There… there are bears.” The hiker responded, “I saw them.”
Gold wrote, “I used every trick in the book (except bear spray), and nothing worked. Momma bear continued moving towards me until another hiker came behind me and helped scare them away.”
Teaming up with the hiker, they guided the bears to take one trail while they took the other. The video has since gone viral, eliciting a strong response from social media users.
Many expressed shock at the terrifying encounter, while some criticized Gold’s handling of the situation, noting that she followed the bears for a short distance after spotting them, as shown in another video.
In that second video, Gold can be heard saying, “That f**king scared me. Oh my goodness,” yet she continued approaching the bears with her camera even after the mother bear turned away.
One user commented, “I’m no bear expert, but I haven’t read anywhere where running towards them, especially a momma with cubs, has saved anyone’s life.” Another added, “As soon as you see cubs, you better distance yourself from that mom.”
The video also shows the male hiker approaching the bears and stopping just a few feet away. Gold hesitantly asked him, “So you just go toward them?” as they continued to get closer to the bears.
A user remarked, “Don’t follow a bear with her cubs; lucky she didn’t take that as a sign of aggression. It would have been a crazy live leak video, though.” Another expressed relief, “Y’all are so lucky that momma bear didn’t destroy you. Glad y’all are okay and the bears, too.”
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