Man speaks out after surviving bear mauling

OHIO (WABC) -- After surviving a bear attack in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park over the weekend, an Ohio teen is now speaking out from his hospital bed.

Sixteen-year-old Gabriel Alexander and his father were on a 50-mile backpacking trip when it was cut short Saturday night.

By now, this father-son duo should be back home in Athens, but instead, the pair is at Mission Hospital after what happened miles away in the wilderness.

As an active young man, sitting in this hospital bed for nearly four days has not been easy.

"It does feel like I have a higher chance of surviving," he said.

But believe it or not, he doesn't have any trouble recounting what put him here.

"I was just in my sleeping bag, and then I just wake up to this pain in my scalp as I get drug out of my hammock," he said.

At the time, Gabriel says he had no idea what had him by the head, leaving scars behind.

"I immediately started screaming, and it was pulling at my scalp," he said. "I didn't know what it was. I thought maybe a wild dog or something, and I kept screaming."

His cries for help woke up his dad, who was sleeping in a separate hammock just 10 feet away at their campsite.

But Gabriel says he was not convinced that his dad was alive until he stepped in.

"He ran up, and he screamed at it," he said. "And then kicked it in its face with his bare feet, and it still didn't get off."

A few minutes later, but what seemed like eternity, they were able to get away and hike to safety.

But Gabriel says who they met along their way to Fontana Lake are the real heroes.

"I'm really grateful to those guys that helped us across the lake and to all the emergency responders," he said.

As for the bear responsible, park rangers euthanized it.

But Gabriel says he has no hard feelings towards the bear.

"It's not any kind of relief to me that it's dead," he said.

One thing Gabriel wanted to get across is just how rare attacks like this one are. He doesn't want anyone to be too scared to hike or camp at that national park.