Having just resettled around the table, we noticed the bear, on all fours, not ten feet from us. This bear was huge. He looked like he had been using the long daylight hours to fatten up for the cold winter. The abundance of berries and the prospect of human food at the shelter made this area part of his stomping grounds. Many bears have figured out that the shelters along the AT inside the park can offer easy, delicious meals.
Many backpackers ignore the posted signs warning against feeding bears.
The creatures may appear cute and cuddly, but they are, of course, potentially dangerous wild animals. A wild animal is an unpredictable animal. Consequently, many feeding incidents turn nasty. Bears learn to associate backpacks with food. So they scare hikers into dropping their backpacks and then, with reckless abandon, go after the food inside.