CODY, Wyo. - A 48-year-old Minnesota doctor suffered severe wounds after he was attacked by two bears while hiking with friends in northern Wyoming.
Dr. Brad Johnson is an ear, nose and throat specialist from the Twin Cities. He is an experienced hiker who's made two previous trips to the Beartooth Mountains in the Shoshone National Forest with the same friends: Todd Green, Tom Therrien, and Justin Reid, who is a Minneapolis Fire Captain.
Green says the group began their hike at 9 a.m. at the Clay Butte Lookout trail head, and planned to go 8 miles to the north side of Granite Lake.
"And this terrain is really rugged with severe elevation changes," Reid said.
They were deep in bear country, but Reid said each of them was holding bear repellent.
About 7 miles into their hike, at 1 p.m., with Johnson leading them about 100 yards ahead, the other three men heard a noise.
"We heard what sound like a weird, very high-pitched tone that we couldn’t place. It didn’t sound like Brad. Not at all. But it was his screaming. So it wasn’t until the third round of screaming that we knew deep down something’s not right," Reid said.
The men ran ahead and found Johnson had been attacked by two bears, which he believed to be Grizzlies. Johnson was bleeding badly from his shoulder and arm.
"He had bear spray in his hand, but did not have time to deploy it. And they were on him before he could do anything about it. When he looked up, they were in full charge, which is fast. And 15 feet isn’t that long," Reid said.
"Fifteen feet to a bear is literally a step or two steps when they are in full charge," Therrien said. "The three of us scared the bears away when we approached."
Therrien and Green left to get help, not knowing if Johnson would survive. Reid, who's received extensive life-saving training as a firefighter, stayed with Johnson to give first aid.
"He was in the death spiral, he really thought he was going to die. So I had to really force him to stand up and walk for me. So I got him moved approximately a quarter mile down the trail to more of a safe spot. I packed his puncture wounds with gauze. Treated him for shock. Kept him warm. Hydrated him. And then started a signal fire on the top of a rock that would be visible from the air," Reid said.
Green and Therrien were exhausted and dehydrated, beginning to cramp up. The four hikers are part of a tight-knit family friend group that met through church. They prayed out loud that they'd find someone on the remote trail.
"If you have any idea how large this wilderness area is, there is nobody out there. Ever. We never run into anybody because its such a large space of land. And about 30 minutes after they prayed, they ran into a couple with their dogs. And the female said she could get out much fast than anybody else," Reid said.
The woman was an experienced mountain runner. She was able to get to a spot with phone service by 3:45 and called 911.
In the meantime, Reid kept talking to Johnson about their families, trying to keep him positive. For six and a half hours, Reid, who saves lives for a living as a firefighter, made it his mission to keep his friend alive.
"The first few hours were really hard because he was in a real negative place. He didn’t think he was going to make it," Reid said.
Green and Therrien made it out of the wilderness at 6 p.m. and could hear a helicopter and search plane.
The helicopter had to land about a mile from Johnson and Reid.
"We got him packaged and then carried down some crazy steep terrain and got him loaded up at about 7:30 p.m. There was no room in the helicopter so they left me with a sleeping bag and jacket and then confirmed search and rescue was going to send a team in to locate me and bring me out," Reid said.
Johnson was flown to St. Vincent Hospital in Billings, Montana, for emergency surgery.
Reid, alone in the wilderness and wary of another possible bear attack, built a fire and kept warm with the jacket and sleeping bag until 10:30 p.m., when a search and rescue crew reached him.
"I can’t say enough about them, they hiked 6 miles through this incredible country, got me, turned around and walked 6 miles back out. So they walked 12 straight miles," Reid said.
When he made it out, Reid embraced his friends with a hug.
On Monday, Reid returned to the site of the attack with Wyoming Game and Fish officials to retrieve their gear they left behind. When the arrived, they found a pack of bears decimating it. The state officials pulled their guns and scared the bears away.
Finally, Tuesday morning, Reid visited his friend, Dr. Brad Johnson, in the hospital.
"I couldn’t say anything, it was just too emotional. So we looked at each other. I teared up. And he was like, 'Yep.'"
Reid said Johnson has undergone two surgeries and is expected to make a full recovery, maintaining full use of his arm.