Two Hikers Seriously Injured in Yellowstone Bear Attack Near Old Faithful

Yellowstone Nationwide Park’s first reported bear assault of 2026 has raised new questions on a path space that was reopened to spring mountaineering two years in the past.

Two brothers have been injured Monday afternoon whereas mountaineering the favored Mystic Falls Trail close to Previous Devoted, based on Yellowstone officers. One sufferer stays in essential situation whereas the opposite suffered severe accidents.

Though Yellowstone officers haven’t formally recognized the species concerned, a number of experiences and the situation of the assault strongly counsel a grizzly bear was accountable

The assault occurred alongside the closely traveled Mystic Falls Path, a scenic route identified for its 70-foot waterfall and proximity to the Midway Geyser Basin. Following the incident, Yellowstone briefly closed a big part of the world, together with a number of mountaineering trails, backcountry campsites and parts of the Firehole River to anglers.

The closure consists of Fairy Falls Path past the Grand Prismatic Overlook, Sentinel Meadows Path, Imperial Meadows Path, Fairy Creek Path and Summit Lake Path.

The incident has drawn consideration as a result of the Mystic Falls space was as soon as a part of Yellowstone’s former Firehole Bear Management Area, a 20,670-acre seasonal closure zone created to scale back human-grizzly conflicts throughout spring.

Till 2024, the world was closed to leisure entry every year from March 10 till Memorial Day weekend. Yellowstone officers later eliminated the restriction, citing fewer wildlife conflicts and declining numbers of ungulate carcasses within the space.

On the time, park managers mentioned reopening the world would supply guests with higher entry to widespread locations together with Fairy Falls, Mystic Falls and the Halfway Geyser Basin overlook trails.

Throughout a Wednesday assembly of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee’s Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee in Bozeman, a Yellowstone worker steered this yr’s unusually heat spring could have contributed to elevated mountaineering exercise within the space sooner than regular.

“The guests have taken benefit of fine mountaineering situations,” the worker mentioned in the course of the assembly.

Yellowstone receives greater than 4 million guests yearly, and bear assaults stay uncommon regardless of the park’s massive populations of each grizzly and black bears.

The final reported bear-related harm in Yellowstone occurred in September 2025 on the Turbid Lake Trail. The final deadly bear assault within the park occurred in 2015 when a 63-year-old Montana hiker was killed close to the Lake Village space.

Yellowstone officers proceed reminding guests to hold bear spray, hike in teams, make noise on trails and stay at the least 100 yards away from bears always.

Keith Lusher

Keith Lusher is an award-winning out of doors journalist who resides in Covington, Louisiana. He owns and operates NorthshoreFishingReport.com and writes a weekly out of doors column for the Slidell Impartial Newspaper. He additionally writes for the St.Tammany Parish Tourism Fee’s VisitTheNorthshore.com. He’s the previous host of The Northshore Fishing Report Radio Present and is on the board of the Louisiana Out of doors Writers Affiliation. Keith contributes to quite a few publications each on-line and in print and prides himself on selling South Louisiana’s distinctive fishery. To contact Keith electronic mail: keithlusherjr@gmail.com