One of Banff National Park's busiest trails had more than hikers on the path recently.

Hikers heading to Johnston Canyon on Tuesday found themselves turned away at the trailhead following reports of a grizzly bear.

Tourist Aiden McKay captured footage of the massive bear approaching him and fellow hikers on the path at approximately 11:45 a.m. According to Parks Canada, the encounter ended without incident.

"Parks Canada staff responded, cleared the trail and confirmed the area was clear shortly thereafter," said the Banff Field Unit Media Relations Team in a statement.

Social media users have suggested the bear is Banff's dominant male grizzly bear, officially referred to by Parks Canada as bear No. 122, but better known among locals and visitors as The Boss.

Parks Canada did not confirm whether the bear was The Boss, who has long been known to frequent the area surrounding the trail.

Johnston Canyon, located along Banff National Park's Bow Valley Parkway 25 kilometres northwest of the townsite, is considered one of the park's most popular trails.

But heavy foot traffic sometimes isn't enough to keep a bear away from a trail, said Kim Titchener, who operates Bear Safety and More.

"You can in fact run into a bear on a trail that's busy or not busy. It doesn't really matter ... it's bear country," she said.

Titchener said some Banff bears may end up becoming accustomed to heavy human activity in their habitat due to frequent encounters with people living in or visiting the area.

"Banff National Park is an example of an extremely challenging place to live for bears," she said, pointing to fatalities caused by train collisions, vehicle traffic disrupting their movement, and a significant amount of human interaction.

"We're seeing what we call habituation," she said. "They don't see us as a very unsafe entity out there, and they're doing things like going down the trail and just expecting us to get out of the way."

"When they hear people or smell people coming, they get so used to people that they realize they're not really that dangerous," she said. "There's not a lot of risk to being around humans, and they're just trying to get from point A to point B."

Alberta has seen a significant number of reported bear encounters this year -- so many that Alberta Parks issued a blanket bear warning encompassing the entirety of Kananaskis Country and the Bow Valley in August.

There have been no confirmed reports of maulings in any of Alberta's national or provincial parks this year, but an angler was injured by a bear in August along St. Mary River near Cardston, about 235 kilometres south of Calgary.

In the neighbouring province of British Columbia, multiple bear attacks have been reported this year.

Bear activity throughout the province can be expected to continue until the end of fall, when the majority of bears enter hibernation.

"If you are going to head out and enjoy this beautiful weather that we have, please take bear spray with you, wear it in a holster, make lots of noise, travel in groups, and take a bear safety class," Titchener said.