ANCHORAGE, Alaska -As the grizzly furiously thrashed him about in the Alaska wilderness, all Sam Gottsegen could think about was what he would miss: college, traveling, life.
I thought: `I'm going to die,' the 17-year-old Denver resident said. I thought, `This just can't be happening to me.'
Then the bear left, only to return a moment later to continue mauling him and his other teenage friends. When the minute-long attack ended, four teens, including Gottsegen, were injured. Three others were unhurt.
The attack Saturday night in the Talkeetna Mountains north of Anchorage came as the group was nearing the end of a 30-day course to learn how to survive in the backcountry. The teens were at the stage of the course where they could try out their skills without adults around.
Authorities believe the bear was aggressive because it was with its cub. Gottsegen said no one ever saw a cub.
The group was hiking through bushes that got so thick they decided to wade through a river, walking in single file. Around a bend in the river, Joshua Berg, 17, of New City, N.Y., began yelling Bear! Bear!
Read about the attack: http://www.aolnews.com/story/teen-thought-he-would-die-in-alaska-bear/1886520/
I thought: `I'm going to die,' the 17-year-old Denver resident said. I thought, `This just can't be happening to me.'
Then the bear left, only to return a moment later to continue mauling him and his other teenage friends. When the minute-long attack ended, four teens, including Gottsegen, were injured. Three others were unhurt.
The attack Saturday night in the Talkeetna Mountains north of Anchorage came as the group was nearing the end of a 30-day course to learn how to survive in the backcountry. The teens were at the stage of the course where they could try out their skills without adults around.
Authorities believe the bear was aggressive because it was with its cub. Gottsegen said no one ever saw a cub.
The group was hiking through bushes that got so thick they decided to wade through a river, walking in single file. Around a bend in the river, Joshua Berg, 17, of New City, N.Y., began yelling Bear! Bear!
Read about the attack: http://www.aolnews.com/story/teen-thought-he-would-die-in-alaska-bear/1886520/
