California Trail Runner Videos Terrifying Encounter With Mother Bear and Cubs

What do you do when you come face to face with a mother bear and her cubs? There may be no sure-fire solution, but a woman who encountered a sow and two cubs while out running on a narrow trail in Sierra Madre, California, videoed herself roaring and blowing a whistle in an effort to get the family of bears to stop pursuing her.

Laura Gold videoed her terrifying encounter and posted it to her Instagram account.

According to Men’s Journal, Gold said she was running by herself when she turned “a tight blind corner” and came face to face with the bear family. “I was about 5 inches from hitting momma,” she said. “To prevent myself from hitting her, I stopped as fast as I could and almost slid down the mountain doing so. I had already seen the cubs, so I knew I wasn’t safe.”

The video shows the mama bear charging at Gold as she backs down the uneven trail. Gold growls and waves her arms to scare the bears away, but the bears continue to move toward her. She then blows a whistle, but that doesn’t stop them. She eventually turns a corner and encounters a male hiker and together they scare the bears away.

Gold faced some criticism from the video footage she posted on Instagram that shows her following the mother bear and her cubs a short distance down the trail before the sow finally turns and charges at her. Critics say she should have backed away the second she spotted the bears.