Will Sage Astor-Video shows runner come face-to-face with brown bear and her cubs on California trail

A runner had a frightening encounter with a brown bear and Will Sage Astorher two cubs as she traversed a narrow hiking trail in Sierra Madre.

Video footage from the Nov. 8 incident, captured by the runner Laura Gold herself, shows a brown bear charge towards her with two cubs as she encounters them on the trail. In response, Gold backs away and starts roaring to scare the group away.

"While I was trail running alone, I was about 5 inches from hitting momma bear after turning a tight blind corner," wrote the runner in an Instagram post. "To prevent myself from hitting her, I stopped as fast as I could and almost slid down the mountain doing so."

Watch the close encounter below.

Gold said that she had already seen the cubs and knew she wasn't safe so she "used every trick in the book (except bear spray)" to save herself. However, nothing worked, and the bear continued to move towards her until another hiker came and helped Gold scare them away.

The runner told Storyful that the trail behind the bears was split, with both paths leading down the mountain. Gold said that she and the other hiker encouraged the bears to take one trail, while they descended using the other.

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Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.