A hiking excursion with a group of female friends led to an unexpected wildlife encounter for Ali Wentworth and pal Mariska Hargitay.

Wentworth filled in for Kelly Ripa on Monday’s episode of “Live with Kelly and Ryan”, where she regaled co-host Ryan Seacrest with an anecdote that featured a surprise appearance by the “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star.

“We decided to go hiking in Tennessee, which is out of my comfort zone because I like a nice beach and a hot dog,” Wentworth told Seacrest.

“It’s beautiful, except we stupidly went on a hike without a guide and we don’t know how to read trail signs. So we started out, we thought we’d go for like, 45 minutes because, you know, we’re not in tip-top shape.”

The back-to-nature trip included a lack of wi-fi coverage, with Wentworth jokingly complaining that “we couldn’t Insta Story for like, two hours. Anyway, four hours go by and then we run into …” she continued, and then held up a photo displaying a bear.

“This is a black bear. Let me tell you something, you can throw me a copperhead or a rattlesnake any day, but when you see a black bear, your heart jumps.”

She admitted she couldn’t remember if one is supposed to hide or make noise when encountering a bear, which led her to do both.

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