A San Diego man is recovering at home after a grizzly bear broke his arm on May 28 in Glacier National Park.

Daniel Crago, 32, said he was coming down the Grinnell Glacier Trail  across a snowfield when something caught his eye to his left, he told Backpacker Magazine.

He said he saw a cub grizzly. The bear had passed him and was walking away. He then spotted a second bear just 15 feet away. He was about 3.5 miles up the trail. He had hiked to a spot where the trail was closed down to snowfield danger and was coming down.

The bear charged him about 12:45 p.m. and while Crago had bear spray, he didn’t have time to deploy it, he told the magazine. He covered his head with his arm and the bear bit it, dragged him down the slope, flipping him over.

The bear let go and ran off into the trees. 

He said he looked down and his hand was dangling from his arm and he was bleeding. 

He climbed back up on the trail screaming and then people started to help. A pediatric doctor who happened to be on the same trail applied a tourniquet and kept him calm. Park rangers responded and Crago was airlifted from the scene to Logan Health in Kalispell by the ALERT helicopter. The Park Service said it received an SOS alert at 12:51 p.m.

Crago suffered severe arm injuries and while the break has been treated he could face multiple other surgeries as well, he told Backpacker.

He said the ALERT flight alone cost $20,000.

Crago set up a GoFundMe (www.gofundme.com/f/help-daniel-recover-bear-attack) to help defray medical expenses. Anything beyond the medical expenses will be donated back to the Park Service.

The Park Service said in a release they considered it a surprise encounter as there was rushing water nearby where Crago was attacked.

This is the second  bear attack in Glacier this spring. A  man was killed on the Mount Brown Trail. Anthony Pollio, 33, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida was killed by a bear while presumably descending the trail. Pollio had indicated in messages to his family that he had planned to watch the sunset from the Mount Brown Lookout, so it was probably dark or close to it when he encountered the bear about 2.5 miles from the trailhead.

“Pollio was discovered deceased approximately 50 feet off the trail in a densely wooded area with injuries consistent with a bear encounter. The sequence of events leading to the bear encounter remains under investigation; however, evidence suggests that this was a surprise encounter,” Glacier officials said a release.

Glacier Park officials previously told the Hungry Horse News that it could be weeks before a final report as it’s still awaiting DNA evidence from the scene.

The trails in the area of the fatality, including the Sperry and Mount Brown Trails were reopened on Tuesday. The Grinnell Glacier Trail remains closed.