Public photos like this are potentially sending a message to new outdoors people that this activity is "acceptable".
Food in Tent.png
Walk, Stumble, Fall Down - Walk, Stumble, Fall Down - Walk, Stumble, Fall Down - Repeat as many times as necessary until you get it right.
^Not only cooking and eating in the tent but cutting fruit and preparing it on a book that she will likely keep to read in the tent and have next to her all night.
NoDoz
nobo 2018 March 10th - October 19th
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I'm just one too many mornings and 1,000 miles behind
Are those really her photos?
This is why I root for the bears.
Teej
"[ATers] represent three percent of our use and about twenty percent of our effort," retired Baxter Park Director Jensen Bissell.
It almost looks like promotional photos for Big Agnes or something, which is even worse!
NoDoz
nobo 2018 March 10th - October 19th
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I'm just one too many mornings and 1,000 miles behind
They are exactly promotional photos by Big Agness on one of their websites and used on their distributor's sites. Thus, perpetuating the idea that it is okay and normal to snack, eat and cook in your tent. (Bad JuJu if you ask me).
I didn't want to bring negative vibes to the company as they sell awesome products. But, since the subject is being discussed, here it is.
Walk, Stumble, Fall Down - Walk, Stumble, Fall Down - Walk, Stumble, Fall Down - Repeat as many times as necessary until you get it right.
This will sound nitpicky, but it’s important to frame this correctly. The bear was not harassing the hikers, that’s something people do to each other. The bear was foraging, which is what bears do, naturally. The hikers made some mistakes (ones that I’ve made myself) that lured the bear in.Originally Posted by DuctTape
I don't think this qualifies as a bear attack since it didn't actually bite or claw anyone (I'm assuming the shoe wasn't on the guy's foot when it got bitten). Sounds to me like some young bears trying to intimidate a person into dropping their food bag, only the bag was already hanging from a tree so the bears kept following in the hopes that food would appear. Of course, I wouldn't want to be the one to just assume the bear wanted to sniff me and then would leave if there was no food! A couple of years ago I had a bear sniff around my tent just as I was going to sleep, so I did the "Hey Bear" thing and luckily he ran off into the woods. I would have freaked out if he had hung around. My food was hanging from a tree and I had no smellables in the tent, other than me.
The last hiker that I remember that got killed was a kid in NJ who was with two friends and they ran from an agressive bear and got separated and the bear picked him to follow.
A couple things. The GSMNP incident at Cosby did make the news. Bad on Big Agnes. I too like their products but these are irresponsible photos. I went from PCT method to an Ursack because I wasn't always able to get a good hang. This weekend I'm taking out a bear cannister for the first time (Bear Vault). I think it's inevitable that the ATC requires bear cannisters along most of the trail. Next weekend I have another trip and since I'm letting my hiking partner use my Bear Vault I've rented a Bearikade to try out. Anybody have experience with the Bearikade?
Bear Vaults and Bearikades take the work out of hanging your food, but with a weight penalty. I am pleased with the bear vault, and have seen first hand how a bearikade works. If we all got that perfect hang all the time we’d be golden. But we don’t do we aren’t!
I have the biggest Bearikade and I love it. You could open/close with a knife or something but I recommend bringing a coin like they say, preferably a quarter. If your really tight with your weight limits then I'm sure you can make an item you have work, or replace an item that will work and still do what you need. Only thing that worries me is if I was near a cliff or big hill. I'm thinking about one of those little gps tracking units but no idea how they work, if you would need internet on your phone to track it or whatever.
NoDoz
nobo 2018 March 10th - October 19th
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I'm just one too many mornings and 1,000 miles behind
You could probably use a Tile device in it - the range is shorter, but you wouldn't need a data connection to make it sing to you.
It may be hard to hear a Tile if you are very far away, especially if it is inside a bear canister. It wouldn’t last long on the outside of the canister with a bear trying to get in.
True - would definitely need to be inside. I'd be curious to experiment with it to see how well the sound carries.
If it’s really a big Bearicade, dump the food out and sleep in it yourself, safe and sound.
True, it would definitely need to be internal. I'd be curious to experiment with how well the sound carries.
That’s what I do sometimes. It’s called a small fiberglass trailer.
Eye roll all you want, it only shows your ignorance.
I'll add that the geologist I mentioned had discovered more ore than anyone else living. He had even backpacked a drill rig into the wilderness to prove one of his discoveries.
At the end of his talk, after telling us about the bear encounter he quipped "All my life people said black bears are harmless. But after my attack the same people started saying "you really have to watch them!""
I read Lily's account with interest. Instead of "I survived a bear attack...", it might more accurately have been titled, " I survived a terrifying bear encounter...".
For 1 1/2 hours they experienced "a big huff and a stomp outside the tent" as "the bear was bluff charging our tent." Lily persuasively describes the fear that she and her companion experienced. Any bear could, if it chose to do so, quickly and easily slash open a tent and attack its occupants. But, those bears had chosen to stay right outside the tent for at least an hour and a half, without actually attacking the occupants. The hikers' terror increased during that period, but that was a separate issue from whether or not the probability was increasing that an actual attack on them would occur while they were in the tent.
On occasions that fortunately have only occurred rarely, in just a tiny percentage of their encounters with humans, black bears have bitten and slashed people who have been in hammocks or tents. But, if that had not occurred during 1 1/2 hours of 'bluff charge' type activity taking place right beside the tent, it probably wasn't going to happen that night at all.
Under the heading "What We Did Wrong", Lily could arguably have added, "Left the tent and then hurried fearfully through the woods in the dark." It's easy to become injured stumbling around that way.
Considering that food prep areas along with food storage lockers are typically very close to tent sites in Glacier, GSMNP, SNP and also along the AT and JMT, you shouldn't have to be too far from your BPC.
Put rocks in your pot with the lid on and sit it on top of the bear proof container along with other noisemakers like poles. Sit the whole thing on rocks which usually exist near cliffs. Use your imagination. This works also with a traditional food hang. This practice may induce insomnia as earplugs must not be worn. Typically, if the bear doesn't get hold of food, it will run when you yell, use a flashlight, or run naked toward it in the middle of the night or so I've heard. In any case once you hear the bear noise.. you get a direction of travel should give you a direction.
Have a plan if you can't find it. Avoid camping near cliffs and the top of hills. These are not the best places during thunderstorms or when peeing at night but they are awesome places. Yes, I know of one poor soul who died by attempting to pee near a cliff in Big Bend NP.
So I looked up some technologies. Air tags only work within the Bluetooth range of your unconnected iphone (see apple for extreme details) perhaps 30 feet per one source. With an internet connection (pretty much anywhere east of the Mississippi on the AT except Maine), it will work within the range of every connected iphone.
There are motion activated Bluetooth beacons that could alarm your smart phone when a bear or others are messing with your stuff. When it is not moving there is no signal so you can't wait until the morning to check it out
Tile devices make a noise when you activate them from smartphone via Bluetooth (i.e. to find your keys). This one says up to 90 feet
If you must go the technology route and don't already own something, the GPS with active tracking might be the best route if the signal is strong enough (same issue for all of these). No phone needs to be near it. As soon as you can get a connection from a smartphone/pc anywhere, it is trackable. However, you have to actually activate it with the company (fee required) and remember to put it back on your body for it to save you.
I feel safe because the hiking community has assured me bears will avoid people. Just wear bear bells on your shoes and you will be safe...
loose lips sink ships
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