A boy's summer encounter in a Saskatoon patch in Strathcona Island Park, next to Medicine Hat witnessed in Alberta, Canada

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On September 2nd 1972 we were at Strathcona Island ark which is outside Medicine Hat, Alberta. About ten of us went to swim in the river [Saskatchewan River]. In the afternoon going back to the campsite I ran ahead of the rest down a winding path. I came to a stop when I smelled what I can only describe as a wet dog that rolled in a garbage dump for a couple of weeks. I then heard brush moving to my right. I turned and looked and saw a large black furry animal facing a Saskatoon patch. I could see the crack of its rear end sitting on the ground and its shoulders and pointy head leaned away from me. [In its sitting position it] was about 5 to 5 and a half feet in height and 4 feet wide at the shoulders, and about 30 feet away. Its fur was long and shaggy and oily. This thing just did not move at all, which going to Banff a lot and seeing black and grizzly bears, was not common. Suddenly a quiet grumbling chatter came from it, to which my brain translated it as get away from here. I turned and ran south, continuing down the trail. As I ran I could hear the thing smashing through the trees, with a smash, smash, smash sound. No one else heard or saw anything.