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Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us back to familiar territory. You guessed it. We are going back to the area around Yellowstone National Park, to a backcountry trail system that includes the Pelican Trailhead. I am sure you are familiar with the geography and plant life around the national park, especially given we have done almost ten episodes discussing attacks in this area. The forests of pine, fir and spruce trees are interrupted by broad meadows of grass, with secretive patches of willows along the shore of any body of water. If you hike into the right places, you can see for miles and witness what some visitors call the American Serenghetti. It is a comparison between the packed plains and savannas of Africa crowded with Wildebeest, Zebra and predators like the African lion. The most substantial difference is Bison and elk crowd these meadows and the predators here are much more powerful and every bit as dangerous.
On July twenty-eighth, nineteen eighty four, twenty five year old, Brigitta Fredenhagen was visiting the park with a couple of her family members. Along with her brother Andreas and his wife Jonko. They were all from Switzerland and decided to visit Yellowstone National Park and other interesting locations in the US together.
Brigitta was adventuresome and possibly a little too much so. As they cruised the roads surrounding and inside the park, she was clearly drawn off of this all too beaten path, to a more remote and backcountry experience.
Now, Andreas and Jonko were adventuresome, but not to the point of foolhardiness. They knew Brigitta was wanting to explore wild things and have immersive experiences in nature, but they were not so inclined to participate.
They listened as Brigitta explained her plans to hike from the Pelican Trailhead all on the 30th, then campout at a backcountry campsite, then finish off the hike out to Wapiti Trailhead on the 31st to meet with her brother and sister in law in the trailhead parking lot. They looked on as she explained the gear she had brought in anticipation of her solo adventure into the wild. She had packed her foam pad and sleeping bag, a flashlight along with a small tape recorder, to commemorate the events as she hiked. She searched through her gear and made sure she had packed her blue jeans and her flannel shirt, plus her other personal clothing items. She didn’t take any cosmetics, as she planned to be alone, but did bring some sunblock for her lips as well as a prescribed respiratory stimulant known as Micoren.
Beyond all of the standard backpacking gear, Brigitta also brought informational brochures she grabbed from any venue they had visited. Pamphlets named “Beyond Road’s End”, “Grizzly, Grizzly, Grizzly, Grizzly”, “Enjoy Them At A Distance” and “Yellowstone Trails” would soon take a very ironic and sardonic meaning as her story unfolded.
Keep in mind, bear spray had not been invented yet or was possibly in its infancy of development. According to the research I completed, carrying a firearm was illegal in all national parks until it passed on a legislative rider on the Card Act of 2009. At the time of Brigitta’s visit to the park, the latest and greatest information on grizzly bear attacks addressed surprising them as you hiked or ventured into their territory. Bear Bells were considered the solution, so she packed those in her backpack as a preventative measure from attack.
Brigitta was a very “by the book” kind of young lady. Every trail registry her group visited had her signature on it, just below the small billboards covered with posters discussing the presence and dangers that black bears and grizzly’s present to visitors. There were posters with illustrations on how to suspend your food from trees while visiting the backcountry, and careful directions on proper disposal of food items as well. Brigitta took careful notes of all of it, and immediately put every bit of it into practice.
On July twenty ninth, Brigitta, Andreas and Jonko entered the South Park Entrance and drove to the Canyon Ranger Station. They had a brief dialogue with the rangers there and ended up purchasing a backcountry camping pass for Brigitta. She relayed her plans to the rangers, detailing her departure from the Pelican Trailhead and hiking into remote campsite 5B1 for the evening, then continuing along the Wapiti Trailhead to the parking lot to end her excursion. It was a simple, one night adventure that she had planned to do by herself. Her ten mile hike into the campground would only be a couple of climbs of a few hundred feet so most of her trail hiking was relatively flat. Ten miles for one day, then a peaceful night's rest under the stars, in the wilderness. Sounds like a wonderful getaway.