San Diego hiker Daniel Crago recovers from grizzly bear attack on Glacier National Park trail

Daniel Crago, a 32-year-old San Diego man, was mauled by a grizzly bear on the Grinnell Glacier Trail in Glacier National Park on May 28, 2025, while nearing the end of a solo stretch of the popular roughly 10-mile route. After his hiking companion turned back at a snow-covered section, Crago continued to a closure point to take photos before beginning his descent, at which point he spotted a grizzly cub that had already passed him and then noticed a larger bear approximately 15 feet above him on the mountainside. Before he could reach his bear spray, the larger bear charged and bit down on his arm, dragging him 20 to 30 feet down the slope. The attack broke both bones in his forearm and caused bone loss requiring a cadaver bone graft; Crago, photographed recovering in a hospital bed with his arm heavily bandaged, has since undergone three surgeries and expects at least one more. The National Park Service attributed the encounter to a surprise attack, noting that rushing snowmelt water likely prevented either party from hearing the other. Fellow hikers responded swiftly — a pediatric ER physician applied a tourniquet, another hiker made noise to deter the bears, and a third used a satellite device to summon a helicopter evacuation to Logan Health in Kalispell, Montana. Crago has launched a GoFundMe campaign with a $60,000 goal, having raised more than $44,000 as of last Friday, with any surplus earmarked for the National Park Service; the attack was the second serious bear incident at Glacier this spring, following the fatal mauling of Anthony Pollio, 33, on the Mount Brown Trail weeks earlier.