(NewsNation) — A family’s video of a bear encounter has gone viral ,and it’s serving as a reminder of what to do if a black bear suddenly decides to join your hike.
“I had my kids with me and I had all these scenarios running through my head,” Brighton Peachy said Monday on “NewsNation Prime.”
Peachy, her husband and two kids were on a trail in Whistler, Canada when they realized they were being stalked by a black bear. He walked steadily behind them for more than half a mile. The whole ordeal lasted nearly half an hour.
Peachy says her husband was 10 feet from the bear at one point. Obstacles on either side of the trail kept them on the path with the bear the whole time.
She held on to her youngest child, and told her 6-year-old son to walk fast but not run.
But her kids evidently didn’t grasp the danger.
“They both thought it was really cool,” Peachy said. One of her sons even later bragged to others, “We got to see a bear on the trail and it hiked with us!”
Her 6-year-old was excited to play dead, as she told him to do if a bear ever got too close. Luckily, that was not necessary this time.
Eventually, the Peachys found other hikers and they all walked together as a group. The bear lost interest shortly after that.