Terrifying bear incident on Blackbird Island

Mark, 58, and Gabrielle, 47, John of Hayden, Idaho were visiting Leavenworth for the first time on June 21. They arrived at the World Mark property near Enchantment Park about 7 p.m. The person at the front desk told them not to deal with the downtown parking, instead just take the nearby trail into town.
Of course, they didn’t think much of it. They walked into town through the trails that run from Enchantment Park to Blackbird Island. After a nice dinner in town, they were in a rush because they knew the park closed at 10 p.m. and they didn’t want to get their car locked in.
“We got off the streets and came back down to the trail at about 9:25 p.m. It was my bad because I said to my husband when we passed the little pond, did you see that black thing across the pond? He didn’t. I was moving so fast, because when you see something big and black on the other side of the pond, you take another look,” Gabrielle John said.
It was starting to get dark, and maybe because of that, they did not see any signs in the park warning about the wildlife, but they did notice the trash cans, which are bear proof. They made a mental note of the fact there were bears there.
The pair was moving along at a pretty good clip. Gabby had torn her MCL so there was a brace on her leg. Halfway down the path, she asked her husband if he heard that. But Mark could only hear the music coming from town.
Gabby did not say what she heard, but it was definitely a bear breathing heavily.
“Approximately 200 yards before the end of the trail, it charged full, terrifying, grunting, harm intent worthy purpose. It probably covered about 50-feet in two to three seconds. I held onto my husband’s arm and we both turned to face what was coming because we needed to figure out how to defend ourselves,” she said.
Looking back, she believes they were lucky because it was so heavily wooded and dark, they could not see very well. Gabby did not believe they would have had the nerve to hold their ground if they had seen the bear clearly.
The bear stopped about 15-feet before the couple. Mark and Gabby waited about 10 seconds, then slowly started to back away and walk down the trail.
“I was singing this song from Wizard of Oz. I had no idea why. I think it was a weird, nervous thing,” Gabby said. “Maybe it was calming. The more research we’ve done on black and brown bears, if they attack, you have to fight to the death. We are happy to be alive. We both knew we were either going to die or be severely maimed from the attack.”
At that point on the trail, there was nowhere to go. It was either going to be forward or backward on the path. “The bear could maneuver much more quickly through the brush than we could. I’ve been playing it over and over in my head and we had nothing,” she said. “I was going to put my brace in the way, so maybe it would get confused chomping on metal and plastic. Beyond that, we didn’t have a stick or stone or anything to defend ourselves.”
As you can imagine, Gabby and Mark have been replaying those few seconds in their mind over and over again.
“After we got home from our trip, we both started voraciously reading and watching information on bears, what to do, what not to do. Even after we got home, my husband said he just kept thinking about those split seconds,” she said. “When it was happening, our minds were blank because we knew death was running toward us and wasn’t going to be a swift, easy death, it was going to be a horrible, maiming, painful one. Both of our minds were blank, because it was just going to happen and it was going to play out however it was going to play out.”
The only thing she was thinking about was her brace.
“I’m not mobile and this was the only thing besides our flesh and bones that we had with us. There was not a ton of stuff flashing through our minds or racing through our minds. We were very still,” she said. “It happened too quickly. I’ve never been faced with death like that before. Truly, my mind was blank and was preparing for whatever comes next.”
Gabby hasn’t been sleeping well. When she wakes up the morning, the images, thoughts and sounds of the bear charge are right there. They tried to hiking the next day, if you can believe that.
“We were hiking a little bit and I told my husband I was so uncomfortable. I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same with all the things we do outdoors,” she said. “I’m petrified. I feel like we are sitting ducks out there, especially when you’re walking through with the area above you. There could be a cat up there. I was terrified to even turn around. Just going back to the car, I was absolutely petrified. I feel like a part of my innocence has been taken away.”
The John’s have two boys, 11 and 14, who enjoy mountain biking and things like that. It was decided they would be serious about being prepared in the woods. They want to be as educated as possible about various animal attacks.
She did call the hotel that night and was not pleased at what she heard.
“The front desk lady said, you probably ran away screaming and provoked it. I said, no that was not the case. She said, us locals know better than to be walking at that time in certain areas. But I said, you don’t cater to locals. There is a huge tourist community here. What if there is someone with a small child and the concierge is telling them to take the path. She handled it terribly,” Gabby said.
Her experience calling the welcome desk the next day was much different.
“I talked to the lady at the welcome desk and she acted very appropriately because when she was younger, in that area of the park, she also had to get ushered into the car by her mom because there was a bear. Once you’ve experienced a bear, you know instantaneously what the other person is talking about, the dread and fear,” she said.
She did talk to State Fish and Wildlife. The Johns would love to visit Leavenworth again, but walking those trails is out of the question.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever walk it again because it was so lovely. If we bring the boys back, would we let them ride their bikes there? I don’t know. It’s like a ticking time bomb,” she said. “It was awful. We are traumatized by it. We’re running scared.”
State Fish and Wildlife officer, Eric Oswald, said this bear was a sow with cubs who had been eating choke cherries on Blackbird lsland, which not at all uncommon this time of year. There are a few bears that frequent Leavenworth during the summer, he said.
What this mama bear was actually doing is a bluff charge.
“They were walking there at dusk. They were hurrying along. It’s pretty thick down there with limited visibility, darkness. They heard the bear huffing and puffing, which is something that sows do to let threats know to be aware that they are there, leave them alone, there are cubs in the area. It ran toward them and stopped 15 feet away,” Oswald said. “It is fairly common for a sow with her cubs. It’s her way of telling what she conceives as a threat to her cubs to go away. It’s a scaring tactic to get whatever it is to go away.”
It’s not an attack posture, he said. It is aggressive, but it’s not an attack.
“Given the circumstances being right at dark with limited visibility...bears have very poor eyesight, especially in the dark. They are using their nose to smell. The bear is trying to figure out what is going on. Is it a threat to her cubs? That is what is going on,” Oswald said.
Wildlife officers are asking the city to post that area with the recent bear activity to let people know there are bears there. Oswald said most of the local people know there are bears around. This happens every summer.
“There are different food attractants, between bird feeders, hummingbird feeders, garbage. There is plenty of food for them and cover. They just stay there until driven out or migrate out in the fall for breeding season. We have not had any reports since that day,” he said.
In terms of trapping this bear, Oswald said that would be very difficult, especially a sow with cubs.
“Typically, we catch the cubs first. Then, the sow is distressed. Trapping one bear is one thing, but trapping two or three is quite the effort,” he said. “The problem is if we remove one bear or two, another will replace it. There are still the attractants in the area. We can’t just keep pulling bears out of the city of Leavenworth. I’ve had bears moved 50 miles and it came right back to the spot where they were caught. It’s amazing how they come back.”
Since there is a sow with cubs down there, is it possible for it to scare more tourists?
“There is always the possibility of encountering a wild animal. There is always that chance. We’ve had a sow with cubs on Blackbird Island many summers. This is not the first summer it has happened. Bears are typically not aggressive toward people. They are just focused on eating,” Oswald said. “We haven’t trapped any bears Leavenworth this spring or summer. There haven’t been any incidents. It’s a tricky situation. You could spend hundreds of man hours, trapping bears and moving them. You can chase them off, but they come right back if there is food there.”
This is not a new issue for Leavenworth, he said.
“We suggest limiting the food attractants. We try to do the best we can working with the city to post those areas. It’s up to the city if they want to close that area off. There hasn’t been a sighting since June 21. It could have moved on. Somebody would have seen it by now,” Oswald said. “Living with wildlife, there is never a straight forward answer to these questions.”
Call 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.