We decided the night before that we wanted to be at the trails as the sun began to rise. At the time, we thought it would be nice to have the trails to ourselves and soak up the beautiful scenery. 

About 6km into the hike, we found ourselves crossing paths with this bear. What we thought was a grizzly bear at the time, turned out to be a cinnamon-coloured black bear.

We did what we were told initially - we stood our ground, clapped some stones together and never turned our backs. The bear kept pacing towards us, so we kept walking backwards. If we got too far away, it would break into a run and close the gap between us and then start walking again. After this cat and mouse game, we eventually turned and ran, hoping to find someone else on the trails with us. 

We eventually ran into a group of hikers near the trail head and told them what was happening. Together the eight of use stood our ground in a bid to move the bear off the trails. Eventually, it moved off the trails and made its way down the the water below. 

Glacier National Park, Montana.