Couple details Glacier Park bear mauling

An exclusive interview

Newlyweds were first to discover, treat, bear victims

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

As Jim and Kathy Knapp hiked up the Grinnell Glacier Trail last Thursday, the honeymooners thought they heard the cry of a distant bird.

Or perhaps a coyote or other creature.

It sounded like a screech at first. As they made their way up the trail the sound came clearer. More distinct.

More true.

Bone chilling.

It was the wail of a girl calling for help.

"Help me, help me," the voice called over and over again.

Kathy and Jim went running up the trail. They could hear the voice, but couldn't see the person.

Kathy came within conversation distance of the woman, but still couldn't see her.

See, as the Grinnell Glacier Trail switchbacks up the face of Grinnell Peak toward the Glacier basin, it traverses a set of cliffs wet with hanging gardens and waterfalls. In some places it drops nearly straight off, creating hidden ledges and sheer cliffs. On nearly any other day in Glacier it's a beautiful hike.

But this day was shaping up to be a nightmare.

Kathy called the voice again, the voice she couldn't even see. They talked for a while and determined the woman was hurt and she was below the trail, down a cliff face. Jim decided to hike down the trail and get help, because Kathy had First Aid training. Kathy would then try to get to the woman.

Jim left.

Kathy asked how the woman how she got hurt. Did she fall?

Then the woman became upset at the questions, panicked.

"No, no. We were attacked by bear," the woman yelled. "It wouldn't leave us alone."

Then Kathy saw something brown moving up above her.

She ran for Jim. She didn't have bear spray and she was afraid the bear might come after her. She feared for her life.

When she met up with him, Jim decided to go back up and help the woman. Kathy ran down for help. At least Jim had bear spray, should the bear return.

Jim got above the spot where the woman lay and dropped off the trail and went down through the rocks and vegetation which was slick with rain from the night before.

About 30 feet below the trail, in a hidden nook, was the young woman. College-aged. Badly hurt. It was about 9:30 a.m. A half hour after the attack.

"A bear forced us off the trail. It wouldn't leave us alone," the woman told him again.

The young woman had bear bites in her neck and shoulder and a cut in the back of her head from the fall.

But the worst cut was her face, where the bear had opened up a gash from the corner of her lip across her jaw line. A portion of her lip hung loose.

The girl was freezing and Jim gave her his jacket and some water.

The young woman and her father were hiking the trail when they ran into the grizzly sow with cubs face first as they rounded one of the tight switchbacks.

There was no where to go but down, Jim learned. The bear bit them repeatedly. And then they tumbled down the cliffs.

Kathy ran for help. Ran like she said she had never run before. Down the trail, screaming at the top of her lungs. Running with dress shoes on because her hiking shoes were soaked from hiking in the rain the day before. She remembers none of it. The Michigan couple were on their honeymoon. They had come to Glacier many times before. Hiked a bunch of trails. Had never run into a bear. Shoot, they had never even brought bear spray. The can Jim had they bought the day before this hike.

Kathy was scared. Very scared.

Jim found out from the girl that her father, too, was hurt. She pointed in the general direction she thought he was and Jim traversed the slippery wet slope about 40 feet away.

Her Dad was in worse shape. He, too, had been bitten repeatedly.

The names of the victims have not been released by Park officials and the Knapps declined to reveal them.

When Jim got to him the man had his sweatshirt pulled up over his head. It wasn't until later that Jim realized why. The man was holding his scalp on - pressing down with the sweatshirt to keep it from bleeding any worse. The bear had bitten his head.

The man also had puncture wounds in his thigh that were bleeding. Jim took off his T-shirt and wrapped the wounds as best as he could.

Blood was everywhere. A trail of it was on the rocks and grass from where the man had tumbled. The man was a physical therapist from San Diego. He had already diagnosed himself with another injury Jim couldn't see.

"My neck is broken," he told him.

By now Kathy had run into help. The first group she ran into were Asian and didn't speak English as luck would have it. She then ran into Heidi Reindl of Columbia Falls and her friend Carrie and well as two young men, Wes and Jack Minton of Tampa, Fla.

The four of them went up to help Jim. They stripped off clothes to keep the victims warm and to use as makeshift bandages.

Meanwhile, Kathy continued to run down the trail until she ran into a ranger-naturalist group led by Rick Mulligan.

Mulligan then radioed for help as the group, too, made it up to the scene.

The bears were last seen that day down toward Grinnell Lake.

Park rangers began to respond as well, three were transported by Minuteman helicopter from West Glacier and four rangers from Many Glacier responded as well.

Help began to pour in but it still took hours to get the two off the mountain. The mauling likely occurred about 9 a.m. Jim and Kathy found the two about a half hour later. The man was airlifted off via ALERT helicopter in a short haul operation at about 2:30 p.m.

The woman about a half hour later.

A short haul is where the victim is put in a backboard, attached to a cable and then lifted to a spot where they can be safely loaded.

The man was initially taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, but then transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

His daughter is being treated in Kalispell Regional Medical Center for her wounds. Both are recovering from their injuries, though the man is still in the intensive care unit, but is able to talk.

This is the first bear mauling in Glacier this year, though a man was treed by a grizzly earlier this year at Grinnell Lake.

The Knapps would like the victims to contact them when they are recovered.

They have a personal effect they would like to give back. It's a badly dented can of bear spray covered in blood.

The trigger is broken. But the can is full. The man never had time to set it off.

If he had, a beautiful day in August may have ended much differently.