A woman running alone on a popular Anchorage trail fought off a charging brown bear with bear spray and was hospitalized, the second bear attack in the area in less than a month.
The runner was on the Wolverine Bowl trail at Prospect Heights, a well-known recreation area on the edge of Anchorage, when a brown bear came at her. She deployed bear spray, a pressurized capsaicin deterrent designed to stop aggressive wildlife at close range, and managed to drive the animal off long enough to get out. Emergency crews evacuated her from the hillside and took her to a hospital for treatment. Her name, her specific injuries, and her current condition have not been released.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists responded to the attack site, collected samples, and posted warning signs at the Prospect Heights trailhead. But when they arrived, Fox News reported, no bears were observed in the area.
The runner's encounter came less than a month after another woman was mauled by a brown bear in the Bear Valley residential neighborhood, which sits next to Chugach State Park in south Anchorage. That victim had been walking with a friend and three dogs on an unofficial, user-made trail carved into a steep, overgrown hillside when the bear emerged from dense alder brush.
Fish and Game described what happened in blunt terms.
"The bear came out of the dense alders, made brief contact with one of the hikers, and left the scene."
The July victim suffered injuries described as non-life-threatening and was expected to recover. Anchorage Police deployed a drone following that encounter on July 18, and firefighters evacuated a woman down the hillside.
Two maulings in the same city in roughly the same stretch of summer raise an obvious question: whether the same bear is responsible for both. Fish and Game has not said. The agency collected samples at the Wolverine Bowl site, but no public statement has connected the two incidents to a single animal.
Fish and Game pointed to a factor that Alaskans know well but visitors and casual hikers often underestimate: vegetation. By midsummer, the state's explosive plant growth can turn an open trail into a tunnel of leaves and branches. Sightlines shrink to a few yards. A 600-pound brown bear can be standing around the next bend and neither party knows it until they are face to face.
The department spelled it out in its public guidance:
"Thick, dense summer foliage can block sightlines, making surprise encounters more likely. Choose hiking routes with good visibility and away from known attractants, like salmon-bearing streams."
The July mauling happened on exactly that kind of ground, a steep, heavily overgrown hillside on an unofficial trail. The Wolverine Bowl trail at Prospect Heights is a more established route, but in August, Alaska's brush does not care about trail ratings.
The department also issued detailed guidance on surviving a surprise encounter, and its advice amounts to a discipline most people would struggle to maintain under pressure: stay calm, move slowly, and do not run.
"If you surprise a bear, especially one with cubs or on a food cache, it may react in a threatened or defensive manner. The bear may be agitated and may huff, stomp, make a popping sound with its teeth, salivate or lay its ears back against its head and charge."
If the bear is stationary, the department said, move away slowly while keeping your eyes on it. If it moves toward you, stop and hold your ground.
"Behaving calmly, moving slowly, and speaking in a low calm voice will help de-escalate the situation. If the bear continues to approach, use your deterrent when the bear is within range."
That is what the unnamed runner did. She stood her ground, used her deterrent, and walked away alive. The bear spray worked. Without it, a solo runner on a brushy trail in brown bear country has almost no margin for error.
Fish and Game posted warning signs at the Prospect Heights trailhead and urged hikers to stay off closed trails. The agency also asked anyone who sees a bear or other wild animal acting aggressively or unusually to report it immediately.
Several basic facts remain unclear. The department has not disclosed which specific trails are closed or identified the bear involved. The runner's identity and the severity of her injuries have not been made public. And the headline question, whether a single brown bear is responsible for two attacks in the same metro area in under a month, has no public answer yet.
What is clear is that a woman who carried bear spray and knew how to use it is alive because of it. In a state where brown bears and people share the same trails every summer, personal preparedness is not optional, it is the difference between a hospital stay and something far worse.
