Might have been a high school mate of mine. First person from our class of 1965 to die. Mauled by bear while working Glacier.
The attack occurred in 1960 on the Otokomi Lake Trail (4 miles or so from Rising Sun Campground). The ranger was Al Nelson and the boy was Smitty Parrot, whose father was a ranger. Nelson was up in a tree and saw Smitty being mauled;
he jumped down and pulled the bear off him and covered Smitty with his body, suffering horrible wounds.
How on the world did a man pull a bear off another man? We talking full growed grizz here?
The bear was an older sow that weighed about 375 pounds. When grabbed, the bear turned on Al and mauled him. The bear was packed on a horse down to a pick-up and taken to the Craighead's lab at the UofM in Missoula, where it was weighed and examned. see:
http://www.craigheadresearch.org/frank-craighead-legacy.htmlThe initial rescue crew consisted of about 10 trailcrew men and 4 rangers, 2 of whom were armed with Remington 721's in 300 H&H Magnum; I recall how closely to the rangers we hiked in the total darkness - only head lamps provided illumination as we himed carrying stretchers over the rocky trail.
