I love to backpack or canoe into Shoshone Lake in Yellowstone National Park. Not only is it a gorgeous area, but typically it is not considered prime grizzly bear habitat. Tell that to Pat McDonald, who is living proof that bear spray works.
    The 52-year-old North Dakota man and a friend, 51-year-old Gerald Holzer, of Minnesota, were hiking the North Shore Trail along Shoshone Lake on September 14th when they were charged by a grizzly as they approached their campsite.
    McDonald initially was able to sidestep the bear, and then fell to the ground behind some trees. The grizz, however, came back and swatted at him. Then it headed over to Holzer, who also had fallen to the ground. While the bear was jumping on Holzer's back and swatting him a couple times, McDonald was able to reach his can of bear spray.
    When the bear returned to McDonald, he sprayed it practically point-blank in the face and the grizzly high-tailed it out of the area. The men got off lucky. While Holzer was uninjured, thanks in part to the backpack he wore throughout the ordeal, McDonald sustained only a puncture wound to his lower left leg.