FAIRBANKS, Alaska, July 14 (UPI) -- An Alaska woman says she used bear spray, a walking stick, insect repellent and a box of macaroni and cheese to save herself and her nieces from a grizzly bear.
Alyson Jones-Robinson, 43, of North Pole told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner she was out walking with her two nieces, 13 and 9, and her husky on the Granite Tors Trail in the Chena River State Recreation Area about 40 miles east of Fairbanks Thursday when they encountered the 100- to 200-pound grizzly just a few feet away.
Jones-Robinson told the newspaper the bear, probably 2-3 years old, was snapping its teeth and growling.
"It was a very surreal experience," Jones-Robinson said. "All I could think about was this bear is so close to me I can see its teeth. I could have kissed it. I wished I had a gun.
"It was terrifying. On a scale of one to 10, it was above a 10."
Jones-Robinson told her nieces run back down the trail to safety, while the bear was trotting around.
"It charged, and I used my bear spray when it was about 4 feet away and then I fell with my pack on and dropped the bear spray," the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, English professor said.
The bear withdrew, only to return. That's when she threw the package of macaroni and cheese at the bruin, hoping to distract it.
At that point, the girls returned, yelling that they had seen another bear.
Jones-Robinson's next defensive move was to pull out a bottle of mosquito repellent and when the bear tried to bite her dog, she hit it on the head with her walking stick.
"It charged again, and I hit it over the head and held out my bug spray like this," Jones-Robinson said, brandishing the bottle of Natrapel in front of her. "I hit it like three or four times."
The bear finally retreated and the trio and dog started down the trail. But Jones-Robinson said the bear followed them for about a mile, faking charges several times before finally disappearing.
"It was like a shark in the water," she said. "It would circle around and circle around, and then rush us and snap its teeth and growl.
"Every time it rushed, it would rush at my nieces. I was basically walking backward and forward swinging my walking stick trying to anticipate charges."
The newspaper said the trail remained open Friday and park rangers were putting up signs to alert hikers.
