Pro trail runner attacked by bear in Alaska

August 17, 2026

Alaska trail runner Klaire Rhodes reported that she was attacked by a brown bear on Thursday morning while running alone on her home state’s Chugach trails.

In an Instagram post, Rhodes wrote that she came away with what she described as “relatively minor injuries, with the most severe being a deep puncture wound to my left hip and claw and teeth marks on my body.” The North Face athlete used bear spray during the encounter and was able to make it back to the trailhead.

Rhodes didn’t share the full sequence of events, saying she wanted to avoid the “unsolicited opinions” that tend to follow a story like this online. “The moment felt like a nightmare come to life,” she wrote. CANADIAN Trail Running