I stopped for the first time at the Rutherford Lake shelter in NJ. This shelter is at the bottom of a fairly steep hillside...
I am sorry to say that the site is very "dirty"...littered with empty ziplock bags that once held peanut butter and jelly....half burned trash....beer caps...bags of tuna fish...empty tupperwares...and an unlocked bear box despite a functioning lock...etc. Normally, when camping in bear country, I wouldn't stay at a site in this shape, but since I arrived late in the day, I cleaned up what I could...locked smelly trash in the bear box before setting up my tent for the night.
Around 4:15 a.m. a black bear came foraging around the site...(gee what a surprise...) He circled close enough to the tent that his breathing woke us up)...he stayed about 40 minutes circling and tugging on the bear box looking for scraps...He didn't seem to want to leave even when we made lots of noise.
I reported the site condition to the park Ranger who said that the site would get cleaned up...I sure hope so, because if not, it will lead to the possible trapping of an innocent bear and a potetially dangerous situation for those hiking the trail and choosing to stay at this shelter.