A Manitoba woman who was hit in the face by a bear while running at Riding Mountain National Park this week says the attack won’t put an end to her love of hiking through the park.
But Erin McKenzie says she is going to invest in a bear bell for future treks through the woods.
The 27-year-old was running with her dogs on a trail at Moon Lake in the park Monday afternoon — something she says she does every few days — when she says she suddenly found herself face to face with a large black bear after coming to the top of a steep hill along the path.
“I must have spooked it and it really scared me too, of course. I wasn’t expecting that — I had no idea it was there,” McKenzie told 680 CJOB Wednesday.
“Almost instantly it hit me in the face with its paw.”
McKenzie said the bear also took a swing at her back, leaving a large claw mark over her left shoulder, before standing up on its hind legs and ultimately backing away.
“It all happened in just a couple of seconds; I didn’t really have any time to react at all,” recalled McKenzie, who said the bear’s powerful strike nearly knocked her out.
“Right away I could see blood pouring all over my body and I was quite scared that I had a really big gash in my head somewhere.”
McKenzie reversed the camera on her phone so she could check out the wound, something she now says she regrets — because what she saw ended up scaring her even more.
In the middle of the bush and bleeding badly from her face, McKenzie was still nearly five kilometres from her car.
“The big cut that runs down from my eye to the bottom of my nose was just gushing blood,” she said.
“When you’re in that state, you’re kind of thinking, ‘am I going to bleed to death or is (the bear) going to come back? Am I going to pass out?’”
‘I’m lucky’
McKenzie decided to call her brother, and after he helped her calm down, she called her mom, who stayed on the phone with her for the next 40 minutes while she walked back to her car.
That’s where her boyfriend met her and drove her straight to the hospital.
“I’m lucky to have only sustained a cut on my face and my back, and the fact that I still have my eye is quite amazing because the claw mark is only about a centimetre away from my eye,” McKenzie said.
Riding Mountain National Park closed the trail following the attack Monday, and the trail remained closed as of Wednesday, according to the park’s website.
McKenzie said doctors decided not to stitch up the wound on her face over fears of infection.
“I’ll just have a really deadly scar now, which is fine with me. It tells a story, so that’s pretty cool,” she said Wednesday, just hours after returning to the park again for another run.
“I’ve been a hiker for over 10 years, and I guess you get a little bit complacent over the years and a little bit too comfortable out in the bush.
“This was a good wake-up call for me that I have to be more aware of my surroundings.”
— With files from Richard Cloutier
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