In previous posts, we’ve noted that the most dangerous part of nearly any guided wilderness hiking trek is the drive to the trail-head. We stand by that! And backpacking in Yellowstone is no exception.
Once out in the wilds, however, many folks will be surprised to know that bear attacks are way down on the list of potential catastrophes. Not that any of the things that might befall a careless wilderness walker are likely to occur, but danger stalks the unwary. On a multi-day guided Yellowstone backpack trip led by a Big Wild professional, though, injuries are rare because we put safety above all other considerations.
I said that bears rank low on the potential danger list. In fact, in the Yellowstone back-country, the National Park Service has calculated a 1 in 200,000 chance for a bear-inflicted injury for any given night spent out in the wilds. When you consider that most injuries and deaths have occurred to individuals traveling alone or to those who’ve committed overt acts of idiocy (stalking Mr. Grizzly with your camera, camping illegally and being sloppy with food; running when confronted with Ma Bear etc.), those odds probably drop to less than one in a million when traveling in a group led by a professional guide. I am not aware, though, of any official statistical conclusion for your odds in lieu of stupid acts. I’ll also mention that since the inception of Yellowstone, there have been exactly zero bear-induced fatalities on guided treks.
In fact, in the entire history of Yellowstone National Park, 1872-2018, there are just 8 documented bear-inflicted deaths inside the park, most or perhaps all being grizzlies, and again, most being associated with human ignorance or carelessness. Compare that with drowning (119!); falling (36); suicide (24); airplane crashes (22); burns from falling or jumping into thermal pools (20); horse accidents (19); freezing (10); and murder (9). OK, it is true that falling trees (6), snow avalanches (6) and lightening (5) all rank below bears in Yellowstone’s tally of fatalities. The only thing here that surprises me is that there have been so few lightening debacles, given Yellowstone’s frequent and sometimes severe spring and summer thunderstorms. Apparently, the lack of exposed alpine terrain reduces the incidence of humans acting as functional high altitude lightening rods!
The other thing I take away from this is that the biggest danger in Yellowstone National Park is one’s own poor judgement. Don’t jump into a boiling pool. Avoid falls off cliffs. Don’t drown. And realize, too, that statistically speaking, in the park as a whole you are more likely to be murdered by a fellow human than killed by a bear. That should make you sleep well at night, deep in the wild and beautiful back-country of Yellowstone, the world’s first national park!
