A hiker who stayed on the marked path at Glacier National Park grabbed a rock to defend himself after two off-trail tourists threatened to assault him during a heated confrontation over a mountain goat herd.
The clash erupted in August near the Hidden Lake Overlook, a busy vantage point along the park’s famed Going-to-the-Sun Road in Montana. Video recorded by NBC Montana shows the moment several hikers confronted two men who had left the trail to climb a hillside for close-up views of four mountain goats, including a kid.
One of the men, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and carrying a soccer ball, shouted back at the group that had remained on the path.
“Shut up, the goats go on that trail too, idiot,” he yelled.
The exchange quickly escalated as the tourists, also wearing flip-flops and sunglasses on the rugged Rocky Mountain terrain, traded insults with the hikers who warned them that rangers could issue fines for going off-trail.
“Shut up bitch! You’re just jealous because you didn’t f–king hike this,” one of the tourists fired back.
As the two men descended the incline, the goats moved along their own path, retreating from the shouting humans. The confrontation turned physical when one tourist approached the hiker who had first spoken up.
“What is your f–king problem dude? Oh, you’re off the trail. I will f–k you up,” he shouted.
The argument reached its peak when two of the men squared up as if to throw punches. The hiker with the soccer ball armed himself with a large rock in his other hand. In response, the hiker who had never left the trail grabbed a rock of his own, causing the tourists to back away and plead with him not to throw anything.
“Are we gonna do this motherf–ker,” the man in the floral shirt said as he picked up a stick.
He and his companion then retreated, shouting “Get the f–k out of here” as they walked away.
The two underdressed men were later labeled “tourons” on social media, a term National Park regulars use for clueless or reckless visitors.
Glacier National Park Conservancy guidelines urge hikers to maintain safe distances from wildlife, staying at least 25 yards from animals other than bears or wolves, which require 100 yards of separation. The organization also emphasizes remaining on designated trails and not crossing protective fencing or guardrails. The park specifically prohibits leaving trails in high-traffic areas including Logan Pass, where the Hidden Lake Trail originates.
The incident was one of several dangerous encounters in the park this summer. In July, 73-year-old Rex Schowengerdt was killed when a 45-pound rock crashed through his car as he drove through the park with his wife. In May, Catholic Deacon Antony Pollio died in a grizzly bear mauling on the Mt. Brown Lookout trail, and hiker Daniel Crago survived a similar bear attack on the Grinnell Glacier trail later that month. Last month, 60-year-old Ken Nurse fell 120 feet off a cliff into a creek but survived after a bystander performed CPR.
The goat confrontation also follows a July 10 incident at Yellowstone’s Bridge Bay Campground in Wyoming, where 65-year-old Carl Isom-McDaniel suffered a broken femur after a bull bison charged and flung him eight feet into the air. The Washington grandfather said his family had seen the bison lying down and did not perceive it as aggressive until it began chasing him around trees.