Terrifying moment runner comes face-to-face with a mother bear and her cubs on California hiking trail

This is the chilling moment a runner came face-to-face with a mother brown bear and her two cubs on a hiking trail in Sierra Madre, California.

The runner, Laura Gold, managed to capture on her phone as she tried to escape a terrifying showdown with the adult bear after it abruptly turned and charged toward her.  

Despite Gold's attempts to scare them away by yelling loudly and stepping back, the trio persistently came at her, video shows.  

In the footage, Gold - clearly frightened, takes deep breaths while continuing to back away and roar. She can be heard reassuring herself, saying, 'Alright, alright, we got this.'

'While I was trail running alone, I was about 5 inches from hitting momma bear after turning a tight blind corner,' Gold wrote on her social media. 

'To prevent myself from hitting her, I stopped as fast as I could and almost slid down the mountain doing so. I had already seen the cubs, so I knew I wasn’t safe,' she wrote. 

She also used a whistle, stepping back to a point in the video where the bears are no longer visible. 

However, the trio lingered on the trail for a while until the runner ran into a male hiker and sought assistance.  

She mentioned that the trail split behind the bears, and both paths descended the mountain. 

'There... there are bears,' she can be heard saying in a trembling voice. The hiker responded, 'I saw them.' 

Gold wrote on her social media: 'I used every trick in the book (except bear spray) and nothing worked. Momma bear continued to move towards me until another hiker came from behind me and helped scare them away. 

Teaming up with the mail hiker she came across, they guided the bears to take one trail, while they themselves went down the mountain using the other. 

The video has garnered an overwhelming response from social media users, with many expressing shock at the heart-stopping moment.

Many users also criticized Gold for handling the situation incorrectly, pointing out that she continued to follow the bears for a short distance after spotting them, as seen in another video.

Gold can be heard saying in the video: 'That f**king scared me. Oh my goodness.' But she approached them with a camera even after the mother bear turned away. 

One user wrote: 'I’m no bear expert but I haven’t read anywhere where running towards them, especially a momma with cubs, has saved anyone’s life.'

'As soon as you see cubs you better distance yourself from that mom,' another person said. 

The second video posted by Gold later shows the male hiker approached the bears and came to a halt just a few feet away from them.

'So you just go toward them?' Gold can be heard asking the man in hesitation. The pair kept getting closer to the bears. 

One person wrote in comments: 'Don’t follow a bear with her cubs lucky she didnt take that as a sign of aggression. Would have a been a crazy live leak video though.'

Another user said: 'Y’all are so lucky that momma bear didn’t destroy you. glad y’all are okay and the bears too'