A San Diego resident is recovering at home after surviving a violent grizzly bear attack in Montana’s Glacier National Park, California, an encounter he says left him grateful to be alive.
Daniel Crago, 32, described the ordeal during an interview on Sunday, saying he remains thankful despite sustaining severe injuries.
“I’m honestly grateful I still have an arm,” said Daniel Crago, 32, in an interview Sunday with The Times. “It’s pretty painful, but I’m making progress day by day.”
The incident occurred on May 28 during the final hike of a long-planned visit to Glacier National Park, one of Montana’s most visited tourist destinations, attracting more than three million visitors each year.
An avid outdoorsman who grew up camping in Yosemite and Sequoia national parks, Crago had reached the end of the Grinnell Glacier Trail and stopped to take photographs. As he began walking back to meet his hiking companion, who was about 100 yards away, he noticed a grizzly cub nearby.
Drawing on years of wilderness experience, Crago said he remained calm and immediately looked around for other bears in the area.
His search quickly revealed a far more dangerous situation.
“There was a larger grizzly maybe 10 feet above me,” Crago said. “They tell you to alert the bear to make sure you don’t frighten it. I called ‘Hey bear! Hey bear!’ And as it looked up, it charged at me.”
Unable to reach his bear spray in time, Crago instinctively raised his right arm to protect himself. The grizzly attacked, biting through his arm and dragging him several feet before abruptly releasing him and fleeing.
“I looked down at my arm and my hand was just kind of dangling,” Crago said. “It was a full break of both forearm bones, an open wound, blood kind of pouring out.”
After the bear retreated, Crago attempted to run but was urged by nearby hikers to stop and lie down, fearing the animal could return.
Several bystanders immediately came to his assistance. Among them was a pediatric emergency room physician who improvised a tourniquet and treated the wound to slow the bleeding while others contacted emergency responders.
Throughout the ordeal, Crago’s hiking companion remained by his side, helping him stay calm during the roughly hour-long wait for an airlift.
“I just kept putting snow on my face, staying awake,” Crago said. “I felt like if I passed out, I wouldn’t make it.”
Crago was transported to Logan Hospital in Kalispell, where he spent a week undergoing multiple surgeries aimed at saving his arm. He said additional medical procedures, including at least one more skin graft, are expected, though it remains unclear how long recovery will take or whether he will regain full use of his dominant hand.
“Writing is the hardest thing, just signing medical documents,” the hiker said. “The helicopter itself was $20,000 after insurance coverage, and I haven’t seen the bill of the surgery.”
Despite the physical and financial challenges ahead, Crago said he remains deeply appreciative of the strangers who helped him on the trail and those contributing to his GoFundMe campaign to offset mounting medical expenses.
The life-threatening encounter has not diminished his passion for the outdoors, he added, describing nature as a central part of his identity.
“It’s something that’s always been a part of who I am,” he said.
