Glacier Park's Night of the Grizzlies

CRICKETS CHIRPING

>>

Man

FROM A LONG TIME AGO. >>

Woman

THE GRIZZLY. LOOK AT HIM, THE WAY HE STANDS, HE IS OUR BROTHER, HALF HUMAN. >>

Man

BUT HE IS ALSO DANGEROUS, TO BE FEARED AND RESPECTED. >>

Woman

SHH, HE CAN HEAR EVERYTHING. >> YES, HE KNOWS, EVEN WHAT YOU ARE THINKING. >>

Man

HE CAN CHANGE INTO ANYTHING. >>

All

AND HE IS US. >>

Man

URSA MAJOR WAS A NYMPH WHO ZEUS CHANGED INTO A BEAR AND HURLED INTO THE NIGHT SKY AS A CONSTELLATION. >>

Narrator

STORIES, BEAR STORIES, BEAR FABLES, RITUALS AND CEREMONIES, MYTHS AND LEGENDS, BEAR OFFERINGS AND WORSHIP, AND FOREVER -- BEAR WARNINGS. FOR MILLENNIA AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, BEAR STORIES HAVE EVOLVED. THEY WERE PAINTED IN CAVES AND ON TEEPEES, PASSED THROUGH GENERATIONS, WHISPERED AT NIGHT, WRITTEN ON PAPER, AND TOLD BESIDE CAMPFIRES FOR AS LONG AS MAN HAS TOLD STORIES. >> BEAR STORIES ARE SO POPULAR, ARE SO COMPELLING. WHY WE GO OVER AND OVER THE SAME THEME GENERATION AFTER GENERATION OF DANGEROUS BEAR STORIES IN PARTICULAR. THE INTELLECTUAL ANSWER WOULD BE THEY ARE CO-DOMINANT WITH US. THEY ARE BIG ENOUGH TO REQUIRE OUR RESPECT. THEY ARE BIG ENOUGH TO HUMBLE US AND DANGEROUS ENOUGH. THE QUESTION IN EVERY BEAR STORY IS -- IS THIS A STORY ABOUT US OR IS IT A STORY ABOUT BEARS? AND I'M NOT SAYING IT SHOULD BE ONE OR THE OTHER, BUT WHAT ARE WE LEARNING ABOUT BEARS? "THE NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLIES" WAS THE NIGHT THAT WE LEARNED THE HARD WAY HOW LITTLE WE KNEW ABOUT GRIZZLIES. >> THIS PROGRAM IS MADE POSSIBLE WITH PRODUCTION SUPPORT FROM THE GREATER MONTANA FOUNDATION, ENCOURAGING COMMUNICATION ON ISSUES, TRENDS, AND VALUES OF IMPORTANCE TO MONTANANS; THE MONTANA CULTURAL TRUST; AND THE FRIENDS OF MONTANA PBS. >> GLACIER NATIONAL PARK IS A TIMELESS, UNTAMED WORLD, PEACEFUL AND DANGEROUS, 95% OF IT STILL TERMED "WILDERNESS" AND REVERENTLY TREASURED AS THE CROWN OF THE CONTINENT. IT IS A MILLION ACRES OF THE NATURAL WORLD AS IT WAS AND IS. >>

Man

GLACIER PARK IS HEAVEN ON EARTH, AND FOR A BIOLOGIST, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU CAN GO BEYOND HEAVEN ON EARTH, BUT IT'S A PLACE THAT'S THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE. IT FEELS RIGHT. IT'S FULL OF ALL OF THE THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN THERE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, DOING THE THINGS THEY DO. >>

Narrator

GLACIER IS A COMPLEX, RUGGEDLY JEWELED WORLD OF SOARING ICE-CAPPED MOUNTAINS THAT EXPLODE OUT OF THE GREAT PLAINS, A PANORAMIC WORLD OF ALMOST INFINITE VARIETY, WITH EVERYTHING FROM RARE BILLION-YEAR-OLD MICROBIAL FOSSIL COLONIES TO THE LARGEST AND GREATEST PREDATOR, THE GREATEST OMNIVORE ON THE CONTINENT. >> LET US PRAY. GOD, OUR FATHER, WE COME TODAY TO ASK YOUR BLESSINGS UPON THIS BEAUTIFUL LAND YOU'VE CREATED FOR ALL OF US, AND WE ASK A BLESSING IN MEMORY OF JULIE HELGESON, WHO WAS HERE THAT NIGHT THAT WE WERE HERE 40 YEARS AGO. FOR BLESSINGS FOR HER IN THE HEAVENS ABOVE... >> FATHER TOM CONNOLLY FIRST CAME HERE ON A HOT SUMMER DAY IN 1967 WITH HIS FRIEND STEVE PIERRE, A KALISPELL INDIAN FROM THE SPOKANE RESERVATION. THAT DAY THEY SET OFF ON A HIKE ALONG THE BREATHTAKING SPINE OF THE PARK AND HOURS LATER REACHED A REMOTE MOUNTAIN CHALET JUST BELOW THIS SLOPE, WHERE THEY WOULD BECOME INVOLVED IN AN EVENT THAT HAD NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE IN GLACIER, A NIGHT OF TRAGEDY THAT, AT THE TIME, SOME SAID HAD A TRILLION-TO-ONE CHANCE OF EVER HAPPENING. >> WE ASK YOUR BLESSINGS... >> THE PRIEST IS OLD NOW. HE HAS SPENT HIS LIFE WORKING ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS WHERE HE HAS SEEN A SEEMINGLY ENDLESS STREAM OF PAIN, SUFFERING, AND DEATH. BUT THAT LONG-AGO NIGHT STILL HAUNTS HIM. >> TO SHARE THIS LAND WITH US, TO SHOW US HOW TO HONOR AND RESPECT IT. AND SO WE COME ONCE AGAIN... >> ON AND OFF FOR DECADES, FATHER CONNOLLY RETURNS TO THIS PARTICULAR SITE TO PRAY FOR WILDERNESS AND WILIFE AND WHAT HBELIEVES IS THE MAGNIFICENT SPECTACLE OF GOD'S HANDIWORK. BUT THE PRIMARY REASON, THE PERSONAL REASON, THAT HE RETURNS HERE IS FOR SOMETHING ELSE. HE RETURNS TO REMEMBER AND CELEBRATE A MASS. >> THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. >> IT IS A MASS FOR TWO YOUNG WOMEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES ON THAT DISTANT AUGUST NIGHT. IT WAS A NIGHT OF BEARS AND HUMANS, A NIGHT WHEN JUST PLAIN DEVASTATING PERFECT-STORM CHANCE INTERSECTED WITH YOUNG LIVES.

THUNDER CRASHING

Narrator

>> ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 1967, A MASSI DRY THUNDERSTORM ROLLED OVER NORTHWESTERN MONTANA, ERUPTING WITH 100 LIGHTNING STRIKES THAT, IN THE DAYS TO COME, WOULD ESSENTIALLY SET GLACIER NATIONAL PARK ON FIRE. >>

Man

IT WAS EXTREMELY DRY, NOT JUST IN GLACIER, BUT THROUGHOUT THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, AND THE NIGHT PRIOR TO THE INCIDENT AT GRANITE PARK CHALET, THERE WAS A SPECTACULAR LIGHTNING DISPLAY. SO WE KNEW THERE WAS GOING TO BE A PROBLEM THE NEXT DAY. >>

Narrator

THEY EXPECTED FIRES. WHAT THEY DIDN'T EXPECT THAT WEEKEND WAS THAT GRIZZLY BEARS WOULD DO SOMETHING THEY HAVE NEVER DONE SINCE THE OPENING OF THE PARK IN 1910. >> IT WAS ABSOLUTELY A SHOCK, BECAUSE IT WAS THE FIRST TIME WITHIN ANYONE'S MEMORY THAT ANYONE HAD BEEN KILLED IN THE PARK. >> ALL THE BEARS THAT WE SAW PRIOR TO AUGUST 12th HAD RUN, BUT OF COURSE ON AUGUST 12th, THEY DID ANYTHING BUT RUN. >> UNTIL THAT NIGHT, IN SOME WAYS, BEARS HAD BEEN RUNNING FOR CENTURIES -- EVER SINCE WHITE MEN FIRST SET FOOT ON THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT. HISTORICALLY, POSSIBLY MORE THAN 100,000 GRIZZLIES HAD RANGED ACROSS MUCH OF THE CANADIAN AND AMERICAN WEST, FROM ALASKA TO THE MISSISSIPPI, AND SOUTH EVEN INTO MEXICO. BUT BEGINNING WITH THE EXPEDITION OF LEWIS AND CLARK AND THE AMERICAN EXPANSION WESTWARD, BEARS IN THE LOWER 48 UNITED STATES HAD BEEN DRIVEN BACK INTO A HOME HABITAT THAT BY 1967 HAD VIRTUALLY EVAPORATED. BY THEN, A DWINDLING GRIZZLY POPULATION HAD CONCENTRATED AND HOLED UP AROUND A FEW ISLAND ECOSYSTEMS IN THE NORTHERN ROCKIES. AS GRIZZLIES DISAPPEARED, ESPECIALLY SINCE WORLD WAR II, AN EXPLOSION HAD BEGUN -- AN EXPLOSION OF TOURISM IN THE GREAT AMERICAN NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM. AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MORE AND MORE TOURISTS WANTED TO SEE AS THEY ENTERED THE STILL MOSTLY WILD WORLD OF GLACIER AND YELLOWSTONE WERE BEARS. >> GRIZZLY BEARS ARE A PART OF OUR HERITAGE, THEY ARE A SYMBOL OF THE WILDNESS THAT'S IN GLACIER. IT'S A SYMBOL OF THE VANISHING WILDNESS THAT USED TO BE THROUGHOUT THE WEST. >> BUT IN THE 1950s AND '60s, THE WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE WITH BEARS HAD BEEN DIMINISHED TO MEAN FEEDING BEARS OUT OF CARS, BEARS APPEARING IN FRONT OF SPOTLIGHTS AND BLEACHERS IN YELLOWSTONE, AND IN BOTH PARKS, BEARS SCAVENGING FOR FOOD IN GARBAGE DUMPS. >>

Chadwick

OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS BEARS, POST WORLD WAR II, IS -- OR WAS, MAYBE STILL IS, BIPOLAR. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY SCHIZOPHRENIC. ON THE ONE HAND, YOU HAD AN INDUSTRY OF TROPHY HUNTING, AND ON THE OTHER HAND YOU HAD PEOPLE PUTTING THEIR KIDS ON THE BACK OF BEARS TO TAKE PICTURES IN "JELLYSTONE NATIONAL PARK." AND YOU COULD GET AWAY WITH IT. >>

Children

SMOKEY THE BEAR >>

Narrator

FROM GOLDILOCKS' THREE FRIENDS TO TEDDY BEARS NAMED AFTER THE PRESIDENT, TO WINNIE THE POOH, YOGI AND BOO-BOO, PAT-A-CAKE BEAR, CORDUROY BEAR, AND SMOKEY HIMSELF, BY THE 20th CENTURY AS BEARS, PARTICULARLY GRIZZLIES, NOT SO GRADUALLY DISAPPEARED, THEY WERE REDRAWN INTO CARTOONS. IT WAS ALMOST AS IF PEOPLE HAD FORGOTTEN WHAT BEARS AND OTHER WILDLIFE WERE, WHAT THEY ALWAYS HAD BEEN FOR HUMAN BEINGS, WHY THEY HAD BEEN FEARED, REVERED, AND MYTHOLOGIZED. >>

Chadwick

BEARS AND HUMANS COEVOLVED, OR ROSE FROM THAT SAME ENVIRONMENT. BIG WILD ANIMALS THAT CAN EAT US HAVE HELPED MAKE US WHO WE ARE, WHAT WE ARE. OUR GLANDS, OUR MUSCLES, OUR WAY OF THINKING, OUR SOCIAL ORGANIZATION, ALL THESE THINGS REFLECT, AS FAR AS WE KNOW, FOUR MILLION YEARS PLUS OF EVOLUTION IN WILDNESS. >>

Narrator

AT GLACIER, FOR DECADES, OUTFITTERS WITH HORSES AND MULES HAD CARRIED A LIMITED NUMBER OF WELL-TO-DO VISITORS TO SEE WILDERNESS AND BEARS AT A SCATTERING OF EIGHT ALPINE-STYLE CHALETS ACROSS SOME OF THE PARK'S MOST INACCESSIBLE INTERIOR, BUT BY THE 1960s, THINGS HAD CHANGED. PARK VISITORS NO LONGER NEEDED TO BE EITHER WELL-HEELED OR HAND-HELD BY WRALERS TO EXPLORE MORE OF THE PARK. THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXTENSIVE 700-MILE TRAIL SYSTEM, LIGHT-WEIGHT CAMPING GEAR, AND THE INCREASING POPULAR APPEAL OF BACKPACKING ALLOWED PEOPLE -- AND MORE OF THEM -- TO VENTURE FARTHER AND DEEPER INTO ANOTHER WORLD. BY THE MID-1960s, MORE THAN HALF THE AMERICAN POPULATION WAS UNDER 25 AND THE POPULATION ON MANY LEVELS WAS MORE AND MORE IN TURMOIL. AMERICA WAS ENGULFED IN AN INCREASINGLY UNPOPULAR WAR ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD, IN RACE RIOTS THAT BURNED AND RAZED INNER-CITY AMERICAN STREETS, AND POLARIZED BY A RADICALLY CHANGING CULTURAL LANDSCAPE. LOTS OF THINGS AND PEOPLE CHANGED. LOTS DIDN'T. WHILE 100,000 OF THEIR PEERS PUT FLOWERS IN THEIR HAIR AND DESCENDED ON CITIES LIKE SAN FRANCISCO FOR THE SUMMER OF LOVE, OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE HEADED OTHER PLACES. THE COLLEGE-AGED STUDENTS WHO STAFFED SUMMER JOBS AT NATIONAL PARKS IN 1967 AND SIGNED CONTRACTS THAT PROHIBITED THEM FROM "BEATLE-TYPE" HAIRCUTS CAME FOR A DIFFERENT KIND OF SUMMER THAN THE KIDS ORBITING THE STREETS AROUND SAN FRANCISCO'S GOLDEN GATE PARK. THE NATIONAL PARK KIDS TOO CAME FOR CAMARADERIE, BUT THEY ALSO CAME FOR WORK. AND THEY ESPECIALLY CAME TO BE IN A PLACE VERY,ERY DIFFERENT THAN HOME. >>

Man

SOMEHOW I FOUND OUT ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF WORKING OUT IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK FOR THE SUMMER. IT WAS BETWEEN MY FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORE YEARS OF COLLEGE, AND GOING OUT WEST SEEMED LIKE, "WOW, THIS IS GOING TO BE COOL, THIS IS MOUNTAINS, THIS IS THE ROCKIES." YOU KNOW, IT WAS GOING TO BE PRETTY NEAT. AND SO I WAS PRETTY EXCITED ABOUT GOING OUT THERE, IT WAS A GOOD TIME. I MEAN, YOU WORKED, AND THEN WHEN YOU DIDN'T WORK, YOU PLAYED. YOU KNOW, THAT'S WHAT WE DID. >>

Narrator

SO DID ALMOST A MILLION OTHER PEOPLE THAT SUMMER IN GLACIER. >>

Chorus

ESCAPE TO MONTANA MONTANA, A PLACE TO BE FREE >>

Narrator

LIKE MANY OF THE OTHER PARKS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES, THERE WAS A SENSE OF FEAR, ONE THAT HAD BEEN EXPRESSED OFTEN BEFORE, THAT PERHAPS PEOPLE WERE LOVING THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM TO DEATH. >> IF YOU NEED A PLACE TO STAY, YOU CAN FIND A WARM CHALET >> ESPECIALLY BY AUGUST, ONCE THE FIRES STARTED, THE PARK'S RANGERS AND MANAGEMENT WERE IN MANY WAYS OVERWHELMED. >> IN GLACIER PARK THE DREAM IS NOT JUST A DREAM >> IN HIS CLASSIC BOOK, "WILDERNESS AND THE AMERICAN MIND," RODERICK NASH WROTE THAT WHEN THE FIRST WHITE PEOPLE SETTLED IN NORTH AMERICA, THEY ARRIVED ARMED WITH CENTURIES OF EUROPEAN TRADITION, MUCH OF IT INFUSED WITH THE BIBLICAL OLD TESTAMENT AND STEEPED WITH MEDIEVAL AND DARK AGES' IMAGERY, WHERE THE LANDSCAPE THEY CONFRONTED WAS UNGODLY LAND, WILDERNESS, A MYTHIC NEW-WORLD FOREST -- DARK, MYSTERIOUS, AND FRAUGHT WITH EVIL. >>

Shea

I THINK HUMANS, MAYBE, DEEP DOWN, NEED TO THINK THAT THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WOODS THAT CAN ACTUALLY HARM YOU AND MAYBE EVEN KILL YOU. AND THAT'S -- WOULD HOLD TRUE, CERTAINLY WITH WOLVES AND BEARS, AND IT GOES WAY BACK, I THINK. WHETHER IT'S TRUE OR NOT, IT'S SOMETHING THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE FEEL, AND IT MIGHT EVEN FEEL LIKE THEY HAVE TO FEEL. >>

Narrator

HUMANS ALSO SEE, OR NEED TO SEE, SOMETHING ELSE IN NATURE, A MORE ROMANTIC VIEW OF THE NATURAL WORLD, ONE THAT INCLUDED BEAUTY AND PERHAPS DIVINITY. AND WITH THAT VIEW CAME A SENSE OF PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION. DESPITE ITS ORIGINS IN THE PROMOTION OF TOURISM IN THE WEST, THE AMERICAN NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM WAS IN SOME WAYS SIMPLY A WAY TO SAVE THINGS. PARKS SUCH AS YELLOWSTONE AND GLACIER OFFERED A LAST-CHANCE ATTEMPT TO TRY AND FOREVER KEEP AT LEAST SOME PLACES, SOME THINGS, SOME BEINGS, AS THEY ALWAYS WERE. >>

Man

MOST PEOPLE HAVE NEVER HAD THE CHANCE TO SEE A GRIZZLY BEAR UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL OR HAVE SEEN IT AT ALL. SO THERE'S THIS -- IT HAS THIS MYSTERY TO IT AND IT HAS THIS BEAUTY TO IT. I MEAN, WHEN YOU SEE A GRIZZLY BEAR IN THE WILD, IT'S A PHENOMENAL KIND OF THING, AND ESPECIALLY A BIG ONE. >>

Chadwick

A GRIZZLY BEAR IS THE ANIMAL THAT IS, I THINK IN MANY WAYS, MOST LIKE US ON THIS CONTINENT. IT'S HUGE, BY OUR STANDARDS, IT'S DANGEROUS, BY OUR STANDARDS. THEY CAN WEIGH UP TO 1,500 POUNDS, IF YOU ARE GOING TO EXTEND THE TERM "GRIZZLY" TO THE KODIAK. AND IT'S THE MOST FORMIDABLE PREDATOR ON THE CONTINENT. >>

Narrator

URSUS ARCTOS HORRIBILIS, GRIZZLY BEARS ARE PURE BLOOD-PUMPING OUTSIZED POWER MACHINES. WITH A RANGE POTENTIAL, DEPENDING ON TERRAIN, FROM 2 MILES TO 2,000 MILES AND A LIFE SPAN THAT CAN EXTEND INTO THE 20s AND SOMETIMES 30s. IN YELLOWSTONE AND GLACIER, THEY CAN BE UP TO EIGHT FEET LONG, WEIGH BETWEEN 200 AND 750 POUNDS, WITH MASSIVE JAW MUSCLES, TWO-INCH CANINE TEETH AND CRUNCHING MOLARS, ONE OF THE SHARPEST SENSES OF SMELL IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, AND FOUR-INCH EARTH-MOVING CLAWS. THEY CAN QUICKLY SPRINT UP TO 35 MILES PER HOUR, SWIM ALMOST INDEFINITELY, AND KNOCK AN ELK TO THE GROUND WITH A SWAT. JUST AS IMPRESSIVE IS THEIR INTELLIGENCE AND ABILITY TO LEARN. >> IT'S JUST HARD TO DEFINE REALLY HOW MAJESTIC THEY REALLY CAN BE, AND I THINK PEOPLE ARE JUST INTRIGUED BY THAT. THE GRIZZLY BEAR, THAT'S LIKE THIS OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE, IT'S JUST THIS, IT'S JUST THIS WONDERFUL THING WHEN PEOPLE DO GET TO SEE ONE THAT THEY NEVER FORGET. >> ALTHOUGH USUALLY BROWN, THE HUMP-SHOULDERED GRIZZLY'S COLOR CAN ALSO VARY FROM MAHOGANY TO BLOND. INTERSPERSED WITH FROSTY, SILVERY, OR GRAYISH GUARD HAIRS CALLED, IN OLD FRENCH, GRISEL -- THE REASON WHY WE CALL A GRIZZLY A GRIZZLY. GRIZZLIES CAN STAND UPRIGHT AND HAVE PLANTIGRADE FEET THAT ARE SURPRISINGLY SIMILAR TO HUMANS'. AT TIMES THEY EERILY LOOK AND ACT LIKE US. IT IS NOT DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE HOW THEIR HISTORY AND FATE HAVE ALMOST FATEFULLY BEEN INTERWOVEN WITH OURS. >> WHAT A GRIZZLY BEAR IS IS SOMETHING WE REDEFINE ALMOST EVERY GENERATION. THE DEFINITION CHANGES ALL THE TIME -- IT GOES BETWEEN THE ROMANTIC VIEW, THE MONSTER, THE NIGHT-ROAMING TERROR, THE CUDDLY WALKING-ON-TWO-LEGS ADORABLE CUBS GRIZZLY, AND THEY ARE LEARNING MACHINES. THAT'S THE POINT OF BEING A BIG, DOMINANT CARNIVORE. "WHAT IS A GRIZZLY?" IS SORT OF AS IF YOU ASKED ME, "WHAT IS A HUMAN?" YOU KNOW, "ARE THEY ANGELS OR DEMONS?" "ARE THEY LEFT OR RIGHT?" "ARE THEY CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL?" YES, ALL OF THE ABOVE. >> MOST BEAR EXPERTS HAVE OBSERVED THAT GRIZZLIES ARE KEENLY INTELLIGENT, WARY, AND GENERALLY TRY TO AVOID HUMANS, WITH EXCEPTIONS. A SOW PROTECTING HER CUBS IS A VERY, VERY DANGEROUS BEAST. AND A BEAR OF EITHER SEX WHO IS KNOWLEDGEABLE AND HABITUATED, USED TO BEING AROUND HUMANS, PARTICULARLY AROUND HUMANS WITH FOOD, IS OFTEN FEARLESS AND UNPREDICTABLE.

BIRD CALLING

Narrator

IN 1967, TWO OF THE MOST LIKELY AREAS IN GLACIER TO ENCOUNTER GRIZZLY BEARS WERE TROUT LAKE AND GRANITE PARK CHALET. AND THE GRIZZLIES THAT TRAFFICKED BOTH PLACES HAD MOST DEFINITELY LEARNED THINGS. >> THAT SUMMER WAS PROBABLY ONE OF MICHELE'S GREATEST EXPERIENCES OF HER YOUNG LIFE. >> ACCORDING TO PARK REGULATIONS, EMPLOYEES UNDER THE AGE OF 21 HAD TO PHONE HOME FOR PERMISSION TO CAMP OR LEAVE THE PARK OVERNIGHT. 19-YEAR-OLD MICHELE KOONS, WHO WORKED IN THE GIFT SHOP AT LAKE McDONALD LODGE, CALLED HER SAN DIEGO HOME TO ASK HER DAD'S PERMISSION TO HIKE WITH HER FOUR FRIENDS TO CAMP AT TROUT LAKE. IT PROBABLY WOULDN'T BE AN EXAGGERATION TO SAY THAT MICHELE WAS LIKED BY EVERYONE SHE MET AT GLACIER, AS SHE HAD BEEN AT CAL WESTERN UNIVERSITY, AND IN HIGH SCHOOL. >>

Shirley

SHE WAS POPULAR. >>

Harry

MICHELE WAS VOTED "MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED." AND I THINK IT'S BECAUSE MICHELE WAS ALWAYS THINKING OF OTHER PEOPLE, AND WHATEVER WORK SHE DID, SHE DID WELL. >>

Man

SHE CLEARLY WAS SOMEBODY WHO WAS GOING PLACES, AND EVERYBODY RECOGNIZED THAT AND JUST WANTED TO BE AROUND HER. SHE WAS ONE OF THOSE KIND OF PEOPLE THAT OBVIOUSLY WAS JUST FUN TO BE AROUND. >>

Narrator

ROY DUCAT AND JULIE HELGESON WERE SIMILARLY SMART, RESPECTED, AND WELL LIKED. ROY WAS 18, AND HIS SUMMER JOB IN GLACIER WAS AS A BUSBOY AND DISHWASHER AT EAST GLACIER LODGE. JULIE, A 19-YEAR-OLD FRESHMAN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, WORKED IN THE LODGE LAUNDRY THAT SUMMER. THEY BOTH WERE INVITED TO JOIN MICHELE AND HER FRIENDS ON THEIR OVERNIGHT, BUT THEY HAD JUST VISITED TROUT LAKE TOGETHER THE PREVIOUS WEEK, SO THEY OPTED FOR ANOTHER DESTINATION, HIGHER UP AT THE END OF THE MOST WELL-KNOWN TRAIL IN THE PARK, GRANITE PARK CHALET. JULIE AND ROY ASKED A FRIEND, PAUL DUNN, TO GO WITH THEM, BUT INSTEAD HE CHOSE TO HEAD FOR TROUT LAKE WITH MICHELE AND HER FRIENDS. FOR PAUL DUNN, IT WAS A DECISION FRAMED WITH INEVITABILITY. >>

Dunn

WHEN I FINALLY PIECED IT TOGETHER, THAT GRANITE PARK CHALET'S INCIDENT INVOLVED TWO OTHER FRIENDS OF MINE THAT I HAD INTENDED TO GO CAMPING WITH, THERE WAS A SHUDDER THROUGH MY BEING THAT STILL REMAINS TODAY ABOUT SOMEWHERE, SOMEHOW, I WAS MEANT TO BE IN AN EXPERIENCE THAT NIGHT WITH A GRIZZLY BEAR. AND I JUST WAS LUCKY TO BE A SURVIVOR. >>

Narrator

TROUT LAKE AND GRANITE PARK CHALET CAMPGROUNDS ARE, AS THE CROW FLIES, EIGHT MILES -- AND WORLDS -- APART. SEPARATED BY THE IMPOSING LIVINGSTON MOUNTAIN RANGE AND PROBABLY MOST SPECTACULARLY, AND ALMOST DIRECTLY BETWEEN THEM, ICE-CAPPED, 9,000-FOOT HEAVENS PEAK. GRANITE PARK CHALET SITS AT THE EDGE OF TREE LINE PROMINENTLY ON A 6,300-FOOT ROCKY SHOULDER AND BROAD BENCH NEAR THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. THE HISTORIC ALPINE-STYLE CHALET IS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR DESTINATIONS IN THE PARK, AND THE MOST POPULAR WAY TO REACH IT IS ALONG THE HIGHLINE TRAIL. ON THE MORNING OF AUGUST 12th, JULIE AND ROY LEFT THE EMPLOYEES' BUNKHOUSE AT EAST GLACIER LODGE AND HITCHED A RIDE IN THE BACK OF A PICKUP TRUCK CLIMBING GOING TO THE SUN ROAD TO THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. >>

Ducat

TWO GUYS IN A PICKUP TRUCK DROPPED US OFF AT THE LOGAN PASS, WHICH IS THE HEAD OF THE HIGHLINE TRAIL. I REMEMBER HOW IT WAS ALREADY BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY, I MEAN, WE WERE ALREADY DEEP INTO THE ROCKIES AT THAT POINT. AND THEN OF COURSE WE STARTED UP THE HIGHLINE TRAIL, AND IT'S, IT'S JUST BEAUTIFUL. IT WAS PRETTY NEAT STUFF. >>

Narrator

FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS, AS THEY WALKED TOWARDS THE CHALET, THE MIDWESTERNERS MIGHT HAVE FELT AS IF THEY RIBBONED THEIR WAY THROUGH THE HEAVENS. IN EVERY DIRECTION THE ROCKIES ERUPT, FOLD, AND SPIRAL IN WAVES OF ROCK AND ICE. MOST SPECTACULARLY, THE TRAIL WINDS FOR MILES BELOW THE 9,000-FOOT SERRATIONS OF THE GARDEN WALL, A LOOMING ARTE FIRST THRUST FROM AN ANCIENT SEABED AND THEN CARVED ON BOTH SIDES BY SCOURING GLACIERS. DURING THE BRIEF SUMMER MONTHS, IT IS ALSO A WORLD OF FLOWERS AND WILDLIFE AND STORM-STUNTED ALPINE FIRS, ALL OF WHICH, IN 1967, AS IN YEARS BEFORE, DEVOURED MILES AND MILES AND MILES OF VISITORS' FILM. ROY AND HIS KODAK INSTAMATIC CAMERA TOOK IT AND THE MARMOTS AND THE FLOWERS AND JULIE ALL IN.

ANIMAL CALLING

Narrator

EARLIER IN THE DAY, A 22-YEAR-OLD RANGER NATURALIST AND HER GROUP OF 36 WERE ON THE SAME TRAIL. >>

Woman

THIS WAS THE FIRST YEAR THEY HAD HIRED WOMEN -- MANY WOMEN. AND I ACTUALLY HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO ON TO GRANITE PARK CHALET BY DEFAULT ACTUALLY BECAUSE THE MAJOR FIRES THAT WERE BURNING ON EITHER SIDE OF THE PARK, THEY WERE PULLING ALL THE MALES OUT. AND I JUST WAS ASKED TO TAKE THE GROUP IN. AND I DON'T KNOW HOW THEY CHOSE ME. THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I HAD EVER TAKEN A GROUP OVERNIGHT.

DOOR SLAMMING

Woman

>>

Narrator

THE CHALET THAT NIGHT, LIKE ALMOST EVERY NIGHT THAT SUMMER, WAS PACKED WITH AN OVERFLOW OF MORE THAN 60 GUESTS, MANY SLEEPING ON MATTRESSES ON THE FLOOR. FATHER CONNOLLY AND STEVE PIERRE WERE AMONG THEM. SO WERE, ALMOST UNBELIEVABLY, ALMOST FATEFULLY, A NURSE AND THREE DOCTORS, ONE A SURGEON.

BIRDS CHIRPING

Narrator

MILES AWAY AND SEVERAL THOUSAND FEET BELOW THEM, THE FIVE OTHER YOUNG PARK EMPLOYEES, PAUL DUNN, BROTHERS RON AND RAY NOSECK AND THEIR GIRLFRIENDS MICHELE KOONS AND DENISE HUCKLE -- WHO, AGAINST PARK REGULATIONS ALSO BROUGHT ALONG HER DOG SQUIRT, HAD A SHORTER BUT MORE ARDUOUS HUMP OF A HIKE INTO THEIR CAMPGROUND. NORTHWEST OF LAKE McDONALD, TROUT LAKE, AT AN ALTITUDE OF 4,000 FEET, IS TUCKED BEHIND HEAVILY FORESTED AND STEEP HOWE RIDGE. THE HIGH COUNTRY LAKE IS IN A BOWL, CIRCLED BY MOUNTAINS, FED BY CAMAS CREEK, AND ON THE SOUTH END JAMMED WITH LOGS. TROUT LAKE MIGHT ALSO BE CONSIDERED SOMETHING OF A BEAR JAM. PLENTY OF WATER, FOREST, THICK BUSHES, AND BERRIES THAT RANGE FROM SERVICEBERRIES TO HUCKLEBERRIES MAKE IT PRIME GRIZZLY BEAR COUNTRY. THAT SWELTERING SUMMER, IT ALSO WAS ON THE TERRITORIAL CIRCUIT OF ONE OLD, RAGGED, UNDERWEIGHT FEMALE GRIZZLY WITH A REPUTATION. SHE WAS UNAFRAID OF HUMANS, UNDERFED, AND HAD SPENT THE SUMMER CAUSING HAVOC AND TERROR. EARLIER, IN JUNE, SHE REGULARLY MARAUDED A SETTLEMENT OF LONG-HELD FAMILY CABINS CALLED KELLY'S CAMP, AND RESIDENTS HAD COMPLAINED TO THE PARK SERVICE. >>

Gildart

THE BEAR FROM TROUT LAKE WOULD COME OVER HOWE RIDGE AND DESCEND ONTO KELLY'S CAMP, AND THE PEOPLE AT KELLY'S CAMP HAD MADE REPEATED REPORTS ABOUT HOW A GRIZZLY BEAR WAS COMING IN TO THE CAMP THERE AND THE BEAR WAS NOT RUNNING AS WE ALL THOUGHT IT SHOULD BE RUNNING. WE'D ALL HEARD THESE STORIES AND WERE JUST FLABBERGASTED THAT, YOU KNOW, NO MORE DEFINITIVE ACTION HAD BEEN TAKEN AGAINST THIS BEAR AT KELLY'S CAMP. >>

Narrator

BUT BY AUGUST, AS THE TEMPERATURES ROSE, THE FOREST BECAME CRACKLING DRY AND THE TRAILS TURNED TO DUSTY POWDER. THE KELLY'S CAMP BEAR STAYED AT HIGHER GROUND, WHERE THERE WAS WATER AND EVEN EASIER PICKINGS. >> BY THE NIGHT OF AUGUST 12th, TROUT LAKE AND NEARBY ARROW LAKE HAD ALREADY ACCOMMODATED MORE THAN 700 DAY-TRIPPERS AND OVERNIGHT CAMPERS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON. IN THOSE PRE-"PACK IT IN, PACK IT OUT" DAYS, CAMPERS OFTEN LEFT BEHIND GARBAGE AND FOOD THEY DIDN'T WANT TO CARRY BACK OUT OVER HOWE RIDGE. AND THE CAMPGROUND AND TRAILS IN BECAME LITTERED WITH TRASH. GRIZZLIES AND BLACK BEARS CRISSCROSSED THE AREA AS IF IT WAS A FEEDING GROUND, AND SO, APPARENTLY, DID THE KELLY'S CAMP BEAR. FOR AN OLD, VERY UNDERWEIGHT BEAR THAT HAD TO SOMEHOW PACK ENOUGH FOOD AWAY TO SURVIVE HIBERNATION THROUGH ANOTHER LONG GLACIER WINTER, THE GARBAGE AND FOOD AT KELLY'S CAMP AND TROUT LAKE HAD BECOME ITS LIFELINE. IN THE PROCESS, THE BEAR HAD BECOME FEARLESS OF HUMANS AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER, IT CONFRONTED CAMPERS AND EVEN RIDERS ON HORSEBACK, RANSACKED CAMPSITES, AND AT ONE POINT AGGRESSIVELY HARASSED A GROUP OF GIRL SCOUTS. ONE OF THE SCOUTS SNAPPED A PICTURE OF THE BEAR. THE PHOTO MADE THE FRONT PAGE OF KALISPELL'S AUGUST 10th DAILY INTER LAKE. IT WOULD NOT BE THE LAST TIME THAT BEAR WOULD MAKE HEADLINES. WHEN GLACIER FIRST OPENED IN 1910, THERE WAS A POLICY TO RID THE PARK OF DANGEROUS PREDATORS, BUT SOON, AS WILDLIFE DIMINISHED DRASTICALLY, THAT POLICY WAS REVERSED IN AN ATTEMPT TO AT LEAST TRY AND PRESERVE ALL REMAINING SPECIES OF WILDLIFE WITHIN NATIONAL PARKS. >>

Gildart

FINALLY, BY THE '60s, GRIZZLY BEARS HAD -- THE POPULATION OF GRIZZLY BEARS HAD REBOUNDED. AND NOW YOU ALSO HAD A POLICY, AT GRANITE PARK'S -- SITE, WHERE THE MANAGERS WERE TRYING TO ATTRACT BEARS IN THERE FOR THE VISITORS. AND THE BACK-COUNTRY CAMPGROUNDS, AS WELL, HAD NOT BEEN PROPERLY POLICED. AND SO THE RESULT -- YOU HAD A SERIES OF CONDITIONS THAT WERE RIPE FOR THE MAULINGS WHICH SUBSEQUENTLY OCCURRED. >>

Narrator

FOR YEARS, CHALET EMPLOYEES HAD BEEN DUMPING GARBAGE AND LEFT-OVER FOOD IN A DUMP SITE 200 YARDS FROM THE BUILDING. BEFORE THE 1966 SUMMER SEASON, THE PARK SERVICE PROVIDED AN INCINERATOR TO TRY AND CLEAR UP THE GARBAGE PROBLEM AND DISCOURAGE THE BEARS. BUT SIMPLE NUMBERS -- NUMBERS OF PEOPLE -- OVERWHELMED THOSE PLANS. THE INCINERATOR WAS WOEFULLY INADEQUATE FOR THE DELUGE OF CHALET GUESTS AND DAY-HIKERS. THE DUMPING CONTINUED AND THE NOCTURNAL ARRIVAL OF THE GRIZZLIES DEVELOPED INTO A TOURIST ATTRACTION. WHILE APPARENTLY OFFICIALLY OVERLOOKED, THE SITUATION DID HORRIFY MANY RANGERS AND BEAR BIOLOGISTS, WHO HAD WARNED THE PARK SERVICE ABOUT POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES. >>

Gildart

ABOUT A WEEK PRIOR TO THE MAULINGS, DAVE SHEA AND I KED UP TO GRANITE PARK CHALET. AND WE COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. WE STOOD UP ON THE PORCH, ALONG WITH MANY OF THE OTHER VISITORS. WE LOOKED DOWN TO AN AREA OFF TO ONE SIDE WHERE THE MANAGERS WERE DUMPG THE FOOD THAT PEOPLE HADN'T EATEN, THE GARBAGE ESSENTIALLY, AND THEY WERE LITERALLY TRYING TO LURE THEM IN SO THAT PEOPLE UP ON THE PORCHES COULD SEE THEM, SEE THESE MAGNIFICENT ANIMALS. >>

Narrator

ALTHOUGH GILDART AND SHEA DIDN'T MAKE AN OFFICIAL REPORT, THEY DID TELL ADMINISTRATORS BACK AT PARK HEADQUARTERS, AND WORD GOT AROUND. >> WE TALKED TO OURSELVES ABOUT IT ON THE WAY BACK DOWN, WE THOUGHT, "MY GOSH, THIS IS A TRAGEDY WAITING TO HAPPEN." >> AND AT SUNSET, AUGUST 12th, JULIE HELGESON AND ROY DUCAT UNKNOWINGLY WALKED RIGHT INTO IT. >>

Ducat

I DON'T BELIEVE I KNEW THAT THEY WERE FEEDING BEARS AT THE CHALET. WHEN WE GOT THERE, WE LEARNED THAT THEY WERE. TO MY KNOWLEDGE, THEY WERE FEEDING THE BEARS OUT, I GUESS IT WOULD BE BEHIND THE CHALET OR UP THE MOUNTAIN FROM THE CHALET. WE WERE GOING TO STAY IN THE CHALET. THE CHALET WAS FULL. SO THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR US. THEY -- SOMEBODY MENTIONED THEY WERE BUILDING A CAMPGROUND DOWN THE TRAIL A LITTLE WAYS, SO -- WHICH WAS IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF WHERE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF WHERE THEY WERE FEEDING THE BEARS, SO WE SAID FINE, WENT DOWN TO THE CAMPGROUND. >>

Narrator

THE CAMPGROUND WAS MAYBE 500 YARDS AWAY AND 100 YARDS PAST A TRAIL-CREW CABIN. ON THE WAY DOWN, THEY MET A RECENTLY WED COUPLE FROM COLORADO, ROBERT AND JANET KLEIN, AND A LONE HIKER, DON GULLET, WHO HAD JUST ARRIVED FROM SAN FRANCISCO AND WAS PLANNING TO SPEND THE REST OF THE SUMMER TREKKING NORTH THROUGH THE ROCKIES AND INTO CANADA. THE KLEINS, WARY OF BEARS, HAD CAMPED NEAR THE TRAIL-CREW CABIN AND FOR ADDITIONAL SAFETY HAD ASKED DON GULLET TO CAMP NEAR THEM. DON GULLET REMEMBERED JULIE AND ROY SAUNTERING DOWN THE HILL SOON AFTERWARD. >> THEY WERE JUST A WONDERFUL COUPLE. MY GOD, IF I SAW THEM NOW, IT WOULD JUST BE HEARTRENDING JUST TO SEE THEM, THEY WERE SO SWEET, FRIENDLY, OUTGOING, POLITE, AND THEY STOPPED, AND WE CHATTED A WHILE. THEY SAID, "WELL, WE THINK WE'RE GOING TO GO DOWN TO THE CAMPGROUND, WHERE THEY'RE DEVELOPING THE CAMPGROUND." >> ALTHOUGH THERE WAS NO WAY THEY COULD HAVE KNOWN, IT WOULD BE THE WRONG CHOICE.

BIRD CALLING

Narrator

>> MILES BELOW GRANITE PARK CHALET ON THE OTHER SIDE OF HEAVENS PEAK, MICHELE KOONS AND HER FOUR COMPANIONS SPENT THE HOT AFTERNOON HIKING OVER DENSELY FORESTED HOWE RIDGE INTO THE CAMAS CREEK DRAINAGE. THE YOUNGEST OF THE GROUP, 16-YEAR-OLD PAUL DUNN, BROUGHT ALONG A BROWNIE STARMITE FLASH CAMERA. >>

Dunn

THE PICTURES THAT WE DID TAKE -- OR THAT I TOOK -- WERE INTENDED TO BE SORT OF CHRONICLING THE HIKE IN, TAKING SOME PHOTOGRAPHS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TRAILHEAD, TAKING SOME IN AT THE CAMPSITE, WITH THE IDEA THAT THEN WE WOULD TAKE THEM AGAIN AS WE ALL GOT OUT AND IT WOULD BE A NICE HAPPY STORY. >>

Narrator

BY 5:00, THEY REACHED BERRY-BUSH-RIMMED TROUT LAKE AND UNLOADED THEIR GEAR AT THE CAMPGROUND NEAR THE LAKE'S LOG JAM. STILL WITH SEVERAL HOURS BEFORE DARK, PAUL, ALONG WITH 21- AND 23-YEAR-OLD DON AND RAY NOSECK AND 20-YEAR-OLD DENISE HUCKLE, PACKED THEIR FOOD INTO ONE KNAPSACK, CACHED IT IN A TREE, AND ALMOST IMMEDIATELY SET OFF TOWARD THE SHORE, WHERE RIPPLES ON THE SURFACE OF THE LAKE MEANT CUTTHROAT TROUT WERE RISING TO FEED. MICHELE STAYED BEHIND, SETTING UP CAMP AND OFFERING TO TEND TO DENISE HUCKLE'S PUPPY, SQUIRT. MICHELE WAS ALONE FOR TWO TO THREE HOURS, AND IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE HER NOT THINKING ABOUT WHAT THEY HAD HEARD ABOUT WHEN THEY FIRST REACHED THE LAKE. >>

Dunn

WHEN WE ARRIVED AT TROUT LAKE AND MET THE TWO CAMPERS WHO HAD BEEN TREED BY A GRIZZLY, THEY WERE VERY AGITATED AND WARNED US ABOUT PROCEEDING ON THROUGH THE BERRY PATCH AND THAT THERE HAD BEEN BEAR ACTIVITY AT THIS CAMPSITE. >>

Narrator

ALL PARK EMPLOYEES HAS BEEN TOLD WHAT TO DO IF THEY EVERY UNEXPECTEDLY RAN INTO AN AGGRESSIVE BEAR, AND THAT WAS... TO PLAY DEAD. AT TROUT LAKE, AS THE SHADOWS OF PINES, DOUGLAS FIRS, AND SPRUCE EXTENDED FARTHER AND FARTHER OUT ACROSS THE WATER, PAUL, RAY, RON, AND DENISE STRAGGLED BACK TO THE LOG JAM CAMPGROUND. >>

Dunn

THE LAKE WAS SPECTACULAR, BEAUTIFUL, VERY CRYSTAL CLEAR. I BROUGHT MY FISHING ROD WITH ME, MY TRAIL ROD, AND SO I DID A LITTLE FISHING, CAUGHT A COUPLE OF RAINBOWS, AND IN GENERAL, IT WAS JUST A NICE, EASYGOING AFTERNOON FOR A WHILE. >>

Narrator

PAUL STARTED A FIRE TO COOK THE FISH, AND AS THE GRILL SIZZLED AND SMOKED AND THE SUN BEGAN TO SET, MICHELE SAT ON A STUMP AND WATCHED. THEN SHE SAW SOMETHING LUMBER OUT OF THE WOODS. SHE SAID, "HERE COMES A BEAR." "HERE COMES A BEAR" ECHOED WHAT PEOPLE HAD BEEN SAYING ALMOST NIGHTLY FROM THE BALCONIES AND PORCH OF GRANITE PARK CHALET. THE ARRIVAL OF GRIZZLIES IN NEARBY DUMP HAD BEEN AS MUCH A PART OF EVENING ENTERTAINMENT AS THE TRADITIONAL AFTER-DINNER SING-ALONGS. FOR A BEAR, THOUGH, ESPECIALLY BY AUGUST, THE DUMP WAS NOT ENTERTAINMENT. >> GRIZZLY BEARS ARE BASICALLY OMNIVORES, WHICH MEANS THEY EAT ALMOST ANYTHING. BEARS GO INTO WHAT'S CALLED HYPERPHAGIA, AND THAT'S A POINT IN TIME WHERE THE BEARS NEED TO EAT AND PUT ON AS MUCH WEIGHT AND FAT AS THEY CAN IN ORDER TO SURVIVE THROUGH THE WINTER. AND IT'S THIS PERIOD, IT USUALLY, IN THIS AREA, STARTS AT THE PEAK OF THE BERRY SEASON, WHICH IS ESSENTIALLY FIRST PART OF AUGUST, AND GOES ALL THE WAY UNTIL THE BEARS DEN. AND THEIR GOAL IS TO FIND FOOD, BECAUSE WHILE THEY'RE IN THE DEN, THEY'RE LIVING OFF THEIR FAT RESERVES. AND IF THEY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FAT RESERVES WHEN THEY GO INTO THE DEN, THEY'RE NOT GOING TO SURVIVE. >> EXTREME HEAT HAD REDUCED THE BERRY CROP THAT SUMMER, AND A BEAR'S JOB OF FINDING FOOD DEFINITELY BECAME MORE DIFFICULT... UNLESS THEY VENTURED CLOSER TO HUMANS. AT THE CHALET, IN THE EVENINGS AND NIGHT, BEARS SO REGULARLY SEARCHED THE DUMP THAT THE STAFF COULD IDENTIFY THEM INDIVIDUALLY. NONE OF IT HAD GONE UNNOTICED BY PARK OFFICIALS. MANY RANGERS, LIKE LEONARD LANDA AND DAVE SHEA, INFORMED HEADQUARTERS ABOUT THE FEEDING OF BEARS -- AS, REPORTEDLY, OTHERS HAD FOR YEARS. TOM AND NANCY WALTON, WHO MANAGED THE CHALET, GOT A MIXED MESSAGE FROM THE PARK, OR AT LEAST ONE THAT CAME WITH A SHRUG. THEY WERE TOLD TO BURN ALL THE CHALET TRASH, BUT ALL THE STAFF HAD FOR THE JOB WAS THE TOO-SMALL INCINERATOR. THE DUMPING CONTINUED. SO DID THE BEARS. >> IT WAS EXCITING, I HAVE TO ADMIT, IT WAS EXCITING TO HAVE A BEAR SEVEN FEET FROM YOU, YOU KNOW, THAT'S SOMETHING KIND OF UNUSUAL, ACTUALLY. THEY'RE USUALLY ON YONDER RANGE, CLEAR ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS AND THAT, TO ME, THAT'S WHERE THEY BELONG. >> AS A CHILD, STEVE PIERRE'S TRIBAL ELDERS HAD TAUGHT HIM ABOUT GRIZZLY BEARS, AND THEY WERE LESSONS HE NEVER FORGOT. >> THE THING THAT I REMEMBER ESPECIALLY ABOUT STEVE BEING FROM RURAL AREA AROUND THE RESERVATION AND USED TO THE WILDLIFE, HE JUST SAID VERY CLEARLY, YOU KNOW, "THOSE CRAZY WHITE PEOPLE FROM THE CITIES, THEY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT BEARS." AND HE THOUGHT IT WAS KIND OF DISGUSTING, SO WE TURNED AROUND AND WENT INSIDE AND DIDN'T STAY OUT TO WATCH THE BEARS. >>

Group

ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM MERRILY, MERRILY, MERRILY >>

Narrator

THAT NIGHT, AFTER DINNER AND WATCHING THE BEARS, GUESTS GATHERED AROUND THE BIG STOVE AND JOINED IN A CHEERY SING-ALONG UNTIL THE EVENING WOUND DOWN AND MATTRESSES WERE SPREAD ON THE FLOOR AND FINALLY LIGHTS OUT. DON GULLET SAID HIS GOODBYES, WALKED DOWN THE RAVINE WHERE THE FEEDING BEARS HAD EARLIER PASSED, FOUND HIS CAMPSITE NEAR THE KLEINS AND THE TRAIL-CREW CABIN, AND SETTLED DOWN IN HIS SLEEPING BAG. DON AND THE KLEINS WERE ABOUT 100 YARDS FROM ROY AND JULIE. >> BEING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS WAS, I DON'T KNOW, IT WAS GREAT. I HAD NO QUALMS WITH SLEEPING, AND NEITHER DID SHE, AS FAR AS CAMPING, YOU KNOW, IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE WITH JUST A SLEEPING BAG, NO TENT, UNDER THE STARS. I ALWAYS FELT, YOU KNOW, FAIRLY SAFE, NEVER HAD ANY FEAR OF, YOU KNOW, WILD ANIMALS OR ANYTHING, I JUST -- TYPICALLY, WILD ANIMALS STAY AWAY FROM PEOPLE, AND THAT'S PRETTY MUCH THE WAY WE FELT. YOU KNOW, THERE WAS JUST NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF IN OUR MINDS AT THAT TIME. WE GOT IN OUR SLEEPING BAGS, FELL ASLEEP, WE PROBABLY LAY THERE AND TALKED FOR A WHILE, FALL ASLEEP. THE NEXT THING I REMEMBER IS I REMEMBER JULIE SAYING, WHISPERING TO ME, "PLAY DEAD." >> JULIE'S WHISPERS WERE THE PARK SERVICE'S BEAR ATTACK LESSON, THE "DON'T MOVE, SAVE YOUR LIFE" INSTRUCTIONS. THE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE-TO-DO, LAST-CHANCE LIVE-OR-DIE MESSAGE. SHE HAD REMEMBERED THAT, PROBABLY SAVED MY LIFE, SHE -- I REMEMBER HER WHISPERING, "PLAY DEAD." AND THE NEXT THING I KNEW, T BEAR -- I STARTED TO MOVE A LITTLE BIT, BECAUSE WHEN YOU'RE WAKING UP, YOU KNOW, KIND OF A GROGGY STATE AND DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON, I STARTED TO MOVE AND THE BEAR THREW ME OUT OF MY SLEEPING BAG. I LANDED PROBABLY SIX, TEN FEET AWAY ON MY FACE AND THEN I REMEMBER HIM JUMPING OMY BACK, BIT ME IN THE SHOULDER FIRST, I REMEMBER HIS BREATH WAS REALLY BAD. THIS MOST HORRIBLE STENCH I'VE EVER SMELLED. HE STARTED BITING ME, BIT ME ON MY BACK, MY BACK, MY LEGS. IT JUST HAPPENED SO FAST THAT I JUST -- YOU JUST -- I FELT OVERWHELMED, HELPLESS, I MEAN, I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING A LOT MORE POWERFUL THAN ME, AND THERE WAS NOTHING -- OBVIOUSLY, I COULDN'T FIGHT HIM SO I JUST DID THE ONLY THING THAT I HAD HEARD TO DO, AND IT WORKED. AFTER HE THOUGHT, EVIDENTLY I WAS DEAD, THEN HE LEFT ME, AND I HEARD HIM START TO BITE JULIE. AND -- I CAN'T REMEMBER HOW LONG, IT SEEMED LIKE FOREVER, BUT PRETTY SOON SHE STARTED SCREAMING AND YELLING AND THEN HE PICKED HER UP AND THEN I HEARD HER SCREAMS GOING DOWN THE MOUNTAINSIDE. AND HE CARRIED HER OFF. >>

Connolly

WE WERE AWAKENED BY WHOEVER HEARD THESE SOUNDS FIRST AND THERE WAS ENOUGH SCUFFLING AROUND AND SOMEBODY SAID, "THEY'RE HOLLERING, THEY'RE IN TROUBLE DOWN AT THE CAMPGROUND." >>

Narrator

THEY WERE IN TROUBLE, AND AS MUCH AS JULIE MAY HAVE TRIED TO PLAY DEAD, IT BECAME IMPOSSIBLE. SHE SAID, "IT HURTS." AND THEN SHE SCREAMED, "SOMEONE HELP US." >>

Ducat

THE FIRST THING I DID WAS, I JUMPED UP, AND I REMEMBERED WE HAD A CAMERA WITH THEM OLD-FASHIONED FLASH CUBES. AND I RUMMAGED -- SO I RUMMAGED THROUGH THE STUFF, LOOKING FOR THE CAMERA. I'M THINKING, "I'LL PUT THE FLASH CUBE IN, I'LL RUN DOWN THE HILL AND START MAKING A FLASH AND SCARING IT AWAY." AND THEN I KIND OF REALIZED THAT MY LEFT ARM WAS JUST HANGING THERE AND I COULDN'T FIND THE CAMERA AND THEN ESSENTIALLY SAID, "OH, MY GOD!" AND I JUST GOT SCARED AND SO I DECIDED TO RUN UP THE HILL. RAN UP THERE, THAT -- FIRST PERSON I CAME TO WAS DON GULLET WHO WAS LAYING ASLEEP AND I KNEELED DOWN OVER HIM AND I'M SHAKING HIM AND I REMEMBER HIM LOOKING UP AT AT ME AND I'M SAYING, "BEAR, BEAR," AND HE'S KIND OF, YOU KNOW, GROGGY. >>

Narrator

BY THIS TIME, AT LEAST SOME OF THE CHALET GUESTS AND THE KLEINS CAMPING NEAR THE TRAIN-CREW CABIN HAD HEARD WHAT SOUNDED LIKE SCREAMS. DON GULLET STARTED UP TOWARDS THE CHALET, UP THE RAVINE, POSSIBLY WHERE THE BEAR WAS, BUT THE KLEINS STOPPED HIM. >> BOB SAID, "WAIT, DON'T GO UP THERE," YOU KNOW, "WE DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT, BECAUSE I HAVE A FLASHLIGHT, WE CAN SIGNAL THE CHALET." >> ROBERT KLEIN CLIMBED ON THE CABIN ROOF, BEGAN YELLING FOR HELP AND FLASHING THE LIGHT IN S.O.S. PATTERNS OF THREE. IT MUST HAVE SEEMED AS IF IT TOOK FOREVER, BUT FINALLY HE GOT A RESPONSE. "IS EVERYTHING OKAY?" SOMEBODY SHOUTED DOWN FROM THE CHALET. "NO!" KLEIN ANSWERED. FROM THE BALCONY, JOHN LIPINSKI, THE SURGEON FROM KALISPELL, CUPPED HIS HAND AND YELLED, "WHAT'S THE TROUBLE?" ROBERT KLEIN HOLLERED BACK, "BEAR." JOAN DEVEREAUX, THE RANGER NATURALIST, HAD BEEN SLEEPING IN ONE OF THE BACK ROOMS. >>

Devereaux

I JUST REMEMBER HEARING SOMEBODY CALLING AND WAKING ME UP AND ROUSING PEOPLE UP, AND THAT'S HOW THE PEOPLE THAT REALLY BECAME CONCERNED AND DID THAT, THEY COULD HEAR THEM SCREAMING, "BEAR! BEAR!" >>

Narrator

AT THE TRAIL-CREW CABIN, 18-YEAR-OLD ROY WAS COLD AND IN SHOCK. DON WRAPPED HIM IN HIS SLEEPING BACK, THEN HE AND ROBERT KLEIN CONTINUED TO YELL AND SIGNAL THE CHALET. >>

Devereaux

AND THEN EVENTUALLY THROUGH THE CONFUSION IT SORT OF BECAME HANDED TO ME THAT I, YOU KNOW, WE NEEDED TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM. "YOU'RE THE PARK SERVICE PERSON HERE," AND I SAID, "PLEASE FIND THE RADIO FOR ME, I'LL DO WHAT WE CAN." SEVEN TO ALL CONTROL, THIS IS 746! >>

Narrator

WHILE JOAN TRIED TO MAKE RADIO CONTACT WITH HEADQUARTERS, NO ONE SEEMED TO KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT. STEVE PIERRE FELT THE VACUUM AND MORE. EARLIER IN THE EVENING, HE STOOD OFF TO THE SIDE, AS HE HAD DONE HIS WHOLE LIFE WHEN HE WAS AROUND WHITE PEOPLE. KNOWING STEVE'S EXPERIENCE ON THE RESERVATION AND IN THE OUTDOORS, FATHER CONNOLLY TURNED TO THE KALISPELL INDIAN FOR HELP. >>

Pierre

HE WOKE ME UP AND HE SAID, "WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS." AND I SAID, "OKAY, YOU GATHER UP SOME VOLUNTEERS AND I'LL TRY TO GET US DOWN THERE AND SEE WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON." I WAS JUST AS SCARED AS THEY WERE. >>

Narrator

ABOUT 14 VOLUNTEERS GATHERED, INCLUDING TWO OF THE YOUNG CHALET STAFF WOMEN AND THE CHALET MANAGER TOM WALTON. EARLIER THAT EVENING, STEVE PIERRE HAD NOTICED A GALVANIZED WASHTUB. HE ALSO REMEMBERED SOMETHING THAT HIS ELDERS HAD TOLD HIM. >>

Pierre

AND I SAID, "FILL THAT WITH WOOD AND WE'LL BUILD A FIRE IN IT," BECAUSE I KNEW FROM WHAT MY GRANDFATHER TAUGHT ME THAT BEARS ARE, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE A LITTLE SHY AROUND FIRES, LET'S SAY. >>

Connolly

THERE WAS SOME BALING WIRE AROUND THERE, AND WE MADE BALING-WIRE HANDLES TO GO ON EACH END SO THAT OUR HANDS WOULD NOT BE TOO CLOSE TO THE FIRE. >> WHAT I REMEMBER THEN WAS A GROUP OF PEOPLE, SIX, EIGHT MEN, COMING DOWN THE RAVINE, CARRYING A TUB OF FIRE BETWEEN THEM. AND IT SEEMED SO RITUALISTIC, THIS TUB OF FIRE. >>

Narrator

WHEN THEY FINALLY REACHED THE TRAIL-CREW CABIN, ROY, WRAPPED IN DON'S SLEEPING BAG, WAS IN A STATE OF SHOCK AND LOSING BLOOD, BUT HE WAS STILL CONSCIOUS AND KEPT TELLING EVERYONE TO GO AND FIND JULIE. DR. OLGIERD LINDAN BANDAGED ROY'S MAULED BODY WITH COMPRESSES AND TOURNIQUETS FROM THE KLEINS' FIRST-AID KIT. SURGEON JOHN LIPINSKI WOULD TAKE OVER WHEN THEY GOT ROY BACK TO THE CHALET. >> THE PAINFUL PART OF THAT EXPERIENCE WAS HE BEGGED US TO GO AND GET HIS GIRLFRIEND, WHO WAS HAULED AWAY. >>

Pierre

I REMEMBER HIM SAYING, "PLEASE FIND JULIE, PLEASE FIND JULIE." HE SAID, "DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, PLEASE FIND JULIE." AND... THAT WAS... >> SEVEN TO ALL CONTROL... >>

Narrator

DEVEREAUX CONTINUED TO TRY THE RADIO, SAYING SHE HAD A CODE THREE BEAR EMERGENCY -- BEAR ATTACK, BEAR ATTACK. FINALLY, THROUGH THE STATIC, A VOICE RESPONDED. >> GRANITE PARK, THIS IS 2-1... >> IT WAS RANGER BERT GILDART. HE WAS NEAR LOGAN PASS, WORKING THE NIGHT SHIFT DURING THE FIRES IN A TRUCK WITH A SHORTWAVE RADIO. >>

Gildart

I HEARD A CALL COMING IN FROM GRANITE PARK CHALET. AND THE VOICE WAS VERY, VERY DESPERATE. THEY WERE TRYING TO REACH HEADQUARTERS, BUT WERE UNABLE TO DO SO. THEY WERE CALLING OUT, SAYING THAT SOMEBODY HAD BEEN MAULED AND THAT THEY NEEDED SOME HELP. >>

Narrator

GILDART BROKE IN AND SAID HE WOULD RELAY THE MESSAGE TO FIRE-FIGHTING HEADQUARTERS, WHERE RANGER GARY BUNNEY WAS IN CHARGE. THE FIRES WEREN'T SPREADING THAT NIGHT AND THERE HAD BEEN LITTLE RADIO TRAFFIC. AS DR. LINDAN ATTENDED TO ROY AND JOAN DEVEREAUX WORKED THE RADIO, SOME OF THE MEN FOUND AN OLD COIL-SPRING BED FRAME IN THE TRAIL CABIN AND USED IT AS A LITTER TO CARRY ROY BACK UP THE HILL. ONCE IN THE CHALET, DR. LIPINSKI HAD ROY LAID ON A DINING TABLE, EXAMINED HIS WOUNDS, AND MADE A MENTAL LIST OF THE MEDICAL SUPPLIES HE WOULD NEED. >>

Bunney

WELL, SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT, WE HEARD A CALL ON THE RADIO, AND ESSENTIALLY, IT SAID, YOU KNOW, "WE HAVE HAD A BEAR ATTACK, AND WE NEED MEDICAL SUPPLIES." I REMEMBER SPECIFICALLY HE SAID, "WE NEED SURGICAL EQUIPMENT CAPABLE OF SUTURING A FOUR-INCH WOUND, A BEAR ATTACK." WELL, THAT'S NOT A BAND-AID, YOU KNOW, THAT'S KIND OF SERIOUS BY THAT TIME JOHN WESTOVER HAD BEEN NOTIFIED. THE DECISION WAS WHETHER JOHN, WHETHER HE WANTED TO FLY AT NIGHT OR NOT FLY AT NIGHT. >>

Narrator

NOTIFYING WESTOVER MEANT RANGER BUNNEY HAD MADE A CRITICAL, NECESSARY, BUT POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS DECISION. IN 1967, FLYING A HELICOPTER IN A PITCH-BLACK NIGHT, SKIRTING MOUNTAIN PEAKS AND VALLEYS, SOME SWOLLEN WITH SMOKE, AND THEN POSSIBLY BLINDLY FINDING A PLACE TO LAND, WAS SOMETHING OF AN EXTRAORDINARY THING TO ASK A PILOT. BUT JOHN WESTOVER WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY PILOT. SINCE HE WAS A TEENAGER, WESTOVER OFTEN SAID HE LIVED AVIATION. A VIETNAM VETERAN, HE PILOTED HELICOPTERS IN COMBAT MISSIONS AND ADVANCED TO THE POSITION OF PERSONAL PILOT FOR THE COMMANDING GENERAL. HE ALSO HAD SOMETHING ELSE GOING FOR HIM. >> TO BE HONEST WITH YOU, I KIND OF FELT INVINCIBLE, EVEN IN VIETNAM. I NEVER WORRIED ABOUT THINGS. WHATEVER IS GOING TO HAPPEN IS GOING TO HAPPEN, IT ISN'T GOING TO DO ME ANY GOOD TO WORRY ABOUT IT, SO I PUT IT OUT OF MY MIND AND IT NEVER BOTHERED ME. >> PILOT WESTOVER AND RANGER BUNNEY HAD FLOWN TO THE CHALET A WEEK EARLIER, BUT THAT WAS IN DAYLIGHT. IT WOULD BE MUCH, MUCH MORE DIFFICULT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. >>

Bunney

WHILE ALL THIS WAS HAPPENING, WE GOT ANOTHER CALL FROM GRANITE PEAK CHALET. AND ESSENTIALLY IT WAS THE SAME WOMAN THAT SAID, "WE THINK THAT THERE'S A GIRL MISSING." AND WE NEED A RANGER WITH A RIFLE. >>

Narrator

WITH ALL THE OTHER RANGERS OUT ON THE FIRES, IT WAS UP TO BUNNEY. >>

Bunney

I WENT HOME AND I GOT MY RIFLE -- I'VE GOT A.300 WINCHESTER MAGNUM -- AND I COULD HEAR THE HELICOPTER WARMING UP BY THEN. >>

Narrator

AT THE CHALET, JOAN DEVEREAUX, WHOSE FATHER WAS AN ARMY OFFICER, TOOK COMMAND, WHICH ESSENTIALLY MEANT TWO IMMEDIATE THINGS. ONE, PREPARE THE AREA JUST BEHIND THE CHALET FOR AN EMERGENCY NIGHTTIME HELICOPTER LANDING, AND TWO, STOP THE SEARCH PARTY FROM GOING BACK INTO THE NIGHT TO FIND JULIE UNTIL A RANGER ARRIVED WITH A RIFLE. NEITHER TASK WAS EASY. >> SHE HAD A RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SAFETY OF THIS WHOLE GROUP, AND SHE INSISTED THAT NOBODY GO TRAIPSING OFF IN THE DARK LOOKING FOR THIS LOST PERSON. AND I FOUND THAT REALLY PAINFUL. BECAUSE HE WAS BEGGING US TO FIND HIS GIRLFRIEND, AND IT WAS DIFFICULT NOT TO, BUT IT WAS KIND OF A FEELING THAT YOU FOLLOW DIRECTIONS FROM SOMEBODY WHO SEEMS TO BE IN CHARGE IN A CRITICAL SITUATION, SO... >> MANY IN THE GROUP THOUGHT IT WAS CRITICAL, PERHAPS LIFE-SAVING NECESSARY, TO FIND JULIE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. BUT FINALLY THEY RELUCTANTLY FOLLOWED DEVEREAUX'S DECISION TO WAIT. >> 746, THIS IS FIRE... >> RANGER BUNNEY CALLED JOAN AGAIN ON THE RADIO. >>

Bunney

WE SAID, "WE NEED A CIRCLE OF LIGHTS AROUND THE HITCH RACK." YOU KNOW, "THAT'S WHERE WE WANT TO LAND." >> WE WENT OUT AND MADE -- BUILT FOUR BIG FIRES SO THAT HE COULD LAND IN THE MIDDLE OF THEM. >>

Narrator

THE GROUP ALSO BROUGHT OUT FLASHLIGHTS TO HELP GUIDE THE HELICOPTER, A BELL 47-G, A SLOW BUT TURBO-CHARGED AIRCRAFT THAT WAS PARTICULARLY SUITED FOR FLYING OVER HIGH-ALTITUDE, MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. >> ESSENTIALLY, THAT NIGHT, GARY AND I WERE FLYING BLIND. I MEAN, WE HAD NOTHING BUT A LITTLE GLIMMER TO SHOOT TOWARD. AND WE KNEW WHAT ALTITUDE WE WERE FLYING AND WE KNEW WHAT ALTITUDE THEY WERE -- THAT THE CHALET WAS, SO WE STAYED ABOVE THAT. >> RANGER BUNNEY TRIED READING A TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP IN THE RED GLOW OF THE HELICOPTER PANEL TO GUIDE WESTOVER OVER AND AROUND MOUNTAINS AND RIDGES. >> IT WAS ABSOLUTELY BLACK THAT NIGHT AND THE ONLY WAY YOU COULD TELL THERE WERE MOUNTAINS IS THAT THERE WERE NO STARS. I MEAN, THERE WERE MILLIONS OF STARS, BUT WHERE THE MOUNTAINS WERE, THE STARS WOULD DISAPPEAR. >> THIS HELICOPTER DOES NOT -- DID NOT HAVE INSTRUMENTATION FOR INSTRUMENT FLIGHT AND SO WE WERE KIND OF ON OUR OWN TO KEEP IT RIGHT-SIDE UP. BUT YOU ASKED EARLIER ABOUT IF I WAS EVER SCARED. I DIDN'T THINK OF IT IN THOSE TERMS, BUT AS I LOOKED DOWN AT MY KNUCKLES, THEY WERE WHITE, SO I WAS GRIPPING THE CONTROLS, AND I KNOW IT WAS ONE OF THOSE ANXIETY TIMES. >> IN THE DISTANCE, THEY SPOTTED THE GLOW OF THE CHALET AND THE LANDING FIRES THAT JOAN DEVEREAUX HAD THE GUESTS BUILD. >>

Bunney

AS HE WAS DESCENDING, I GUESS SOME PEOPLE WERE SHINING THEIR FLASHLIGHTS AT THE HELICOPTER. AND THERE'S A PROPERTY OF PLASTIC THAT IT ABSORBED THAT LIGHT, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, INSIDE OF THAT HELICOPTER WAS JUST LIKE DAYLIGHT. AND YOU COULDN'T SEE A THING OUTSIDE OF THE BUBBLE. >> SO WE CALLED AND TOLD THEM, "NO, SHINE YOUR LIGHTS DOWN ON THE GROUND." AND WE LANDED TO THE FLASHLIGHTS AND THE BONFIRE. >>

Devereaux

IT WAS KIND OF EERIE, THIS HELICOPTER LANDING IN THE MIDST OF ALL THIS FIRELIGHT, SO IT WAS DEFINITELY A VALIANT EFFORT ON HIS PART TO COME IN THERE, BECAUSE THAT PLACE SITS RIGHT SMACK DAB UP AGAINST THE GARDEN WALL, AND IT TOOK A LOT OF COURAGE AND GUTS TO COME IN AND BRING THAT HELICOPTER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND LAND. >>

Narrator

THE MEDICAL SUPPLIES WERE RUSHED IN, WHILE BUNNEY IMMEDIATELY JOINED THE GROUP READY TO SEARCH FOR JULIE. IN FIVE MINUTES, THEY WERE MOVING DOWN THE TRAIL. ROY, STILL WRAPPED IN DON GULLET'S SLEEPING BAG, WAS GENTLY CARRIED TO THE HELICOPTER AND JOHN WESTOVER LIFTED THEM BOTH BACK INTO THE NIGHT SKY. AS THE HELICOPTER ASCENDED, WESTOVER COULD SEE THE TUB OF FIRE MOVING WITH FLASHLIGHTS DOWN THE HILL. GARY BUNNEY AND STEVE PIERRE WERE IN THE LEAD. >> AND SURE ENOUGH, I FOUND A TINY, TINY BLOOD SPOT AND I KEPT FOLLOWING THAT BLOOD SPOT -- IT WOULD OCCUR EVERY 20 YARDS, THEY'D BE A LITTLE TINY SPECK OF BLOOD, YOU COULD SEE IT ON A BLADE OF GRASS IF YOU LOOKED REAL CAREFUL. >> STEVE, I SUPPOSE FROM HIS INDIAN BACKGROUND IN TRACKING ANIMALS, WAS ABLE TO REALLY LEAD THAT RANGER WITH HIS LIGHT THROUGH THE AREAS WHERE THE GRASS HAD BEEN MASHED DOWN A LITTLE BIT AND SAW LITTLE PIECES OF BLOOD. I THINK THERE WAS SOMETHING THAT HAD DROPPED FROM HER, TOO, THAT WE FOUND PART-WAY OVER. >>

Bunney

WE FOLLOWED THIS TRAIL FOR A LITTLE WHILE, STOPPED AGAIN, WERE QUIET, AND WE YELLED, "JULIE!" IT WAS THE SADDEST THING YOU EVER HEARD. YOU HEARD A LITTLE KIND OF A WHIMPER THAT SAID, "IT HURTS." MAN, IT WAS SAD. >>

Pierre

I WAS ABOUT TO STEP OVER A LOG, AND I SAW HER. SHE HAD NO CLOTHES ON, AND SHE WAS LYING ON HER STOMACH, AND SHE WASN'T MOVING. >>

Narrator

BUT SHE WAS STILL BREATHING, BARELY. SHE HAD SEVERE WOUNDS ALL OVER HER BODY AND PUNCTURE WOUNDS IN HER UPPER BACK AND HER LUNGS WHERE THE BEAR HAD APPARENTLY PICKED HER UP AND CARRIED HER. STEVE CALLED THE OTHER MEN OVER, AND THEY COVERED HER WITH THEIR COATS. FATHER CONNOLLY WENT BACK IN THE DARK TO GET ANOTHER BEDSPRING FROM THE TRAIL-CREW CABIN, AND THE MEN USED IT AS A LITTER AND CARRIED JULIE BACK UP THE HILL. >>

Gullet

WE'RE GOING UP THE TRAIL AND JULIE WOKE UP, AND SHE SAID TO ME, "WOULD YOU HOLD MY HAND, PLEASE? I'M SCARED, I'M SCARED." AND THAT'S -- AND I HELD HER HAND, AND THAT'S WHEN I BECAME AWARE IN OUR LIVES OF HOW IMPORTANT HUMAN TOUCH IS. >> AND THE DOCTOR SAID, "TRY TO KEEP HER QUIET. TRY TO KEEP HER QUIET." AND I WAS RIGHT BY HER HEAD AND SHOULDERS, HELPING CARRY HER UP, SO I SAID, I JUST SAID, YOU KNOW, "JUST LIE QUIET, THE DOCTORS ARE HELPING YOU AND GOD IS WATCHING OVER YOU AND GOD WILL HELP YOU." AND AT THAT, SHE WAS ABLE TO RESPOND, "YES, I KNOW HE WILL." >>

Narrator

THEY CARRIED JULIE INTO THE CHALET, WHERE THE DOCTORS WERE READY. JOAN HAD TRANSFORMED THE DINING ROOM INTO AN EMERGENCY ROOM. JULIE WAS CLINGING TO LIFE. SHE HAD LOST A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF BLOOD AND WAS BARELY BREATHING. ALL THREE DOCTORS, LED BY JOHN LIPINSKI, WORKED WITH JULIE, INCLUDING JOHN'S WIFE, ANN, A NURSE. EVEN THEIR DAUGHTER, THERESE, ASSISTED BY HOLDING A LIGHT AS HER FATHER TRIED TO FIND AN UNCOLLAPSED VEIN. ONCE HE DID, HE INSERTED A NEEDLE AND HUNG THE PLASMA BOTTLE. LIPINSKI, AT FIRST HOPEFUL, REALIZED TOO MUCH TIME AND BLOOD HAD BEEN LOST. DR. LIPINSKI AND FATHER CONNOLLY EXCHANGED WORDLESS GLANCES, AND THE SURGEON SHOOK HIS HEAD SLIGHTLY, SIDE TO SIDE. FATHER CONNOLLY ASKED FOR SOME WATER, BAPTIZED JULIE, AND GIVE HER THE SACRAMENT OF LAST RITES. >>

Connolly

SO I WAS PRAYING WITH JULIE AND SAID THE LORD'S PRAYER, AND I HAD ASKED HER TO HOLD MY HAND, BECAUSE SHE WAS ABLE TO HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF A GRIP, AND GAVE ME SOME AWARENESS THAT WE WERE IN CONTACT WITH EACH OTHER AND THAT SHE WAS FOLLOWING THE PRAYER AND THOUGHTS. TOWARDS THE END OF THE LORD'S PRAYER, HER HAND JUST STARTED TO RELAX, AND I JUST FELT THAT WE PROBABLY HAD LOST HER THEN. >>

Narrator

IT

WAS 4

13 A.M., SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, 1967. IT WAS THE FIRST FATALITY CAUSED BY A BEAR IN THE 57 YEARS SINCE GLACIER NATIONAL PARK OFFICIALLY OPENED IN 1910, BUT LIGHTNING WAS ABOUT TO STRIKE TWICE IN ALMOST THE SAME PLACE. INCREDIBLY, ANOTHER ATTACK IN ANOTHER PART OF THE PARK WAS ONLY MINUTES AWAY. >> COPY 746... >>

Narrator

MUCH OF THE DRAMA AND TRAGEDY AT GRANITE PARK THAT NIGHT WAS PICKED UP BY OTHER RANGER STATIONS EQUIPPED WITH SHORTWAVE RADIOS. LEONARD LANDA AND HIS FAMILY SPENT THAT SUMMER AT THE LAKE McDONALD RANGER STATION AND WERE ASLEEP WHEN JOAN DEVEREAUX'S FIRST EMERGENCY CALLS FROM GRANITE PARK CHALET CRACKLED OVER THE RADIO. BUT SOON THERE WAS A DELUGE OF VOICES OVER THE AIRWAVES. LANDA AND HIS WIFE LISTENED AS THE DRAMA UNFOLDED OVER THEIR RADIO. >> IT IS A MIRACLE STORY. THE FACT THAT YOU THINK THAT THEY BUILT BONFIRES AT GRANITE PARK, FLEW THIS HELICOPTER IN, THIS GUY FLEW THIS HELICOPTER IN, AND PICKED UP THE INJURED PARTY AND FLEW THEM OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, PITCH BLACK EVENING. SO, YOU KNOW, WE LISTENED TO THAT, AND THEN IT MUST HAVE FINALLY REACHED THE POINT WHERE WE SAID, "OKAY, GUESS WE'LL GO TO BED."

CHICKADEE CALLING

Narrator

>> SOON AFTER SUNRISE, LANDA WAS WAKENED BY A FAMILIAR SOUND, THE SOUND OF PEOPLE CLATTERING ACROSS LAKE-SHORE ROCKS.

KNOCKING

Narrator

>> IT'S STILL EARLY IN THE MORNING AND THE BEST DESCRIPTION OF OUR CONFRONTATION WITH THE RANGER STATION WAS BURSTING IN AND FOUR PEOPLE TALKING ALL AT ONCE. >> AT FIRST, LANDA THOUGHT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT THE BEAR ATTACK AT GRANITE PARK CHALET. IT TOOK HIM MORE THAN A MOMENT TO COMPREHEND THE ALMOST INCOMPREHENSIBLE. THE FOUR YOUNG PEOPLE WERE TELLING HIM THAT THEY HAD BEEN INVOLVED IN ANOTHER INCIDENT, A SECOND BEAR ATTACK, AT TROUT LAKE. >> THEY WERE FRIGHTENED, AND I CAN SEE WHY, AND FINALLY IT WAS LIKE, "OKAY, LET'S SORT THIS OUT, LET'S SORT THIS OUT." >> THE SORTING OUT BEGAN WITH WHAT HAPPENED THE EVENING BEFORE. WHEN MICHELE AND HER FRIENDS FIRST SAW A GRIZZLY WALK STRAIGHT INTO THEIR CAMP. RANGER LANDA ALMOST COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. THIS WAS ANOTHER BEAR ATTACK AND IT HAPPENED ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIDGE FROM LANDA'S RANGER STATION? >>

Dunn

THE GRIZZLY THAT ENTERED INTO OUR CAMPSITE WAS VERY LARGE, SORT OF SILVERY AND BROWN AND WITH A GIGANTIC HUMP OVER THE BACK AND A HUGE, HUGE HEAD, JUST A VERY LARGE HEAD. AND IT WAS JUST AN AWESOME SIGHT. >>

Narrator

AFTER MICHELE FIRST SPOTTED THE BEAR, RON NOSECK QUICKLY UNTIED AND GRABBED DENISE'S DOG AND RAN WITH THE GROUP AWAY FROM THE LOG JAM AND UP THE SHORE OF TROUT LAKE. ALTHOUGH THE GROUP PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW IT, THE LOG JAM ON TROUT LAKE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A NATURAL CROSSING FOR BEARS. THE BEAR IMMEDIATELY BEGAN GOING THROUGH THE CAMPERS' FOOD, WHICH HAD BEEN SPREAD ACROSS THE GROUND -- LICKING, PAWING AND EATING AND RANSACKING THROUGH THE PACKS BEFORE FINALLY TURNING TO GO BACK ACROSS THE LOG JAM. >>

Dunn

THERE WAS DISCUSSION ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT WE SHOULD LEAVE, AND IT WAS GETTING TO BE LATE IN THE DAY AND WE HAD TO GO BACK THROUGH THAT BERRY PATCH IN ORDER TO GET BACK UP OVER HOWE RIDGE AND DOWN TO THE TRAILHEAD. AND SO THERE WAS A DECISION THAT WE WOULD STAY AND TOUGH IT OUT. >>

Narrator

THE GROUP GATHERED THEIR GEAR, PITCHED A NEW CAMPSITE ALONG THE SHORE, AND BUILT A LOG BARRIER AND A BONFIRE. THEY ATE COOKIES AND CRACKERS, PAUL TOOK THIS PICTURE, AND THEN AS BEST THEY COULD, EVERYONE SETTLED IN FOR THE NIGHT. PAUL SLEPT IN AN OLD, RECTANGULAR, FLANNEL SLEEPING BAG, BUT BECAUSE IT WAS A WARM NIGHT, HE FELL ASLEEP WITH THE BAG OPEN. >> AT AROUND MIDNIGHT, I TRIED TO ZIP UP THE BAG AND FAILED, JUST BECAUSE THE ZIPPER WAS STUCK AT THE VERY BOTTOM, SO I WAS LYING DOWN WITH THE SLEEPING BAG AROUND ME, BUT NOT ZIPPED UP, AND THAT ENDED UP SAVING MY LIFE. >> AROUND 2:00 IN THE MORNING, THEY HEARD NOISES. THE BEAR HAD RETURNED. IT WALKED THROUGH THEIR OLD CAMPSITE, THEN FEARLESSLY TOWARD THEIR NEW ONE, WHERE IT GRABBED AND ATE A SACK OF COOKIES LEFT OUT ON A LOG BEFORE RETREATING BACK INTO THE WOODS. THE NOSECK BROTHERS AND PAUL THREW MORE LOGS ONHE FIRE. DENISE PULLED SQUIRT DEEPER INTO HER SLEEPING BAG. ONLY ONCE HE GROWLED, BUT THE DOG'S SCENT PROBABLY WOULD HAVE BEEN ON ALL OF THEM, ESPECIALLY DENISE AND MICHELE. OCCASIONALLY THEY HEARD SPLASHING IN THE LAKE AND SOMETIMES THE SOUND OF WOOFING IN THE WOODS. THEN SILENCE. BUT IT WOULDN'T LAST FOR LONG.

A LITTLE AFTER 4

00, PAUL AGAIN HEARD HIS FRIENDS' VOICES. THE BEAR HAD RETURNED. >>

Dunn

I COULD HEAR HIM BREATHING, AND THAT WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THE MOST FRIGHTENING MOMENTS OF MY LIFE, HAVING THIS GIGANTIC CREATURE DIRECTLY OVER MY SLEEPING BAG, WHILE I'M LYING DOWN AND AT THE ADVICE OF EVERYONE IN THE CAMPSITE TALKING, PLAYING DEAD. IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO SORT OUT THE GRAVITY OF THE EXPERIENCE. TIME LET THAT HAPPEN. WHEN THOSE MOMENTS OF FEAR CAME FOR ME, IT REALLY HAD TO DO WITH HIS RESPIRATION. AND STANDING OVER MY BAG AND HOW LONG IT TOOK FOR AN INHALE AND AN EXHALE. I MEAN, IT WAS FIVE, SIX, SEVEN SECONDS, I MEAN, IT -- I HAD NEVER BEEN AROUND A CREATURE THAT WAS THAT LARGE AND THAT YOU COULD FEEL THE WEIGHT OF THIS ANIMAL JUST BY THE RESPIRATION, JUST BY THE SOUND OF IT BREATHING. IT WAS -- IT WAS UNCANNY, IT WAS JUST AN ELEVATION OF FEAR TO A LEVEL THAT -- IT'S ALMOST INEFFABLE, INDESCRIBABLE. WELL, I PLAYED DEAD AND THEN THE NEXT THING THAT HAPPENED WAS THE CRUNCH INTO THE BACK OF THE BAG. AND I FELT MY SHIRT AND MY SLEEPING BAG GET CRUNCHED, AND I THREW MY HAND OPEN TO GET OUT OF THE BAG, JUMPED ACROSS A CORNER OF THE FIRE, AND WENT UP A TREE DIRECTLY WITHIN FOUR, FIVE, SIX FEET OF THE FIRE. IT WAS A PINE TREE, THERE WERE NO BRANCHES IN THE LOWER PART OF JUST WENT FOR THE NEAREST AND I POSSIBLE SAFETY I COULD FIND. >>

Narrator

THE BEAR, STARTLED, BRIEFLY BACKED OFF INTO THE WOODS. >> AND THEN HE CAME AND STARTED MOVING TOWARDS RON AND DENISE. AND IT WAS AT THAT POINT, I SAID, "HERE -- HE'S COMING BACK IN," AND RON AND DENISE BOTH JUMPED UP AND RAN DOWN THE BEACH. THAT -- I WATCHED THE BEAR DO THE EXACT SAME THING, RECOIL FROM THEIR ENERGY AND THEIR MOVEMENT, AND HE WENT BACK UP INTO THE WOODS AGAIN. AND THE ONLY PEOPLE LEFT AT THE CAMPSITE AT THAT POINT WAS RAY AND MICHELE. >> DENISE HAD UNLEASHED AND GRABBED HOLD OF HER DOG AND RAN WITH RON. FROM THE TREE, PAUL COULD NOT SEE RAY AND MICHELE, BUT WATCHING THE BEAR BACK AWAY FROM RON AND DENISE, PAUL TRIED TO WARRAY AND MICHELE NOT TO PLAY DEAD, BUT TO RUN. RAY DID. MICHELE DID NOT. >>

Dunn

SO I WAS YELLING AT PEOPLE TO RUN DOWN THE BEACH OR DO WHATEVER THEY COULD TO ESCAPE THIS SITUATION. I HEARD SOMEONE RUNNING DOWN THE BEACH, AND I DIDN'T KNOW THAT MICHELE HAD NOT GONE RIGHT AWAY UNTIL SHE SCREAMED THAT SHE WAS BEING ATTACKED. SHE SCREAMED, "HE'S GOT MY ARM." AND THIS WAS -- I SURMISED, AND I DON'T WHETHER IT WAS TRUE OR NOT, BUT THAT SHE CRAWLED DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF HER SLEEPING BAG FOR PROTECTION. THE BEAR GOT INTO THE SLEEPING BAG AND PULLED HER OUT AND DID IT BY HER ARM. AND THEN THE OTHER THING THAT SHE SCREAMED WAS, "OH, MY GOD, I'M DEAD." WHICH WAS BONE-CHILLING, OBVIOUSLY, AND THAT WAS IT. YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT ALL OF THIS WAS HAPPENING WITHIN MINUTES, AND SO THE LEVEL OF ANXIETY, OF PANIC, OF FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN WAS OVERWHELMING. TO HEAR SOMEONE RESPOND TO BEING ATTACKED, VERBALLY, AND THEN ALSO TO SCREAM OUT, "OH, MY GOD, I'M DEAD!" YOU CAN'T PUT INTO WORDS WHAT THAT MADE A PERSON FEEL LIKE, BEING SO CLOSE TO IT. >>

Narrator

PAUL WAITED FIVE OR TEN MINUTES, YELLED AT RON, RAY, AND DENISE THAT HE WAS COMING DOWN OUT OF THE TREE, THEN PULLED ON HIS JEANS AND RAN DOWN THE SHORE. ALL FOUR CLIMBED TREES, DENISE WITH HER DOG, AND WAITED FOR DAWN. >>

Dunn

IT'S HARD TO JUDGE TIME IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS, BUT IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST UNCANNY SIGHTS THAT I CAN REMEMBER IN MY LIFE. FOUR PEOPLE HANGING ON TO FOUR INDIVIDUAL TREES SOMEWHERE AROUND, I DON'T KNOW, 25, 30 FEET UP OFF THE GROUND. WE STAYED UP IN THE TREES FOR FROM 60 TO 90 MINUTES, UNTIL THE FIRST LIGHT WAS ADEQUATE ENOUGH THAT WE FELT SAFE ENOUGH TO HEAD BACK TO THE RANGER STATION AT THE TRAILHEAD. >>

Narrator

AFTER CLIMBING DOWN FROM THE TREES, OVERWHELMED BY WHAT HAD HAPPENED AND SEEMINGLY OVERCOME BY SHOCK, FRIGHT, HOPELESSNESS, DESPERATION, AND LOSS, THE GROUP LEFT TO GET HELP. >>

Dunn

THERE WAS -- THERE WERE TEARS, THERE WAS DISBELIEF, THERE WAS FEAR, THERE -- ALL THE HUMAN EMOTIONS WERE ON THE SURFACE AT THAT POINT AND THE ADRENALINE WAS RUNNING SO HIGH THAT IT SEEMED LIKE ONLY MINUTES TO GET UP OVER HOWE RIDGE. >>

Narrator

THE FOUR HALF-WALKED, HALF-RAN OUT TO THE LAKE McDONALD RANGER STATION WHERE THEY TOLD THEIR STORY TO RANGER LEONARD LANDA. AFTER HEARING AND FINALLY PIECING TOGETHER AND UNDERSTANDING WHAT HAD HAPPENED, LANDA TELEPHONED HEADQUARTERS. THEY GAVE HIM THE GO-AHEAD TO TAKE HIS RIFLE AND HEAD TO TROUT LAKE. LANDA ASD PAUL AND RON TO GO BACK IN WITH HIM. SOMEONE AT HEADQUARTERS TOLD ANOTHER RANGER, LANDA'S FRIEND BERT GILDART, TO FOLLOW THEM. >>

Gildart

I WAS 27 YEARS OLD AND I'D BEEN JOGGING A LOT AND SO I ABLE TO -- ALMOST RUN OVER HOWE RIDGE AND DROP DOWN INTO TROUT LAKE. AND I WAS NOT VERY FAR BEHIND LEONARD AND THE OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAD SHOWN UP THERE ONLY, YOU KNOW, 15 TO 20 MINUTES PRIOR TO THE TIME I ARRIVED. >>

Narrator

THE OTHER PEOPLE INCLUDED A LOCAL FISHERMAN WHO HAD ARRIVED ON HORSEBACK AND HELICOPTER PILOT JOHN WESTOVER. EARLIER, WESTOVER HAD FLOWN JULIE HELGESON'S BODY OUT OF GRANITE PARK, AND ALMOST AS SOON AS HE RETURNED TO HIS BUNK, HE WAS AWOKEN. >> THEY CAME AND WOKE ME UP AGAIN AND SAID, "THERE'S ANOTHER EPISODE UP AT TROUT LAKE." AND SO I PICKED UP A RANGER AND HIS HIGH-POWERED RIFLE AND WE WENT TO TROUT LAKE. I REMEMBER, IT WAS HARD TO FIND A PLACE TO LAND BECAUSE WE -- THERE JUST WASN'T A PLACE THERE. WE THOUGHT OF LANDING IN THE SHALLOW WATER THERE, BUT WE FINALLY FOUND A LANDING SPOT AND THE YOUNG PEOPLE THAT WERE THERE WERE VERY ANXIOUS AND TOLD US THE LAST TIME THEY SAW MICHELE KOONS WAS -- SHE WAS BEING DRAGGED UP THE MOUNTAIN WITH A -- BY A GRIZZLY BEAR IN HER SLEEPING BAG. >> THE GROUP FOLLOWED A GRUESOME TRAIL UP A SHADOWED DARK SLOPE, CANOPIED WITH MOUNTAIN ASH, THIMBLEBERRIES, AND SPRUCE DRAPED WITH SO-CALLED GRIZZLY-HAIR LICHEN. >> I WAS PROBABLY 15 OR 20 FEET AWAY FROM THEM. LEONARD SAID, "HERE SHE IS." >>

Landa

WHEN I FOUND HER, I THINK I HAD JUST KIND OF A FEELING OF SHOCK, JUST LIKE, "OH, MY GOODNESS." BECAUSE SHE HAD BEEN PRETTY WELL MUTILATED BY THE BEAR. AND IT WAS JUST THE KIND OF -- IT WAS A MATTER OF SHOCK FOR ME. AND IT JUST TOOK ME -- IT TOOK ME A LITTLE BIT TO GET MY SENSES ABOUT ME THAT -- THAT THIS HAD HAPPENED AND WHAT A TRAGIC EVENT IT REALLY IS. >>

Narrator

RANGER GILDART PARTICULARLY REMEMBERED LOOKING AT RON NOSECK. >> I THINK HE WAS PROBABLY IN A STATE OF SHOCK -- HE'D KNOWN THIS GIRL VERY WELL. AND I THINK THEY WERE GOOD FRIENDS, AND I THINK THAT HE WAS SOMEWHAT IN A STATE OF SHOCK. >> THAT WAS A DAY THAT I'LL REMEMBER FOR A LONG TIME. WE'D JUST COME HOME FROM CHURCH AND WERE IN -- WE WERE SITTING DOWN AT THE TABLE, ALL OF US, AND WE GOT THE PHONE CALL, AND A PARK RANGER, AND ASKED WHO I WAS AND I TOLD HIM. AND HE SAID, "I'M SORRY TO HAVE TO TELL YOU, BUT YOUR DAUGHTER WAS KILLED." >> I REMEMBER MY DAD WRITING, BECAUSE MY MOM WAS ACROSS THE COUNTER FROM HIM AND WRITING SO SHE COULD KIND OF GET THE MESSAGE AT THE SAME TIME. >>

Wes

HE JUST SAID SHE WAS ATTACKED BY A GRIZZLY BEAR. AND MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS, I SAID WAS, "WAS ANYONE ELSE HURT?" AND HE SAID ANOTHER, A BOY, THE 16-YEAR-OLD, BUT THE REST OF THEM WEREN'T AND HE SAID THAT THE SAME -- HE ALSO TOLD ME THAT ANOTHER ATTACK HAD HAPPENED.

HELICOPTER WHIRRING

Wes

>>

Narrator

WHERE THE OTHER ATTACK HAD HAPPENED, JOAN DEVEREAUX HAD WATCHED THAT MORNING AS JULIE HELGESON'S BODY WAS FLOWN OUT. THEN SHE GATHERED THE STILL-STUNNED CHALET GUESTS AND STAFF AND WAITED WITH DR. LIPINSKI FOR A GROUP OF ARMED RANGERS TO ESCORT THEM OUT. >>

Devereaux

DR. LIPINSKI TURNED TO ME AND SAID AS THEY LOADED HER ON THE HELICOPTER, WHICH CAME IN THE SECOND TIME AND TRIED TO MAKE ME FEEL THAT WE'D DONE WHAT WE COULD AND HAD SAID THAT, HAD SHE BEEN INJURED AS SEVERELY AS SHE WAS IN FRONT OF THE HOSPITAL IN KALISPELL, WE PROBABLY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SAVE HER. >>

Narrator

WHEN THE RANGERS ARRIVED, THEY LED THE CHALET VISITORS TO SAFETY THE SHORTEST WAY POSSIBLE TO GOING TO THE SUN ROAD, DOWN THE LOOP TRAIL, RIGHT BACK THROUGH THE AREA WHERE THE BEAR HAD ATTACKED ROY AND JULIE. ON THE WAY OUT, THEY PASSED FOUR OTHER RANGERS COMING UP THE TRAIL, THREE WITH RIFLES. FOR THE NEXT TWO NIGHTS, THE ARMED RANGERS WOULD BAIT THE CHALET AREA, WITH ORDERS TO SHOOT ANY BEARS THAT WANDERED INTO THE DUMP. >> WELL, THEY KILLED TWO AND -- ADULT BEARS BEFORE THEY KILLED THE FEMALE THAT KILLED THE GIRL. >> ON THE SECOND NIGHT, A SOW WITH TWO CUBS APPEARED.

GUN SHOTS

Narrator

THE RANGERS SHOT AND KILLED THE SOW, AND AFTER EXAMINING HER, FOUND SPOTS OF WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DRIED BLOOD BETWEEN HER CLAWS. SHE ALSO HAD A DAMAGED DANGLING PAD ON HER HEEL, A WOUND THAT WOULD HAVE KEPT THE BEAR IN CONSTANT PAIN. THE RANGERS KNEW THAT IF AN INJURED BEAR WITH CUBS UNEXPECTEDLY RAN INTO HUMANS, IT WOULD BE AN ANGRY BEAR. BUT IT WAS NEVER DETERMINED WITH ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY THAT THE SOW WAS THE BEAR THAT KILLED JULIE. THE NEXT MORNING, THE CUBS WERE AGAIN SPOTTED. ONE OF THE RANGERS SHOT AT THEM AND STRUCK ONE, SHATTERING ITS JAW. THE CUB WOULD SOMEHOW MANAGE TO SURVIVE THE WINTER, BUT WAS MERCIFULLY KILLED THE NEXT SUMMER. >>

Ostrom

I DON'T KNOW IF THEY WERE AFRAID OF ME OR WHAT, BUT THEY CALLED OFF THE SHOOTING. I WAS MAD ENOUGH TO PUNCH SOMEBODY. >>

Narrator

SHOOTING AT THE CUBS WAS ALMOST IMMEDIATELY CONTROVERSIAL, ANGERING THOSE WHO THOUGHT THE YOUNG BEARS WERE BY THEN OLD ENOUGH TO SURVIVE ON THEIR OWN. IT WOULD BE PERHAPS THE FIRST OF MANY OVERREACTIONS IN THE COMING YEARS AS THE SO-CALLED "NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLIES" THREATENED TO BECOME THE END OF THE GRIZZLIES. MEANWHILE, QUICKLY, THE STORY OF TWO DEADLY BEAR ATTACKS IN ONE NIGHT RIPPLED, THEN RACED OUT OF GLACIER NATIONAL PARK AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY, EVENTUALLY ENDING UP ON WALTER CRONKITE'S BROADCAST OF THE CBS EVENING NEWS. >> WE DO NOT HAVE ANY THEORY AT THE PRESENT TIME AS TO WHAT PROMPTED THESE TWO KILLINGS SO CLOSE TOGETHER. >> OUR CONCERN IS WE HAVE ONE OF THE LAST STRONGHOLDS OF THE GRIZZLY BEAR IN THE PARK, WE -- HE WAS ONCE VERY ABUNDANT THROUGHOUT NORTH AMERICA. >> THE ANSWER -- "WE DON'T KNOW. WE HOPE TO." THIS IS PAUL ANTHONY, CBS NEWS, GLACIER NATIONAL PARK. >> THE TROUT LAKE BEAR WAS NOT A SURPRISED FEMALE WITH CUBS, BUT A DEFINITE PROBLEM BEAR, THE KELLY'S CAMP BEAR, THE BEA HABITUATED TO HUMANS, THE BEAR EVERYONE SEEMED TO KNOW ABOUT. IT WAS RANGERS BERT GILDART AND LEONARD LANDA'S ASSIGNMENT TO FIND IT AND KILL IT. AFTER MICHELE KOONS' BODY HAD BEEN RECOVERED, THE TWO RANGERS CLEARED PARK VISITORS FROM THE SURROUNDING AREA, RETURNED TO LAKE McDONALD, CLOSED OFF THE TRAIL, THEN, ARMED, HEADED BACK IN. THEY BAITED THE TROUT LAKE CAMPGROUND AND PART OF THE SHORELINE, WAITED SEVERAL HOURS FOR THE BEAR TO APPEAR, BUT THEN AS DARKNESS FELL, HEADED TWOILES UPSTREAM TO A SHELTER CABIN. ALONG THE WAY, THEY SPOTTED FRESH BEAR TRACKS AND SCAT. >>

Landa

AND THERE WAS A BIG MOON THAT NIGHT, AND WE KIND OF CAME AROUND THIS LITTLE BEND AND THE BRUSH OPENING UP AND YOU COULD SEE THE SUN -- THE MOON REFLECTING OFF THAT ARROW LAKE SHELTER CABIN AND IT'S LIKE, "WOW, WE HAVE MADE IT. WE ARE -- WE'RE SAFE." >>

Narrator

THE NEXT MORNING, THE BEAR FOUND THEM. WHEN GILDART STEPPED OUTSIDE THE SHELTER CABIN IN THE EARLY LIGHT, THE BEAR WAS 40 FEET AWAY IN CAMAS CREEK BED, PEERING UP, DROPPING DOWN, THEN STANDING. >> SO WHEN I SAW THAT, I HOLLERED TO LEONARD, I SAID, "LEONARD, WE'VE GOT THE BEAR OUT HERE," AND I SAID, "BRING THE GUNS QUICKLY." >> THE BEAR MOVED TOWARD THEM AND WHEN IT NEXT LIFTED ITSELF UP OUT OF THE CREEK BED, LEONARD LANDA AND BERT GILDART TOOK AIM AND FIRED.

GUN SHOTS

Narrator

WITHIN HOURS, AN FBI AGENT AND THE PARK BIOLOGIST WERE FLOWN BY HELICOPTERS TO THE SITE. THE BIOLOGIST CUT INTO THE BEAR'S STOMACH AND FOUND A BALL OF BLOND HAIR. THE BEAR WAS ALSO EMACIATED, AND THE BIOLOGIST FOUND GLASS EMBEDDED IN ITS MOLARS, INDICATING IT TOO MUST HAVE BEEN IN CONSTANT PAIN. >> HERE YOU HAVE THIS SMALL BEAR OR ROGUE BEAR, WITH GLASS EMBEDDED IN ITS TEETH THAT HAD BEEN, YOU KNOW, THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISPOSED OF PROBABLY A LONG TIME AGO. BUT THE CIRCUMSTANCES WERE SUCH, IN THOSE DAYS, THAT PEOPLE, YOU KNOW, DIDN'T JUST REALIZE THE DANGER THAT PEOPLE WERE IN BY THIS BEAR THAT HAD STOPPED FEARING PEOPLE. >> THE KELLY'S CAMP BEAR KILLED MICHELE, AND PARK OFFICIALS BELIEVED THERE WAS A HIGH PROBABILITY THAT THE SOW AT THE CHALET KILLED JULIE HELGESON. BUT ONE NEVER-TO-BE-SOLVED MYSTERY REMAINED, A MYSTERY THAT TOOK ON THE AURA OF MYTH -- WHY DID TWO BEARS IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK ATTACK AND KILL ON THE SAME NIGHT? >> I DON'T HAVE ANY THEORIES ABOUT WHY BOTH INCIDENTS OCCURRED THAT NIGHT, OTHER THAN IT WAS A -- THE CULMINATION OF A LOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS THAT HAD BEEN HAPPENING AND IT JUST -- I THINK IT'S JUST SHEER COINCIDENCE. >> I DON'T THINK I BELIEVED IT, NO. IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THEY HAPPENED ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY, WITH HEAVENS PEAK IN BETWEEN. >> THE INCIDENTS THAT NIGHT WERE THE CATALYST FOR THE MOVE INTO A WHOLE NEW ERA OF GRIZZLY BEAR MANAGEMENT. WE COULD NO LONGER STAND BY AND EITHER ACTIVELY FEED OR ALLOW GARBAGE TO BE LEFT OUT FOR GRIZZLY BEARS AND WE HAD TO TAKE ACTION -- THERE HAD TO BE SOME CRITERIA FOR WHAT WAS ACCEPTABLE BEAR BEHAVIOR. THERE ARE MANY CHALLENGES ON THE HORIZON FOR MANAGING THIS SPECIES, BUT CERTAINLY THE INCIDENTS THAT NIGHT MARKED A WATERSHED EVENT IN THE -- IN MANAGING BEARS, AND IT DIDN'T HAPPEN OVERNIGHT. IT TOOK A WHILE FOR MANY OF THOSE THINGS TO BE PUT INTO PLACE. >> TWO YEARS AFTER THE ATTACK, JACK OLSEN, A WELL-RESPECTED CRIME WRITER, WROTE A THREE-PART SERIES FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, LATER PUBLISHED INTO A BEST-SELLING BOOK, "NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLIES." BY ALMOST ALL ACCOUNTS FROM THE REMAINING LIVING PARTICIPANTS, OLSEN'S STORY IS ACCURATE AND THOROUGH, AND DESPITE THE BOOK BEING CALLED AN ECO-THRILLER, THE AUTHOR WROTE SYMPATHETICALLY ABOUT THE FATE OF BEARS. STILL, GRIZZLIES WERE AGGRESSIVELY HUNTED AND KILLED, AND BY THE EARLY 1970s, IT LOOKED LIKE THEY MIGHT SOON BE WIPED OUT. OLSEN DIED IN 2002, BUT HE DID LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO WITNESS HOPE FOR THE IMPERILED GRIZZLY BEAR. THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973 WAS THE CRITICAL TURNING POINT THAT AT LEAST GAVE GRIZZLIES A REPRIEVE AND MAY HAVE SAVED THEM FROM EXTINCTION. THE ACT REDUCED HABITAT LOSS AND PROTECTED GRIZZLIES BY LISTING THEM AS ENDANGERED, EFFECTIVELY ENDING UNAUTHORIZED HUNTING AND KILLING OF THE SPECIES. IN ADDITION, OVER THE YEARS, A WIDE RANGE OF BEAR-MANAGEMENT POLICIES EVOLVED THAT MIGHT BE SUMMARIZED INTO A SIMPLE MESSAGE -- SEPARATE HUMANS FROM BEARS AND TRY TO GIVE BEARS PLENTY OF ROOM. FOR THE FUTURE, THERE IS A BIOLOGICAL DREAM SCENARIO, THE Y2Y PROJECT, AN EXTENSIVE AND HISTORIC AND CONSERVATION EFFORT TO PRESERVE WILDLIFE HABITAT IN A HUGE, 2,000-MILE-LONG MOUNTAINOUS CORRIDOR THAT EXTENDS FROM THE YUKON TO THE YELLOWSTONE. IT IS A DREAM, BUT MANY GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS ARE WORKING VIGOROUSLY TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. THE DEATHS OF JULIE HELGESON AND MICHELE KOONS WERE A TRAGEDY, BUT NOT A MEANINGLESS ONE. GREAT CHANGE AND HOPE ENSUED. DESPITE THE DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER AND THE PAIN HE AND HIS FAMILY HAVE FELT OVER THE YEARS, MICHELE'S FATHER HOLDS NO ILL WILL AND BELIEVES IN THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURVIVAL OF GRIZZLIES. >> I ALWAYS WOULD THINK ABOUT WHAT CIVILIZATION HAS DONE TO BEARS. FORCED THEM TO DO THINGS THAT THEY WOULDN'T ORDINARILY DO. I LOOKED AT IT AS A FORCE OF NATURE. >> A BEAR IS WHAT IT IS BORN TO BE, AND IT'S WHAT IT LEARNS TO BE. THE MOST DISTANT PLACE IN THE LOWER 48 STATES FROM THE NEAREST ROAD IS 23 MILES, WHICH WOULD TAKE A BEAR A MORNING TO WALK OUT OF. THERE IS NO "BIG WILD" LEFT OUT THERE. AND THESE GUYS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO LEARN TO LIVE WITH US, WHICH I THINK THEY'RE DOING, AND WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO LIVE WITH THEM, AND AGAIN THIS PROCESS STARTED FROM ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT TIMES IN THE HISTORY OF BEARS AND HUMANS, AT LEAST IN RECENT ERA. "THE NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLIES." >> LORD GOD, YOU GAVE US THIS BEAUTIFUL LAND, INVITED US TO LIVE HERE IN PEACE AND BLESSINGS, TO LOVE THIS LAND EVEN AS YOU HAVE LOVED IT, AND TO LIVE WITH IT, WITH EQUAL JUSTICE FOR ALL OF YOUR CREATURES. AND WE MAKE THAT OUR PRAYER HERE, ON TOP OF THE WORLD TODAY. HOSANNA, HOSANNA ON HIGH BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST HOSANNA, HOSANNA ON HIGH >> THIS PROGRAM IS AVAILABLE ON DVD. TO ORDER, CALL MONTANA PBS AT 800-406-6383 OR VISIT montanapbs.org. >> THIS PROGRAM IS MADE POSSIBLE WITH PRODUCTION SUPPORT FROM THE GREATER MONTANA FOUNDATION, ENCOURAGING COMMUNICATION ON ISSUES, TRENDS, AND VALUES OF IMPORTANCE TO MONTANANS, THE MONTANA CULTURAL TRUST, AND THE FRIENDS OF MONTANA PBS.