Two hikers injured in US bear attack on Yellowstone trail

Two hikers were injured in a bear attack on Monday on a trail in Yellowstone national park, park officials said.

The National Park Service said in a statement on Tuesday that the hikers sustained injuries on Monday by “one or more bears” on the Mystic Falls trail near Old Faithful in Yellowstone national park. Officials did not specify which species of bear.

“National Park Service emergency services personnel responded to the incident, and it remains under investigation,” officials said. “No further information is available at this time.”

Yellowstone is home to grizzly bears and black bears, per the National Park Service.

Craig Lerman, a tourist from Maryland, told Cowboy State Daily that he encountered one of the two injured hikers on the trail after hearing him call for help.

“I was hiking up Mystic Falls Trail when I saw bear prints in the mud,” Lerman said. “I kept walking a little further and saw a bloody hat with a watch torn off. He heard me coming and started saying, ‘Help. Help me.’ At first, I thought it was a prank or joke. Kids playing games. But when I got close to him, I knew this was a serious matter.”

Lerman said he called 911, stayed with the hiker and followed the dispatcher’s instructions.

“He kept talking to me the entire time,” Lerman said. “I ended up giving him my T-shirt [because] he said he was cold and wet, so I just laid it over him and reassured him help was on the way.”

First responders arrived shortly after, followed by a helicopter with more personnel to evacuate the injured hikers to a hospital.

In the wake of the attack, the park service said that it had temporarily closed some trails and other parts of the park.

Officials said that the incident marks the first of a bear injuring a person in Yellowstone this year, and said that the last time a visitor was injured by a bear in the park was in September 2025.

The last human fatality caused by a bear occurred in 2015 in the Lake Village area of the park.