50 years later, grisly grizzly attack recalled

Joe Williams says he never once thought about dying.

Not when the grizzly bear ripped off his scalp. Not when the bear bit into his calves. Not when the bear clawed through his face.

Not once while he was fighting off a 250-pound female grizzly bear on Mount Altyn in Glacier National Park, 50 years ago last week, did Joe Williams think he was going to die.

"I didn't intend to die. I had no intention to die — it never entered my mind," the 70-year-old Williams said during a talk last Friday in Kalispell. It was the first time he's spoken about the event publicly.

But Williams' story really begins a few days before the June 18, 1959 attack. He was a young man of 20 in his home state of Ohio, when he and friend Ron Kunz decided to head to Alaska to work.

They packed everything they owned into a 1956 Ford and headed west. They eventually made their way to the border crossing, but were turned away because they didn't possess the necessary cash to cross into Canada.

Williams and Kunz stayed in Glacier and found out they could get jobs working in the Park concession.

"There's a number of places in this story where my life took an eradicable detour and that was one of them," recalled Williams.

The pair headed to Swiftcurrent Motor Inn where they would be staying in an employee dorm room. There Williams met Bob Winter and asked him to hike Mount Atlyn.

"Little did I know this brave, young man would save my life in less than one hour," said Williams.

IT WAS LATE when Williams and Winter set out on their hike. Williams estimates they left for the climb shortly before 7 p.m. It would be close to 11 p.m. and completely dark by the time Williams was carried out.

The pair had been hiking for nearly a mile on a tough trail when they sat down to rest and look at Swiftcurrent below. What they saw was a grizzly bear making its way up the mountain.

"I knew enough to recognize it was a grizzly," he said. "I wasn't afraid. I know that was strange, but I watched the bear quietly."

Eventually the bear made its way up the mountain. Williams sat there still.

"It walked up and sniffed me. It liked the back of my neck," he said. "Then it tore my jacket."

Williams got up. The bear had somehow gotten ahold of his hand.

Winter threw rocks at the bear. Shouted at it.

Williams was able to get loose of the bear and ran as fast as he could back down the hill.

The bear followed.

Then William ran off an outcropping and fell about 15 feet down and landed on his stomach. He got up and ran about 10 feet.

But the bear had followed and jumped on top of him.

During this time, Winter had been following. He picked up a boulder and beat the bear on the head, which knocked it off Williams.

"Bob realized he couldn't save me (at this point) and possibly the bear would kill him," said Williams. Winter told Williams he was going for help and began running down the mountain.

At this point the bear began chewing on Williams' head. Grabbed him from ear to ear.

"That sound of the bear chewing on my head is anything like you can't imagine," he said. "The pain wasn't the horror of it — it was the sound."

The bear had scalped him.

Williams began fighting back. Every time the bear would come at him he'd punch it in the snout.

The bear got smart. Blocked a punch with one paw. Used the other paw to hook him in the mouth.

The claw ran all the way under his eye and to the back of his scalp.

Williams was rolled onto his stomach. The bear biting. Biting into his back. Bit into his butt.

"She ripped loose a mouth full and sat down and ate it," he said.

When the bear returned he was ready. He kicked her with his boots, but she grabbed ahold of the boots and shook them. Eventually the bear figured out she couldn't get through his boots.

She bit at his face. Removed half of an ear.

"The bear was slowly and methodically eating me alive," he said.

Williams continued to fight back. Rolling onto his stomach. The bear would nudge him. He'd slam his body to the ground.

Winter returned with Ranger Don Dayton. By this time it was dark.

Dayton aimed his modified World War II .30-06 and fired. The first shot hit the mountain.

The next hit the bear in the shoulder.

The bear attempted to pick Williams up and shake him.

Dayton fired again. Hit the bear in the spine. The bear was dead.

Williams was carried off the mountain and placed in a Park truck. He was driven across the border to the hospital in Cardston, Alberta.

He had fought with the bear for at least 45 minutes, although he and Dayton feel it may have been longer. The struggle is one of the longest known human-bear encounters in which the human survived.

DOCTORS COUNTED 56 one-inch deep teeth marks on his back. Estimates were that the bear had chewed and consumed two to three pounds of flesh off his body.

Once at the hospital, Williams was taken into surgery but he wasn't expected to live.

"They told my parents if they got there fast they'd see me alive, but they'd not take me home alive, but in a box," he said.

Williams would undergo between 16 and 18 surgeries, spend five months in the hospital and take three years to fully recover.

He said last week he's never had one bad dream about the event and has been able to deal with it emotionally.

Williams and Dayton met in the Park last week to mark the anniversary of the event. It's only the second time Williams has visited the Park since the incident.

He has never returned to Mount Altyn and says he has no desire to do so.

Through the whole ordeal, Williams said resilience was the reason he survived. Also the reason he's survived colon cancer three times, five angioplasties and many more challenges.

"I'm told I'm extremely resilient. I've gotten better — I've had to," he said. "Most of it I learned — no question — from the bear."