I'm new here. Is Lone Wolf crazy or joking?

[loki_racer]

With nearly 24,000 posts, Lone Wolf surely has some digital miles under his belt. After reading about 20 or 30 threads, I'm come to the fork in the road to either decide that he is crazy by recommending that people sleep with their food, or joking in hopes that someone will get eaten (either by mice or bears).

Either way, he has more balls than I for admitting that he sleeps with his food in his tent.

[Mags]

He's usually both.

Many people sleep with their food and lived to tell the tale..including Wolf.

He's hiked more of the AT than most on this board. And that is NO joke.

[Siestita]

Loki Racer -- No Lone Wolf is not crazy. I confess that I too have occasionally risked death, defying the night varmits by sleeping with my food in my tent.

There have historically been many places in the Appalachian mountains, along the trail and elsewhere, where one could sleep with ones food with only very small likelyhood of having any bears come for IT. The probablity of a black bear coming instead for the purpose of consuming YOU would be much smaller still, perhaps infintesimal, most of the time, in most places.

But, since you are concerned about bears, I suggest that you either hang your food properly between trees (sometimes a major hassle), store the food in a canister, or restict your camps to sites that have established bear cable systems (eg. all shelters and campsites in GSMNP--the Smokies). It has not happened to me yet, but I've met others who have lost equipment and/or had hikes shortened when unsecured food has been taken by bears.

Apart from preserving nervous hikers' peace of mind and protecting their goodies, the practice of securing food when visiting places frequented by nuisance bears serves another purpose; it helps preserve the bruins. There is probably much truth to the official adage, "A fed bear is a dead bear."

My challenge is trying to guess in advance where the nuisance bear areas are. I suspect that the number of locations along the AT where problems occur has increased in recent years. Siestita

[Panzer1]

there are some places on the trail where it is not safe to sleep with your food. Gren Anderson shelter in New Jersey comes to mind. When I stayed there I stored my food in the bear box and sure enough a bear came that night and tried to get into the box by jumping up and down on it. However he could not get in.

Panzer

[Razor]

We have had several bear incidents in Georgia this year. It is the time for them to get out and forrage for snacks.You risk an ugly incident if you don't hang your food.And the bear is put at risk also.

[Graywolf]

there are some places on the trail where it is not safe to sleep with your food. Gren Anderson shelter in New Jersey comes to mind. When I stayed there I stored my food in the bear box and sure enough a bear came that night and tried to get into the box by jumping up and down on it. However he could not get in.

Panzer

Panzer, I just couldn't help it..For some reason this thought made me laugh..I think it was the thought of visioning a bear standing on a box and doing jumping jakcs..I don't know but the thought had me laughing..But it is true though..

[Gray Blazer]

He is just more funny than your average person.

I had a bear try to come in my tent while I was sleeping and I had never had even a gum wrapper or any food inside that tent. Go figure.

I'm not crazy or ballsy but I admit to sleeping with everything in the tent with me including my dog.

[chiefduffy]

Someone above mentioned limiting your camping to areas with established bear cable systems. Those things are there for a reason! The bears have learned where to find food. You will rarely have a problem if you DON"T camp near shelters or established camp sites.

- Duffy

[chiefduffy]

BTW, when I met Lone Wolf, my impression was he is one of the most practical, down to earth, common sense people I have met. His comments may not work for you, but there is a lot of wisdom there....

[loki_racer]

Before this goes south, I was messing around. I love his responses. I've never met Lone Wolf, but I already have a mental picture of Grizzle Adams sitting in a tent on the AT arguing with a bear on the outside that wants his food.

[moytoy]

loki... this is way off topic but I gotta ask!

Are you a Linux user or is loki referring to something else?

[loki_racer]

Loki - commonly known as a mischief maker.

However, I use Linux on most of my servers. Keep Windows on the desktop solely because of gaming.

[Lone Wolf]

i ain't crazy nor do i wanna see someone eaten by a bear. it's just a non-issue to me. i'll never hang my food while hikin' on the AT. no need to

[Reid]

His comment about "on the A.t" may be crucial too. Some places elsewhere you may need to consider it.

[Jack Tarlin]

A hiker on Blood Mt. just lost his pack and everything in it, due no doubt to the fact that it was full of food.

It's a personal decision, but to suggest that there's never a need to hang your food or that it's perfectly safe or smart not to......well this is quite obviously not true. There are times when hanging up your food makes a lot of sense.

[Lone Wolf]

It's a personal decision, but to suggest that there's never a need to hang your food or that it's perfectly safe or smart not to.....

never a need for ME

[Tenderheart]

A hiker on Blood Mt. just lost his pack and everything in it, due no doubt to the fact that it was full of food.

It's a personal decision, but to suggest that there's never a need to hang your food or that it's perfectly safe or smart not to......well this is quite obviously not true. There are times when hanging up your food makes a lot of sense.

I heard that!!

litefoot 2000

[mudhead]

never a need for ME

That's cuz all you eat is tofu and dried cuttlefish these days.

[JJJ]

I've met Lone Wolf.
He's not crazy.
Everyone else is.

Pass the cuttlefish.

[jnl82381]

Didn't I read a post just a few weeks ago about somone hiking along the AT who was using their food bag as a pillow when a bear ripped into the tent to get it? Might just be me, but I think that guy is prety lucky.

I've seen a kid who was dragged out of his tent with his head in the mouth of a black bear. The bear continued to chew on him until some other guys finally got the bear off him by hitting it in the head with rocks...big rocks. When the bear did let go it went right back to the tent and started licking up the blood. Apparently human blood tastes sweet and once they have it they develope a liking for it. Happened in NM, not along the AT but still.

Granted, everything about the campsite that night was inviting a bear problem and it was during the 3rd visit to the campsite that the bear had a human snack. So hopefully with a little more common sense you can avoid it.

I'm not trying to deamonize bears here, this incident was definatelly the humans fault as it is most of the time with "problem bears". Like it was said above, a fed bear is a dead bear. The fact is, bears are oportunistic omnivors. Which means if the bear thinks its easier to take your food than to go find it someplace else, it's going to try to take you food, no matter where you have it. In a tent is easier to take than hung up or in a bearbox.

Personnaly, I'll always hang my food so I don't become something elses. I do believe that in some places along the AT it is not necesary, but given that the vast majority of hikers won't know where these places are, I'd advise being safe rather than sorry.