Hiker found dead after apparent bear attack in Glacier National Park

A hiker was found dead in Glacier National Park after what officials described as an apparent bear attack, a rare but serious reminder of the risks that come with heavy human use in one of the Park Service’s most visited summer landscapes.

Search and rescue crews discovered the body at about noon on Wednesday, May 6, roughly 2.5 miles up the Mt. Brown Trail and about 50 feet off the path in a densely wooded area with downed timber. Park officials said the injuries were consistent with those sustained in a bear encounter. The National Park Service is withholding the victim’s identity until 72 hours after next-of-kin notification.

Wildlife and law enforcement personnel were assessing the area for bear activity and any continuing public safety concerns, while the trail section where the incident occurred was closed temporarily. Numerous agencies joined the operation, including Flathead County Search and Rescue, North Valley Search and Rescue, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, Minuteman Aviation, Civil Air Patrol, the Montana Army National Guard, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, Montana Disaster and Emergency Services, the U.S. Geological Survey, ALERT, Border Patrol, Malmstrom Air Force Base, U.S. Air Force Rescue and NPS staff.

Glacier says it provides habitat for nearly one thousand bears, including black bears and grizzly bears, and park officials warn that size and color alone are not reliable ways to identify a bear species. The park has more than 700 miles of trails, a scale that helps drive both access and exposure as visitors move deeper into habitat that supports large carnivores.

The last human fatality caused by a bear in Glacier occurred in 1998 in the Two Medicine Valley. Park officials said that attack involved the Scenic Point Trail and a female bear with two yearlings, which were later killed by park officials. The park’s last reported human injury from a bear was in August 2025, when a 34-year-old woman was hurt near Lake Janet in the Goat Haunt area after a sow with two cubs charged her; her hiking partner used bear spray to drive the animal away.

For hikers, the immediate risk reduction steps remain clear: stay off closed trails, keep a wide distance from wildlife, carry bear spray where it is allowed, and treat brushy, high-visibility areas as active bear country. In a park where access and habitat overlap so closely, safety depends on limiting surprise encounters before they turn deadly.