“Your heart just stops actually, like I could hardly breathe,” Lori Arnason recalls.
Arnason and her husband were celebrating their wedding anniversary on Saturday on a popular hiking trail in Kananaskis Country when the pair from Calgary got quite the scare.
Arnason and Howard Mah expected the Troll Falls trail to be busy with hikers, it wasn’t, but their peaceful hike through nature turned frightening quickly.
Mah was getting his camera ready to take a photo of his wife, before spotting a grizzly bear just behind her.
“When I first saw it I called Lori back, and you know the bear came down, it hit the trail, and I was hoping it would just continue on,” he says. “But it stopped on the trail, looked at us, and started walking towards us.”
At one point, the bear lunged towards the pair, acting aggressive, even standing on its hind legs.
Mah and Arnason decided to make themselves look large by spreading their arms and roaring at the bear. Eventually, it took off.
The couple made sure to warn others about their run-in with the grizzly in the parking lot. They also reported the encounter to Alberta Parks.
Alberta Parks issued a bear warning for parts of Kananaskis Country last week. The warning has in place for areas near Barrier Lake, which is about 15 kilometres from Troll Falls.