By AMY BETH HANSON and MATTHEW BROWN
HELENA Mont. (AP)– A tiny western Montana town where a grizzly bear pulled a woman from her tent and killed her today invites visitors year-round to the mountain valley community along the banks of a river made well-known by the motion picture “A River Runs Through It.”
They come to Ovando to fish, walking, camp and drift the river in the summer and to snowmobile, cross country ski or snow shoe in the winter season.
The warmer months also bring bicyclists traversing the scenic Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, which this year runs almost 2,500 miles (4,023 kilometers) from northern Montana to southern New Mexico.
A break in the long-anticipated flight on that path is what brought Leah Davis Lokan, 65, of Chico, California, to the town on Monday for an overnight stay, her friends said.
She and her celebration were camped near the towns post office and museum when a grizzly bear pulled her out of her tent and eliminated her early Tuesday, officials stated. It was the 2nd time the bear was at the campsite that night, they said.
Wildlife authorities invested Thursday looking for and kill the roughly 400-pound (181-kilogram) bear, but turned up empty for a third straight day.
The constable closed the casual camping sites around town at least till Sunday and the town opened a fire station and church for cyclists to sleep inside. The town already had an old prison that had been remodeled with some cots for campers, said Kathleen Schoendoerfer, who owns the Blackfoot Angler fishing shop with her hubby, Travis Thurmond.
Ovando sees about 1,000 cyclists each year who are taking a trip the Great Divide route, Schoendoerfer estimated, with varying numbers staying over night.
The route loosely follows the Continental Divide, sometimes zig-zagging over it on gravel roads, dirt roadways and trails and some single tracks, stated Dillon Key, who operates at Great Divide Cyclery in Helena. There are also some highway miles.
The path is “absolutely stunning” through Montana, taking riders over mountain passes and through big, open meadows, Key said.
” A great deal of the towns on the path, towns in the middle of the mountains, tend to be really inviting to divide riders coming through,” Key stated. “Theres a couple farms and cattle ranches along the way that permit riders to come stay with them. Its kind of a common sensation to it. Everybodys truly welcoming.”
Lokan, a registered nurse who had actually worked at a medical facility in Chico, California, would have fit right in, stated Mike Castaldo, president of the Chico Cycling Club.
Always provided you a big hug,” stated Castaldo, who knew Lokan for about 15 years. “But I believe most of her identity was, you know, outdoors on the bike, taking pleasure in the outdoors was her thing.”
She took part in mountain bike races and was a roadway bicyclist and knowledgeable outdoorswoman.
” I think she was competitive, however that was secondary to the experience or the journey she was on that particular day,” he said Thursday.
Lokan had actually been anticipating the Montana bike trip for months, stated Mary Flowers, another buddy from Chico. Lokan had actually taken long-distance bike journeys and on this one was accompanied by her sibling and a buddy, Flowers said.
” She was discussing her summer season plans– this terrific wild experience, riding her bike on, I dont understand, a 400-mile journey or something,” Flowers stated. “A lady in her 60s, and shes doing this kind of things– she had an enthusiasm for life that was out of the common.”
Another friend kept in mind Lokan as a complimentary spirit with lots of good friends.
” She constantly greeted you with a smile. She was one of those individuals that was always up for an experience and always made you to feel like you were the center of her attention at all times,” said Leesa Stefano, who satisfied Lokan when Stefano transferred to Sandpoint, Idaho, in 2006 and got associated with a bicycling club to which Lokan belonged.
Stefano stated Lokan was the kind of person who would find a way to inspect in with everyone at some point to make sure buddies understood they were still part of her life.
” We were all actually excited for her, due to the fact that we understand what it implied,” Stefano said about the bike flight. “We couldnt wait to hear the stories. Its considered an impressive ride.”
Lokan and 2 others were camping when a bear startled them at 3 a.m. Tuesday before roaming off, Montana wildlife officials stated. The bicyclists eliminated food from their tents, kept it and went back to sleep, officials said.
About 4:15 a.m., the constables workplace got a 911 call after 2 people in a tent near the victims were awakened by sounds of the attack, Powell County Sheriff Gavin Roselles stated. They released their bear spray, and the bear ran away.
Lokan was “well versed in what she was doing. She knew the dangers,” Castaldo said, recommending she may have let her secure down while camping in a town, instead of along the trail.
” The truth that it was right in town– thats quite ruined,” Thurmond told the Missoulian.
People who camp in grizzly bear nation– whether deep in the woods or in an industrialized camping site– are advised to keep food and fragrant items like toothpaste away from their camping sites at all times and to prepare elsewhere.
If a bear comes through a campsite, it is very important to stay on lookout for the animal to return, said Greg Lemon, spokesperson for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Wildlife officials initially used helicopter flights to browse for the grizzly. They likewise set up big traps– constructed of culverts and baited with roadkill– around Ovando. That consisted of traps near a chicken cage that the bear robbed the night Lokan was killed, along with near the campsite.
Private investigators gotten DNA left by the bear in the attack and could compare it with any bruin they have the ability to trap. Bear professionals and game wardens likewise were stationed near the traps to shoot the animal if the opportunity emerges, stated Greg Lemon, representative for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
” Our best chance would be if the bear comes back and tries to get another chicken or some more food around town,” Lemon stated.
The wardens feel they might quickly identify the bear, which was taped on a shops monitoring cam in the minutes after its first see to Lokans camping area, Lemon stated.
” If they saw that bear at the trap and had a clear chance at it, they may select to do that.”
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This story has actually been updated to remedy the last name of one of the owners of the Blackfoot Angler fishing store. She is Kathleen Schoendoerfer, not Loendoerfer.
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Brown reported from Billings.

” A lot of the towns on the route, little towns in the middle of the mountains, tend to be truly inviting to divide riders coming through,” Key said. Always offered you a huge hug,” stated Castaldo, who understood Lokan for about 15 years. “But I believe most of her identity was, you understand, outside on the bike, taking pleasure in the outdoors was her thing.”
” We were all actually delighted for her, since we know what it implied,” Stefano stated about the bike trip. That consisted of traps near a chicken cage that the bear robbed the night Lokan was eliminated, as well as near the campsite.