The remains of a hiker reported missing in Montana’s Glacier National Park were found Wednesday, and a bear attack is suspected, the park said Thursday.
Search-and-rescue crews found the hiker’s body around noon, the park said in a statement. His identity was not released.
The park said that “his injuries are consistent with those sustained by a bear encounter.”
“Wildlife and law enforcement personnel are currently assessing the area for bear activity and any ongoing public safety concerns. The investigation is ongoing,” the park said.
The body was found 2½ miles up the Mount Brown Trail, “in a densely wooded area with downed timber” about 50 feet off the trail, the park said.
It’s the first deadly bear attack in Glacier National Park since 1998 and the first attack by a bear in the park since August, it said.
Around 1,000 bears live in Glacier National Park, including black bears and grizzlies, according to the park. An estimated 300 grizzly bears were living in the park in 2023, it said.
Glacier National Park did not name the victim and said it was waiting for 72 hours after his family is notified.
On Wednesday, it said search efforts were underway for a hiker who had been missing since Sunday.
That hiker “had communicated plans to hike toward the Mt. Brown Fire Lookout,” it said. The last known message was around 8:20 p.m. Sunday, and the park was notified he was missing on Monday, it said.
The discovery of the remains at Glacier National Park comes days after two hikers were seriously injured in a bear attack in Yellowstone National Park, which is mostly in Wyoming.
Those hikers, ages 15 and 28, were injured Monday and airlifted by helicopter.
In that attack, “park staff believe a female grizzly bear with two or three cubs-of-the-year (cubs in their first year of life) were involved in the encounter,” Yellowstone National Park said Thursday.
