Many of the neighborhoods near Page are lucky enough to have amazing trail access. If your house is close to one trail, the odds are that you can connect to many others with the interconnecting system our city has. With 90 miles of trails in our city alone, there are so many amazing opportunities to enjoy the outdoors and clear your head.

However, last weekend the trails surrounding Lake Brandt were not a peaceful place. A coyote has been attacking hikers, bikers, and dogs on Owl’s Roost, Natty Greene, Wild Turkey, and Shadyside over the past days. Each of the six reported cases say that they didn’t provoke the animal, but that it came out of nowhere and attacked. Four people were taken to the hospital after sustaining bite wounds, one woman with 13 punctures. One man defended himself by thrusting his mountain bike at the animal and pulling out pepper spray. Another was picnicking at the marina and ran into the water, trying to escape the animal. One of the most vivid descriptions of an attack says that a hiker pushed the coyote off of him and pinned him to the ground. He attempted to carry the 45 pound animal, but was unable to and flung him to the side of the trail.

Each victim of these attacks had a different instinctual response, but experts say you should never turn your back to the animal and never attempt to run, because coyotes can run up to 40 miles an hour. If confronted by a coyote you should make lots of noise and hold your arms up, making yourself look big while attempting to convey that you aren’t a threat.

Trails along the marina have been closed until March 16th to protect hikers and bikers and to give authorities time to track down the animal. Keep this in mind whenever you are out in the woods, and always have a whistle, phone, or some way of getting help.