Some questions

[TSWisla]

I have tried some section hikes with a partner and I have come to a crossroad. I am either going to go alone or I am done with backpacking the AT. I am ready to head out alone, but even after 4 year and 4 section hikes, I still have some reservations. I am still concerned with bears. I have read at least 1 article from this year alone describing a hiker being pulled from his tent by a bear. This leads me to want to camp near other hikers, but I despise the though of the vermin found in shelters crawling over me all night long. I realize that out of 1000s of hikers, one or two may be attacked, but it bothers me. Am I thinking about this all wrong?

Another issue that I am having is that I can't get comfortable on my pad at night. I have a Thermarest Neo Xlite pad and I use 2 small pillows. I use a quilt from Enlightened. What am I doing wrong? I simply can't seem to get any sleep at night.

Any ideas or words of wisdom?

[Slosteppin]

I've been mostly a solo hiker for the last 15 years. I never have food in my tent or hammock whichever I am using. One of the first things I do when I get to camp is get a rope up to hang my food. I generally cook at least 100 feet from my sleeping area. My food bag is always hung at least 200 feet away.
To my knowledge I've never had a bear near my sleeping area at night. I know there are bears in the area. I have found tracks in my yard and on the nearby NCT in sandy areas.

I have to wonder when I hear of a bear invading a tent if the hiker had food in the tent.

Do you worry about noises outside at night? Ear plugs might help. I read a Kindle until I get sleepy. It turns off when I don't turn a page for a while. Sometimes if I hike far enough I'm too tired to read.

[imscotty]

TSWisia, my words will probably not help you with your bear fears, but a little research should convince you that this would be an extremely unlikely event. You probably go about your daily life successfully without fear of lightning strikes, drowning in the bathtub, and popping champagne corks, but the truth is all these things are much, much more likely to kill you than a bear. With reasonable food precautions you should be able to sleep safe and sound at night.

And I would not restrict my camping to shelters, if anything it is the area around shelters that some bears have associated with food. I always sleep better knowing that I am away from shelters and the vermin they attract.

As to the comfort question, why don't you see if you sleep better in a hammock. There is a learning curve, and it is not for everyone, but I found hammock hanging a vast improvement6 over the ground.

Scott

[Time Zone]

Ideas: Can you sleep well on the pad with quilt at home? If so ... consider taking a benadryl at night. Watch your caffeine intake; try to gradually reduce it. A corollary to "hunger is the best seasoning": "if you're tired enough you will fall asleep." Also, the great outdoors can be surprisingly loud compared to a modern home. Consider earplugs; make sure they're soft. I find the yellow foam cylinder ones work the best but aren't so comfortable. The squishy foam bullet-shaped ones are nearly as good, and far more comfortable.

If you can't sleep on your ground gear at home, try hammocking. I did. Unfortunately, it appears that it's probably not for me ... but for many it is. I'm one of the unlucky few. If you can sleep on your back that really helps. Not strictly necessary, but definitely helps. If possible, try before you buy. Borrow, and have the lender show you how to set up, or check out the website The Ultimate Hang. good luck.

[TSWisla]

Thank you for the replies. I have NEVER slept with food in my tent. I follow all of the precautions that you do. This article put me over the top though http://www.wbir.com/news/local/appal...ack1/216960737 The earplugs sound like a great idea if I can get past the horror of waking up with a bear chewing on my leg like the guy in the article did.

You would not have any issues just pitching a tent away from a shelter and just going to bed, knowing that no one would be around if a bear would attack? I guess that I have to change my state of mind. I realize that I have a better chance of being in a traffic accident on my way to the trailhead, but the idea of waking up to a bear munching on my leg...

[mattjv89]

Thank you for the replies. I have NEVER slept with food in my tent. I follow all of the precautions that you do. This article put me over the top though http://www.wbir.com/news/local/appal...ack1/216960737 The earplugs sound like a great idea if I can get past the horror of waking up with a bear chewing on my leg like the guy in the article did.

You would not have any issues just pitching a tent away from a shelter and just going to bed, knowing that no one would be around if a bear would attack?

I think the important take away from that article is the guy fought the bear off simply by shouting at it. If anything I'm less concerned about encountering a bear when pitched far away from a shelter. They gravitate more towards shelters and other high use areas with a consistent supply of people food.

[Old Hiker]

I have this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

My closed cell pad no longer did it for me, but the above does great.

Go alone - I spent 85-90% of 7 months and 4 days of my hike in my tent, sometimes near a shelter, most times not. Saw 2 bears on the Trail in the Shenandoah NP. Never saw, nor heard one at night.

You can always find people to camp near if you want.

[Praha4]

it's usually better to start alone. You will meet other hikers on the trial you can join, or leave, when you want, with no obligations.

I've seen many pairs or groups who started together and within a couple weeks were at each other's throats, squabbling, arguing....and ended up splitting up.

don't give up backpacking, it's one of the best forms of exercise on the planet

happy trails

[Venchka]

Bypass the Smokies.
Wayne


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[Dogwood]

"Any ideas or words of wisdom?"

Yeah, you've identified coming to a crossroads. Make a decision, trust it, move forward...

You've identified some dissatisfactions. Don't be limited by negative incessant pondering on these. Be solution minded. Everything you've said has answers. Find what's appropriate and move forward.

These will serve you well in life's endeavors.

[PaulWorksHard]

After a few weeks on the trail, I fell asleep almost instantly. Picking a good flat spot was the most important, and in some places, most difficult issue. Try inflating your mattress more or less than usual and see if that helps. Do a thru hike, do it alone and camp by yourself whenever possible. Plenty of time during the day to see and chat with people, if you want. Enjoy.

[TSWisla]

I am not worried about being lonely or talking with people. I would even rather not talk to anyone. I am concerned with camping away from shelters and not having anyone to help me in the case of an emergency (bear attack, etc.) At the same time, I don't want to stay in shelters due to noise, vermin, etc. I realize that there is no good answer to this, but I am simply trying to work this out in my mind. I want to continue hiking, badly, but only if I can work through these issues. Thank you.

[Sarcasm the elf]

You're not going to get attacked by a bear.

I repeat: You are not going to get attacked by a bear.

You can re-word this statement in any way you need to in order for it to sink in, but you just need to accept it.

[MuddyWaters]

Think of it this way

You chances of being seriously injured by a bear, are less than being seriously injured in a car accident on way to trail.

So put out of your mind

You will either die from heart attack, murder, fall, or hypothermia first most likely, ....statistically speaking....of course.

Embrace the risk, the uncertainty. Its what its all about.

[Sarcasm the elf]

To add to my previously comment, what worked for me was to have bear encounter and watch them run like heck at the very sight of a big scary human.

Barring that, I'd recommend giving the site below a good read, especially the parts about myths and misconceptions about bears and humans. One of the most basic take aways is that black bears are not carnivores, they are plant heavy omnivores that eat meat as a secondary food source. Black bears are also not a dominant predator, they were only midway up the food chain until humans came in and killed off all the more dangerous species. The reason black bears survive to this day is because their natural instinct when confronted by another predator (and humans are unequivocally predators) is to run away first and ask questions later. If they had posed a consistant threat to humans then early man would have been driven to extinction the same way we did to dire wolves, the short-nosed bear, the american lion, and many other more dangerous predators that used to inhabit the land that is now the Eastern United States. Basically we allowed black bears to live because they were mostly harmless.

http://www.bear.org/website/bear-pag...ear-facts.html

[Time Zone]

Thank you for the replies. I have NEVER slept with food in my tent. I follow all of the precautions that you do. This article put me over the top though http://www.wbir.com/news/local/appal...ack1/216960737 The earplugs sound like a great idea if I can get past the horror of waking up with a bear chewing on my leg like the guy in the article did.

You would not have any issues just pitching a tent away from a shelter and just going to bed, knowing that no one would be around if a bear would attack? I guess that I have to change my state of mind. I realize that I have a better chance of being in a traffic accident on my way to the trailhead, but the idea of waking up to a bear munching on my leg...

The only way to guarantee no bear attack is to stay home. If you're going to go, the best you can do is minimize an already-low probability. Carry bear spray in bear country.

[Time Zone]

I am not worried about being lonely or talking with people. I would even rather not talk to anyone. I am concerned with camping away from shelters and not having anyone to help me in the case of an emergency (bear attack, etc.) At the same time, I don't want to stay in shelters due to noise, vermin, etc. I realize that there is no good answer to this, but I am simply trying to work this out in my mind. I want to continue hiking, badly, but only if I can work through these issues. Thank you.

You probably could find a spot to camp away from shelters and all their associated downsides, but within earshot of a loud whistle you could have at the head of your bed. I forget what the conventional wisdom is here in terms of distance/minutes from the shelter, but point is, you could find a happy medium.

Have you considered a dog as a hiking companion/early warning system?

[Puddlefish]

I am not worried about being lonely or talking with people. I would even rather not talk to anyone. I am concerned with camping away from shelters and not having anyone to help me in the case of an emergency (bear attack, etc.) At the same time, I don't want to stay in shelters due to noise, vermin, etc. I realize that there is no good answer to this, but I am simply trying to work this out in my mind. I want to continue hiking, badly, but only if I can work through these issues. Thank you.

You're far less likely to run into bears at night when you camp away from a shelter. The tentsites away from the shelters were far cleaner than the tentsites near the shelters. Legal stealth camping sites 200 feet from the trail were by far the most peaceful, scenic and clean camping experiences I had. If you do see a bear that's far away from a shelter, it will be a nice wild bear that has no interest in eating you. It will be busy tearing apart rotted trees for the insects, or foraging for wild food, and just generally doing wild bear things.

The only problem I encountered with bears from George to Virginia was in the GSMNP. A lot of idiot people have created a lot of problem bears that associate shelters with food.

I ended up mixing it up, I'd socialize some nights tenting in designated sites, and stealth camp the next night to give myself a break from noisy people. You'll find a method that works for you.

[HooKooDooKu]

I have read at least 1 article from this year alone describing a hiker being pulled from his tent by a bear.

Let's see if we can show how rare bears are a problem:

The article you were reading about was the camper attacked near Spence Field shelter in GSMNP. Just the previous year, a teenager was dragged from his hammock by a black bear at a campsite located less than 9 miles away from Spence Field (just the other end of Jenkins Ridge trail). 16 years ago, a woman was killed in the Elkmont section of GSMNP. Those are the three top major bear attacks in GSMNP for the last 20 years... an area that likely has the greatest concentration of bears along the entire AT... and the greatest density of human visitors. So I would hazard a guess that if you see a bear at all, GSMNP is the most likely spot, and even then, I would guess (based on 20 years experience camping in GSMNP) that you have less than a 1:5 chance of seeing a bear while in GSMNP.

Here's another way to look at it: Check out the list of fatal bear attacks in North America.
If you look at the details of the list, there have been about 12 fatal bear attacks in states the AT passes thru. Of those deaths, most of them involved a captive bear (such as a zoo, including two polar bears) or freak hunting accident ("...started skinning a bear he had just shot when it awoke and attacked..."). Only about three of them had anything to do with people in the back country... and that's over a time period of 100 years.

By contrast, this artical lists something on the order of about a dozen murders that have occured near or along the AT. So if you are going to be afraid of anything, you need to be more afraid of humans than you need to be afraid of bears.

The only other thing I can think to say to try to help ally your fears... If you are attacked and seriously wounded or killed by a bear along the AT, you will make national news. Do you really believe that your AT hike (out of the thousands of others) is going to make national news? I don't think so.


Now I'll admit that when I go to sleep at nights on camping trips in GSMNP, I do have a small worry about bears. It's perhaps one of the reasons I generally don't sleep in my tent with ear plugs (the only time I ever have has been when surrounded by a large group of campers at a front country campsite. But I allow my higher reasoning powers to overcome those primeval fears to allow my self to enjoy the back country.


The other thing I can say... when I did a thru hike of the JMT, I was usually tired enough at the end of a long day of hiking 15+miles that I was pretty much too tired to care about bears.

[saltysack]

I've been in the woods in one form or another since I was a young boy and now 42.......over 1,000+ miles hiking....I've only seen a few bears and none on the AT.....

I've seen a few bears in Florida, a few on the JMT and 1 on the FHT. None on the AT....with that said I hike with my dog and haven't done any miles in GSNP....hoping to see some in SNP in a few weeks....embrace wildlife don't be afraid of it....I'd consider myself lucky if I see one....


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