Scary hike for mother and son

VERNON – A woman and her son came face-to-face with a bear while hiking the BX Creek trail on Saturday. Actually, it was more of a face-to-tail meeting.

“When they saw the bear, the bear turned and ran. It wasn’t aggressive toward them,” Vernon RCMP Sgt. Kara Triance says. “They don’t even think that the bear saw them.”

The pair thinks the bear sensed they were there and didn’t even really see them.

“They only saw the back end of the bear hightailing it out of there,” according to Sgt. Triance.

But the mother panicked and fell. She suffered some minor injuries including cuts to her face. They were south of the BX falls when they encountered the bear.

B.C. Conservation was called. It was determined the bear wasn’t habituated to people in any way. So it wasn’t necessary to track it down.

The RCMP are warning people who use the hiking trail to be aware there are bears that live along BX Creek.

The trail is popular with people with dogs. They are being reminded to keep the animals on leash. A dogs will find a bear and the bruin will chase it right back to the owner.

To contact the reporter for this story, email halexander@infotelnews.ca or call (250) 491-0331.