What Happened When an Adventurer Met a Grizzly: 'Something Large Was Growling and Snorting at Me.' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Stephan Kesting and his new book ‘Perseverance’.Photo:Pegasus Books; Tiziano

Pegasus Books; Tiziano

Stephan Kesting was already a firefighter, jiu-jitsu practitioner and adventurer when he faced down his biggest challenge yet: his own body.

Already no stranger to pushing his own physical limits, when Kester learned he needed a kidney transplant, he realized recovering in both body and mind would require him to dig deeper than ever before. So he set off alone into the wilderness for six weeks, on a journey that would test him at every level, encountering the dangers of polar bears, arctic storms and forest fires.

His new book,Perseverence: Life and Death in the Subarctic, out March 4 from Pegasus Books, offers the “moving and nail-biting account of his journey from near-death to a raw embrace of adventure and life,” according to an official synopsis. In what the publisher calls an “inspirational, vulnerable and honest” account, Kesting shares the lessons he learned in the wilderness that “will help us hold onto hope in our darkest moments and show how we can find the strength to overcome any obstacle.”

Below, in an exclusive excerpt shared with PEOPLE, Kesting takes us into a nail-biting encounter with a grizzly bear.

Pegasus Books

Nueltin Lake is a subarctic crossroads. It lies between the forest and the tundra, the Dene and the Inuit. From here, you can continue to the Thlewiaza River, cross over to the Kognak and the Tha-Anne Rivers, connect to the Kazan River, or descend to the Caribou and Seal River systems. Many of the explorers I admire most had crossed Nueltin Lake, including Samuel Hearne, Oberholtzer and Magee, and P. G. Downes. I had read everything they had written and looked forward to seeing this country in person.

After eating some energy balls and dried fruit, I was soon paddling through the many islands of southern Nueltin Lake. The southwest wind was gentle, perfect for the larger crossings ahead.

Given the idyllic natural setting, it was shocking to paddle around a corner and discover a flotilla of aluminum fishing boats on a beach below a cluster of cabins. This was another fishing camp — Nueltin Lake Lodge — just as deserted as Kasmere Lake Lodge, the other camp I had explored a few days earlier.

Stephan Kesting on the river.Courtesy of Stephan Kesting

Courtesy of Stephan Kesting

It was too early to make camp, but I wanted to explore the ghost lodge. I wandered up the gently sloping hill, studying the row of guest cabins with ripped-open walls, caved-in doors, torn-apart mattresses, and demolished furniture in the rooms. There were bear prints in the sand, but they were old, suggesting it had been some time since a bear had last wandered here. The main lodge building sat on a sand ridge overlooking the azure lake.

One of the structures Kesting came across.Courtesy of Stephan Kesting

Unlike the cabins, the lodge was in good condition, built with sturdy logs instead of the more fragile plywood. Furthermore, every doorway of the lodge had a sheet of plywood studded with many upward-pointing large nails in front of them. These “bear boards” are often used to protect northern buildings from unwanted animal intruders.

I came to the main entrance and noticed that the bear board had been pushed to one side.Oh man,I thought,Who would do that? That’ ll let the animals in to ruin the joint.

Then, in the next few seconds, I realized three different things:

First, the front doors to the lodge had been smashed in, creating a direct route into the interior of the building for any large animal.

Second, there was alotof bear scat all around me, maybe 25 different heaps in a 30-foot circle around the lodge’s front door.

Third, something large was growling and snorting at me inside the lodge. It sounded like a giant baritone dog was clearing its throat in the darkness.

The hair at the back of my neck rose, and my stomach sank. A black bear or a grizzly was inside the abandoned building about 30 feet from me.Holy s—, I thought.

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My bear spray and shotgun were back at the boat, more than 500 feet away. Bears can run 35 miles per hour, so if it charged now there’d be no chance of getting my hands on those weapons before the bear flattened me into the earth.

Bear tracks Kesting discovered.Courtesy of Stephan Kesting

I resisted the urge to turn and run; that would just trigger its hunting reflex. Instead, I backed away for a minute, then retreated at a brisk walk while looking back over my shoulder often. I returned to the boat on a different path and saw tons of bear tracks. Some prints were so fresh that the sand was still moist around the claw marks. The Nueltin Lake Lodge bear had been surveying his kingdom less than an hour ago!

Fortunately, the bear remained in his wooden palace, apparently content that he had frightened away a potential rival. At the beach, I cast a final anxious glance behind me, then jumped into the boat and headed out into the lake. This felt safer; I couldn’t outrun a bear on land, but could almost certainly out-paddle one on the water. Passing the seaward side of the lodge, I half expected the bear to be leaning on a railing and watching my retreat. This bruin had an entire building all to himself, complete with a stunning view of the lake, doubtless the nicest den for 1,000 miles in any direction.

Stephan Kesting on his trip.Courtesy of Stephan Kesting

I had made a mistake that got me into trouble, but I had also stayed calm and kept thinking. I was happy with that; panic rarely solves anything.

A retired fire chief once told me, “When I arrive at a fire and get out of the truck, I first take a big breath. And if it’s a really big fire, then I take a really big breath.” He didn’t want to react blindly to emergencies, so instead he’d take a moment to collect himself and gather relevant information. Then, he prioritized his problems; determining what the most critical issues were and which headaches could wait for later. Finally, he’d come up with a plan using all of his available resources. Only once the planning was done would he rush into execution. He called this approach Think, Plan, Act.

It can be overwhelming when a thousand different things compete for your attention, so instead of uselessly flapping around, take a deep breath, list and prioritize your problems, consider your resources, and then act. As British paratrooper and adventurer Andy Torbet once said, “Deal with the crocodile closest to the canoe.”

Stephan Kesting with a deer antler.Courtesy of Stephan Kesting

My surprise bear encounter was a good reminder that complacency kills. I should have been prepared for trouble and had my 12-gauge with me, or at least should have doubled back to get my gun the first time I saw a cabin door with claw marks in the plywood. Many bear problems happen around hunting camps and fly-in fishing sites because the bears get used to finding offal and garbage there.

The lesson was that I always needed to be on alert from now on because the bear situation would only worsen as I continued north. I didn’t know if this had been a black bear or a grizzly. Black bears can be dangerous, but they usually behave like large dogs that you can intimidate into retreat. However, this close to the tree line, their range overlaps with the larger, grumpier, and more aggressive tundra grizzly that is much more dangerous. And closer to Hudson Bay, the hypercarnivorous polar bear would be the greatest threat of all.

Perseverancecomes out on March 4 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.

source: people.com