Our Bear Story

[cjoshuav]

We did the Jarrard Gap -> AT -> Slaughter Creek loop from Lake Winfield Scott, and we camped at the site just before Blood (coming from Jarrard) that is right off the AT and next to a path leading to water and a lean-to shelter.

A couple of weekend hikers told us that the folks who camped at the Blood shelter Friday night had a bear climb a tree and steal all their food. We were planning on practicing good bear discipline anyway, but that was a healthy reminder.

So, I secured our food and cooking bags (which also had toothpaste, etc. in them) and hung them from a tree that was too small to climb and well away from our campsite. To be extra sure, I put our rucksacks on one end of the campsite, just in case the bear was so habituated to people and finding food that he would check them, regardless.

At 10 pm, we heard a loud thrashing coming toward our campsite. We shined a flashlight in its direction, and the eyes looking back at us seemed quite bear-like. We made a lot of noise and he slowly ambled off.

Then at 12:30 am my wife was awakened to something snuffling up against her side of the tent wall. He moved on to our camp stools, where I had left one of our hydration bladders. We listened (terrified and praying furiously) while he batted it around the campsite, got it open, and slurped up all the water.

Next he went over to our packs, which he sifted through with surprising delicacy (although my wife was indignant about the paw print on her hat - I pointed out that it was better there than on her head). When we heard him head toward our son's tent, my wife grabbed a flashlight to see if our visitor was a racoon or a bear. It was, in fact, a (too) friendly neighborhood black bear. He was totally unconcerned by the flashlight, and continued to sniff around the campsite. My wife (a veterinarian) guessed that he was a young, adult male and typically inquisitive for a bear of that age.

Eventually, he wandered off to see if he could get to our food - seemingly unworried by the sound of us shaking on our sleeping pads. He apparently wasn't able to get to the food, because it was still there the next morning.

He did cruise through the camp one more time, around 1:30am or so. We know this, because the adrenaline was just starting to leave our bodies and we were trying to go back to sleep.

In talking to the folks who camped at the lean-to shelter down the water trail, he also stomped around their camp a good bit before moving on. There are very nice food pulleys there.

So, that was my very first (and definitely closest) bear encounter. I have to say that all of my "bears don't want to bother people, blah, blah, blah" rhetoric went right out the window when there was a live freakin' bear inches away our tent. I found myself reviewing every scary moment I've ever had in my life, and this won out for me as the most scared I've ever been. I genuinely believe in prayer, and even more so after last night.

For those of you who are old hands at the AT, I'm sure that our fear and worry seems silly. Heck, the day after, it seems hard to remember why we were so terrified - until I remember the sound of the snuffling right next to my wife's head.

Nevertheless, we had a fantastic time. Our son carried his own pack like a champ, and I think he learned a lot. At the very least, he is fully persuaded of the value of keeping all food items out of the camp!

Joshua

[Bulldawg]

I replied to your other thread Joshua. We were up there and saw some bears ourselves. If you and your son ever want to go out, my daughter and I go an awful lot!!

[cjoshuav]

Sorry for the cross-posting (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=37858), but I realized that this story was as much about critters as campsites.

Joshua

[Pokey2006]

Silly? Nuh uh. That was a SCARY story. Scary enough to be retold around the campfire.

My first bear encounter was somewhere in that area. Heard a lot of rustling around by a very big animal just as I was getting ready to climb into my tent. I made a lot of noise and it went away, but it still took me hours to get to sleep that night.

Did your son wake up at all? Funny the things that kids will sleep through.

[Bulldawg]

It sounds like maybe there are an awful lot of acclimated bears in that area. Is it because there are so many people congregating all around the slopes there? With the AT, Lake Winfield Scott, Dockery Lake, Blood Mountain, Vogel State Park, and the Dicks Creek car camping areas, there are an awful lot of Homo Sapiens up on those slopes. Maybe more so than in other places along the Georgia AT.

[Pokey2006]

It is true that the more people there are, the more problems you're going to have with wild animals. Especially when there are crowds of people who maybe aren't as savvy about back country protocol. It's not secret that the biggest problems are in or near national parks like GSMNP or SNP. Actually, I found the bears in SNP the scariest of all. They barely blink when they see humans.

[john gault]

...Then at 12:30 am my wife was awakened to something snuffling up against her side of the tent wall.....
I think I would have screamed like a girl if a bear started sniffing around my head; that must have been pretty scary!

[The Old Fhart]

Sometimes you don't have to go to the woods to see a bear (http://www.wmur.com/news/16542659/detail.html).

Click on photo on the link to play video.

[Erin]

Wow! What a good story! I think you handled it well-hanging your food, etc. Thanks for sharing. An adventure is something that sucks until it is over.

[Dances with Mice]

We did the Jarrard Gap -> AT -> Slaughter Creek loop from Lake Winfield Scott, and we camped at the site just before Blood (coming from Jarrard) that is right off the AT and next to a path leading to water and a lean-to shelter.You must have been at Bird Gap, the shelter was Woods Hole.

You might drop a note or a call to the Ranger office about your bear encounter, enough reports of bear problems might lead to action. The Rangers might also say you were at a primitive site inside a designated Wilderness area where bears are be expected and there was no harm, so no foul.

Brasstown Ranger District, PO Box 9, Blairsville, GA 30514; (706-745-6928)

[Bulldawg]

You might be right there DWM, but you may also be right in saying that enough reports should constitute some sort of action by DNR. I would expect a bear in any backcountry site. But I would also expect it to exhibit some sort of fear of humans. From all the reports I heard while on the trail Saturday and here, I'd say there is at the very least one very brazen, unscared bear on Blood Mountain and her slopes.

[highway]

Colorado, San Juan Mtns, top of Wolf Creek Pass just off the CDT. You can drive to the top on the gravel road past the pass on the highway about 15 odd miles out(east) of Pagosa Springs. There is a great free camping spot near the antennae tower to acclimatize yourselves to the altitude. Then Hike north directly on the CDT (direction Silverton) about a short day towards the two lakes around spotted lake. Dip your water from the spring as you pass over the first lake but be careful that the trout dont get into your water container. As I walked past it a few years ago I decided to keep it in my memory as a great place to return one day with my grandkids. I still shall, once they get a little older......

[JERMM]

I think I would have screamed like a girl if a bear started sniffing around my head; that must have been pretty scary!

forget the bear, hearing a man scream like a girl would scare me :D


Joshua, great bear story, one to tell over and over

[envirodiver]

Good story Joshua. That would certainly have gotten my attention, probably not a lot of sleep that night.

[double d]

Wow, very exciting story, glad to hear all worked out well! Bears are associating people with food, not a good combination. How far was your bear bag from your camp? Again, great story.

[cjoshuav]

Our food/cooking bags were at least 30 meters from the camp, I would say. Maybe a little farther.

[The Weasel]

Good camping practices pay off. Yours did. Congrats.

TW

[RockyBob]

Our food/cooking bags were at least 30 meters from the camp, I would say. Maybe a little farther.

That is a good habit to be in. I use the old Philmont "Bearmuda Triangle" routine.

[Bulldawg]

That is a good habit to be in. I use the old Philmont "Bearmuda Triangle" routine.

Tell me about the Bearmuda Triangle method?

[dessertrat]

Tell me about the Bearmuda Triangle method?

Do not camp anywhere within a triangle where you cook, wash dishes/dispose of waste, or hang your food, is what I've heard. I've also heard different distances to stay outside the triangle, as little as 50 feet to as much as 200 yards. Nobody knows for sure, I guess.

[whitefoot_hp]

i was camping near big cedar mt and heard some loud snorting/grunting near where i hung my food.

[Incahiker]

i was camping near big cedar mt and heard some loud snorting/grunting near where i hung my food.

Was a wild boar, or maybe bigfoot.;) I hear deer can make some pretty loud snorts at night that will freak anyone out.

The most scared I have ever been when I went camping was when I was camping near Rome Georgia. I was in my tent bymyself and woke up to some owls hooting in the distance at about 3:00 in the morning. Well, after listening for about 10 seconds I hear this god awful, blood curdling, blood draining sceam, it sounded like a women being murdered, but with the devil mixed in with the scream. What ever made that sound was about 20 yards away. I about crapped my pants. After its 10 second scream nothing was making a sound in the woods, and that was almost as scary I don't know how I went back to sleep, but I did. Come to find out that either it was a bobcat or a mountain lion. Yes, there are mountain lions in gergia. I saw one right on the Alabama/georgia border going to the Talledega national forest. It was on Treat rd, or Folsom rd. can't remember which one.

[envirodiver]

Was a wild boar, or maybe bigfoot.;) I hear deer can make some pretty loud snorts at night that will freak anyone out.

The most scared I have ever been when I went camping was when I was camping near Rome Georgia. I was in my tent bymyself and woke up to some owls hooting in the distance at about 3:00 in the morning. Well, after listening for about 10 seconds I hear this god awful, blood curdling, blood draining sceam, it sounded like a women being murdered, but with the devil mixed in with the scream. What ever made that sound was about 20 yards away. I about crapped my pants. After its 10 second scream nothing was making a sound in the woods, and that was almost as scary I don't know how I went back to sleep, but I did. Come to find out that either it was a bobcat or a mountain lion. Yes, there are mountain lions in gergia. I saw one right on the Alabama/georgia border going to the Talledega national forest. It was on Treat rd, or Folsom rd. can't remember which one.

That sound may have been a screech owl. They make a blood curdling scream that will get the adrenaline pumping pretty good. They tend to hoot several times and periodically let loose. Had that happen to me at Bryson Gap on the BMT: I was solo, just at that point of semi-concious and slipping into sleep when one let loose with a screech about 15-20 feet from me. Put me straight up .

[jaywalke]

I hear this god awful, blood curdling, blood draining sceam, it sounded like a women being murdered, but with the devil mixed in with the scream.

Bobcat or screech owl, I'd guess. I've heard coyotes make some noises I'd call screeching, not screaming.

Further north you get porcupines, which grunt like cute little pigs most of the time. When they mate, however, it sounds like two transvestites knife-fighting in a phone booth. It will scare the crap right out of you if you wake up to it.

[Incahiker]

When they mate, however, it sounds like two transvestites knife-fighting in a phone booth. It will scare the crap right out of you if you wake up to it.


Ahahaha, thats the funniest thing I have read in a WHILE!!

I remember someone camping at Cumberland Island and they heard some racoons fighting, the said they thought they were gonna die cause it was so crazy!!

[bigmac_in]

That sound may have been a screech owl. They make a blood curdling scream that will get the adrenaline pumping pretty good. They tend to hoot several times and periodically let loose. Had that happen to me at Bryson Gap on the BMT: I was solo, just at that point of semi-concious and slipping into sleep when one let loose with a screech about 15-20 feet from me. Put me straight up .


Screech owls don't really "screech", but they do make a haunting kind of sound.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/audio/Eastern_Screech-Owl.html

[Incahiker]

Well, actually I guess it wasn't a screech owl, but a barn owl.

Here is a link to a person posting a story exactly like man about waking up in his camp and hearing a women screaming at the top of her lungs,:eek:.

Note the sound clips are on the right side of the literature in a small box, both the fox and barn owl. Well, so far this is the closest to the sound that I heard that night. Thought the end of the world was near.:(

http://www.thefirering.com/GS_ScreamsInTheNight.php

[Incahiker]

I was looking for more screaming animals

Found some, 1st is a screaming rabbit, which is actually funny as hell, you have to watch it, then you'll understand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc8kx2u9TmM&feature=related


The second is a house cat, ummm..... If my housecat made a noise like this one I would have an exorcist come over to my house. I have heard some pretty scary cat noises (Like when they are fighting) but nothing like this. This would definitely have me shaking under the cover at night. Sounds like a banshee/demonic baby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW7h3PZqFlk&feature=related

Heres one of a fox
http://www.angelfire.com/ar2/thefoxden/farcry.wav

[envirodiver]

Screech owls don't really "screech", but they do make a haunting kind of sound.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/audio/Eastern_Screech-Owl.html

Hmmmm, I guess that could be what I've heard, but I've heard the same thing several times in several different places. It seems that it was much louder and scream like.

[Incahiker]

Here is the direct link to a barn owl actually screaming, not hooting, but flat out screaming its feathers off. Pretty freaky! Hope the link works. This is definitely more along the lines of what I heard.

http://www.thefirering.com/sounds/adultbarnowl.wav

[envirodiver]

Here is the direct link to a barn owl actually screaming, not hooting, but flat out screaming its feathers off. Pretty freaky! Hope the link works. This is definitely more along the lines of what I heard.

http://www.thefirering.com/sounds/adultbarnowl.wav

Thanks for the info Bigmac and Inca. Yep, that barn owl is what I've heard. Makes you wish you'd brought that extra pair of shorts after all.

[4eyedbuzzard]

... Bears are associating people with food, not a good combination...

People ARE food if a bear is so inclined. Rare, but it happens. Best to remember your place in the food chain when dealing with such critters.