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  1. #21

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    Is there a bear box or cables at Fingerboard?

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mouser999 View Post
    Is there a bear box or cables at Fingerboard?
    There are not. There should be cables, but Harriman/ Bear Mn. Park get sooooooooo many people......every weekend the Bear Boxes would be full of trash.

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by coach lou View Post
    There are not. There should be cables, but Harriman/ Bear Mn. Park get sooooooooo many people......every weekend the Bear Boxes would be full of trash.
    Many years ago Harriman shelter's had privies, too. And before that some had wells with pumps. All gone now due to vandals and slobs.
    "It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss

  4. #24

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    per some info I requested:
    Hall, Jim (PARKS) <[email protected]>
    Currently there is no Bear Box or
    Cable at Fingerboard Shelter. We are currently planning a Cable to be
    installed by the NY/NJ Trail Conference The Trail
    Conference crew is looking to install in about two - three weeks.

    Jim Hall

  5. #25

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    There is a hilariously bad bear problem at this shelter right now. A bear appears to be getting food bags almost nightly. He isn’t shy about visiting you in your tent either. I planned to stop there but moved on after talking to a local. For two weeks I keep hearing crazy bear stories on the trail from people who stayed there.

    Hope the cables get installed soon and work. The bear will likely give the cables a good test for a while. In the meantime, people need to avoid this shelter. If going north it’s an easy walk to the next shelter.

  6. #26
    Coach Lou coach lou's Avatar
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    I have seen more bears in Harriman than anywhere else......ever!

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    Quote Originally Posted by coach lou View Post
    I have seen more bears in Harriman than anywhere else......ever!
    This is funny to me. Back in my Harriman days (60s and 70s) there were no bears at all in Harriman / Bear Mountain, excepting the zoo. I'd call it an improvement.
    .
    "It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Feral Bill View Post
    This is funny to me. Back in my Harriman days (60s and 70s) there were no bears at all in Harriman / Bear Mountain, excepting the zoo. I'd call it an improvement.
    .
    No different than Osprey and Red Tailed Hawks. When you and I were kids, you had to go to Maine or Alaska to see these beautiful birds. Today here on the Connecticut coast they are like pigeons!!!! Every estuary has a flock.............drive down I-95 and count the Red Tailed Hawks up on the lamp post.....waiting.
    Seems to me that the more apex predators out there, the better the environment must be!

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    Quote Originally Posted by coach lou View Post
    No different than Osprey and Red Tailed Hawks. When you and I were kids, you had to go to Maine or Alaska to see these beautiful birds. Today here on the Connecticut coast they are like pigeons!!!! Every estuary has a flock.............drive down I-95 and count the Red Tailed Hawks up on the lamp post.....waiting.
    Seems to me that the more apex predators out there, the better the environment must be!
    Which reminds me, I have plans to photohraph an Osprey this AM. Off I go.
    "It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss

  10. #30
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    I was passing by Fingerboard two weeks ago, considering camping in the area, and turned around to see a very large bear watching me. This bear had no fear of me whatsoever, and started to follow me as I moved away. Thankfully, after stoping again , yelling at it, and then continuing to move away, it stopped following me. I ended up hiking another few miles in the dark, and camping elsewhere.
    I do not know if this is the same bear that was stealing food a while back, but either way I would consider it to be a problem bear, and recommend people use the Brien shelter instead of Fingerboard.
    Be safe!

  11. #31

    Default Sounds like he is back

    That is the same behavior that was witnessed a year or two ago. The bear is not afraid of humans and returned to camp in the AM sniffing hammock campers.

    I did report it to the park but they didn’t seem concerned.


    Quote Originally Posted by MichaelK7 View Post
    I was passing by Fingerboard two weeks ago, considering camping in the area, and turned around to see a very large bear watching me. This bear had no fear of me whatsoever, and started to follow me as I moved away. Thankfully, after stoping again , yelling at it, and then continuing to move away, it stopped following me. I ended up hiking another few miles in the dark, and camping elsewhere.
    I do not know if this is the same bear that was stealing food a while back, but either way I would consider it to be a problem bear, and recommend people use the Brien shelter instead of Fingerboard.
    Be safe!

  12. #32

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    per some info I requested:
    Hall, Jim (PARKS) <[email protected]>
    Currently there is no Bear Box or
    Cable at Fingerboard Shelter. We are currently planning a Cable to be
    installed by the NY/NJ Trail Conference The Trail
    Conference crew is looking to install in about two - three weeks.
    Additional Info as of 06/28

    It is being installed next
    Tuesday.
























    Can
    you advise if bear cable has been installed yet?

    I
    had written to you in May. in ref. to a cable at Fingerboard.

    Thanks

  13. #33

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    Bear cables were installed at Fingerboard shelter in July of 2019.

  14. #34
    Coach Lou coach lou's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by blackmagic View Post
    Bear cables were installed at Fingerboard shelter in July of 2019.
    Awesome! Haven't been to Harriman since GHD I.........We may have to call MLK for Fingerboard to try them out!

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    I'm glad to hear that the cables have finally been installed.
    I'd still be wary of camping in a location with a bear that is known to sniff hikers laying in their hammocks...

  16. #36

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    I was there last week to check the place out. left behind were a lantern and an AM/FM/Weather radio with a solar panel and some books.
    No water at spring.

  17. #37

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    Quote Originally Posted by coach lou View Post
    Awesome! Haven't been to Harriman since GHD I.........We may have to call MLK for Fingerboard to try them out!

    My son and I stayed at Fingerboard this April. No sign of a bear, but the freezing temps may have accounted for that. The fireplaces were greatly appreciated. BTW, I made it from Elk Pen to Fingerboard with a full winter pack under my own steam.....just to prove to myself I could. (of course we bailed the next morning and hitched a ride at Tiorati back to the car....brrrrr....so essentially duplicated my first MLK hike.)


    Remember......

    https://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/ent...EHIND-Part-One

    https://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/ent...EHIND-Part-Two


    Shame I never got around to finishing this....or the hike.
    "Maybe life isn't about avoiding the bruises. Maybe it's about collecting the scars to prove we showed up for it."

  18. #38

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    Confirming bear cables have been installed at Fingerboard Shelter. Taken 7 December 2019.

    I didn't bother to take pictures of the cables, as they would have been difficult to see in a photo, but they are there where the sign at the shelter says they should be, with more signs nailed to the trees themselves.

    MVIMG_20191207_132608.jpg

  19. #39
    Wanna-be hiker trash
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    Quote Originally Posted by blackmagic View Post
    Confirming bear cables have been installed at Fingerboard Shelter. Taken 7 December 2019.

    I didn't bother to take pictures of the cables, as they would have been difficult to see in a photo, but they are there where the sign at the shelter says they should be, with more signs nailed to the trees themselves.

    MVIMG_20191207_132608.jpg
    Glad to hear it and thank you for the update!
    Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

  20. #40
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    Fingerboard and Bald Rocks shelters/camping areas in Harriman are both currently closed due to bear activity. I haven't been in that area in a while, so I don't know how strictly this is being enforced.

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