Victims of Glacier bear mauling recovering

The two hikers who were mauled by a grizzly bear in Glacier National Park least week continue to recover, and park officials have started to reopen trails that were closed as a result of the attack.

A man and his teenage daughter were hiking Friday on the Grinnell Glacier Trail when they rounded a blind corner, encountering a grizzly bear mother with two cubs only a few feet away. The bear attacked and repeatedly bit both hikers, who ended up falling off a steep, rocky face next to the trail, sustaining further injuries.

Both hikers were found roughly 30 feet below the trail. So far, it is unclear whether the bear forced them off the trail or they took the fall as their only means to escape further injury.

The attack occured at around 9 a.m., and it took nearly all day to complete a helicopter rescue of both hikers, whose names have not been released by Glacier National Park.

A spokeswoman with Harborview Medical Center in Seattle said Wednesday afternoon that the father was in satisfactory condition and is being transferred out of the intensive care unit.

"He is doing well," spokeswoman Susan Hansen said. "He is conscious and talking. He underwent surgery yesterday and that went well."

His daughter is being treated at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

"She continues to improve," Kalispell Regional spokesman Jim Oliverson said. "Her condition is good. If I were to guess, I think she could be leaving as soon as this weekend."

Trails in the Many Glacier Valley that were closed after the incident have been reopened. The Grinnell Glacier Trail was reopened Wednesday afternoon, according to Melissa Wilson, a park public information officer.

The only trail that remains closed is a stretch of the Piegan Pass Trail.

Wilson said rangers have interviewed the daughter, but an investigation will not be complete until her father has been interviewed as well.

Because the investigation is still under way, rangers have made no decisions on the grizzly bear and its cubs.

"So far, it appears they may be a new family group to the Many Glacier area," Wilson said.

Past mauling incidents have prompted varying reactions from park officials, who are guided by a detailed bear management plan. In a 1999 incident involving a female grizzly bear with two cubs that injured three people on the Scalplock Lookout Trail, it was determined that the bear's defensive response in a surprise encounter was a natural reaction, and no action was taken against the bears.

But in a 1998 incident involving a female with two cubs that killed and ate a hiker in the Two Medicine Valley, it was determined that the bears were aggressive, with a history of showing no fear toward humans. All three bears were killed by rangers.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com