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Karen Scullin reporting Nick Greeve, 18, was treated at a hospital in Price, Utah, and is now back in his hometown of Portland, Oregon.
He only had a few puncture wounds and lacerations, but he also had one heck of a story to tell.
After sleeping under the stars in the great outdoors, Greeve woke up to find he was breakfast for a black bear who had crept into camp.
It happened in Desolation Canyon, river mile 59, at Fretwater Falls. Black bears are common in the area.
The campers say their food was packed up tightly and 50 feet away, when suddenly, at about 6:00 in the morning, a bear grabbed the teen by the head, ripped him from his sleeping bag, and tried to drag him away.
His screams woke up the other campers, who chased the bear.
Nick Greeve: "Just really didn't know what happened. I just knew that I got attacked by a bear, but I didn't know what sort of health I was in. They said I lost a lot of blood."
After the attack, his friends created a make-shift stretcher, loaded him onto a raft, and began the long float trip to the nearest town.
Nick Greeve: "Floated me down the river for 14 hours. I took an hour ride to a hospital. Did it. Forty miles out."
Greeve is back home now in Oregon, safe and sound. And despite wildlife agents' efforts to capture the bear, he's also still home in the high cliffs above Desolation Canyon.
It's not clear why the bear attacked. One wildlife agent says Nick Greeve sprayed salt water on his hair the night before, trying to make dredlocks. Maybe the bear was attracted to the smell, and targeted the teen for that reason. But no one will ever know for sure.
