Jon-Kyle Mohr was lower than a mile from the tip of an epic journey he’d been planning for years: a 50-mile run from his dwelling in June Lake, over the towering Sierra Nevada, then down into the spectacular pure amphitheater of Yosemite Valley.
His lengthy, sizzling, exhausting day was seconds from ending in triumph Sunday night time when, out of the nook of his eye, he noticed an enormous black form charging at him.
Straight away, he mentioned, he felt “some sharpness” on his shoulder adopted by a strong shove that despatched him stumbling at the hours of darkness. When he circled, individuals a couple of hundred toes away had been shining their headlamps in his course and shouting, “Bear!”
After which, proper in entrance of him, he noticed the massive, grownup black bear. The collision had knocked a stolen bag of juicy-looking rubbish from the animal’s mouth, and it didn’t appear joyful. Earlier than Mohr might totally course of what was occurring, “it was coming again at me,” he mentioned.
Mohr, 33, began yelling and slapping his working poles on the pavement, he mentioned, as individuals from a close-by campground got here to his assist, shouting and banging pots and pans.
Jon-Kyle Mohr encountered a bear in Yosemite Valley when he was ending a 50-mile run from his dwelling in June Lake.
(Courtesy of Jon-Kyle Mohr)
It labored. The bear disappeared into the darkness. Mohr’s garments had been torn, and he had just a few scratches, however there was no extra critical harm completed.
Mohr mentioned he feels fortunate. Given the staggering drive of that single blow, “if it significantly needed to inflict any type of precise hurt, it completely might have.”
Black bear sightings are widespread in Yosemite; tons of of them stay within the park. However assaults — or unintentional collisions, as seems to have occurred on this case — are uncommon. Mohr mentioned one of many rangers who responded mentioned he’d been within the park for many years and had by no means seen something prefer it.
Scott Gediman, a spokesman for Yosemite Nationwide Park mentioned, he had not acquired clearance to speak about what occurred to Mohr.
Unhealthy issues typically occur when individuals get too near bears making an attempt to take selfies, or after they shock the animals rummaging of their automobiles or tents. However an unprovoked assault on somebody strolling down the highway is sort of remarkable, in response to park officers.
Mohr mentioned the collision occurred on the highway close to Pleased Isles, not removed from the Vernal Falls trailhead, probably the most populated locations within the park.
As of July 6, there had been eight bear “incidents” this 12 months, in response to info printed on the park’s web site. An incident is any time an encounter with a bear causes financial harm — when a bear smashes a automotive window to get the meals left inside, for instance — or when a bear injures somebody, which the web site describes as “pretty unusual.”
The variety of incidents is down 20% from final 12 months, when there have been 38 in whole, in response to the Nationwide Park Service.
However bears have develop into extra lively in Yosemite Valley recently, because of a ripening crop of pure raspberries, in response to the park service. A sow and her cub have been seen repeatedly on the paths, within the meadows and close to the favored campgrounds.
Austin Wall of Napa snaps a photograph of a bear that’s carrying a tag and transmitter collar close to Yosemite’s El Capitan Meadow in 2020.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Instances)
All bears encountered in Yosemite are black bears; the final recognized grizzly was shot within the early Nineteen Twenties. Nobody has been killed or significantly injured by a black bear in Yosemite, in response to the web site.
In an interview on Monday afternoon, Mohr was nonetheless just a little rattled and looking for the phrases to explain what had occurred.
That single swipe of the bear’s highly effective paw tore by way of his solar hoodie and the shirt beneath it, Mohr mentioned. It additionally ripped just a few holes in his working vest. He had two substantial scratches with some blood, however nothing too deep or worrying, he mentioned.
An ambulance arrived and the medics bandaged his wounds, however Mohr mentioned he declined transport to a hospital.
Jon-Kyle Mohr on a Sierra Nevada peak close to June Lake in 2022. Mohr collided with a bear in Yosemite Valley when he was ending a 50-mile run on Sunday.
(Courtesy of Jon-Kyle Mohr)
Utilizing a monitoring system, park rangers positioned a well-known bear close by and began looking for it, Mohr mentioned. They advised him it had been tranquilized earlier on Sunday morning and fitted with a monitoring collar. They didn’t clarify what had prompted that motion, Mohr mentioned.
“It sounds just like the bear and I had equally loopy days,” Mohr joked.
An avid and skilled path runner, Mohr is aware of there are more likely hazards to contemplate on huge adventures within the again nation: twisting an ankle, straying astray, getting dangerously dehydrated within the warmth. Bears are very low on the record of issues.
Which is why what occurred simply seven-tenths of a mile from the end was so freaky.
He had began his run 15 hours and 59 minutes earlier, in response to his watch.
“It was only a actually unusual, random collision,” he mentioned. “If I had rested my toes for 20 seconds longer at any level over the sixteen hours, it wouldn’t have occurred.”
