Date: 2017-05-29
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: Fingerboard Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: overcast clouds

so the day started with constant rain. I looked at the forecast and saw that it would be clearing around 1 PM. I washed crazy J break up camp and head out into the pouring rain at around 7 AM. Not me! I decided to sleep in and rest and ate several small breakfast meals while napping  till about noon. Is the rain was letting up in the forecast showed clear weather for the remainder of the day I got packed up and got on the trail somewhere between one and 2 PM. I had a 14 mile day to do and I kept hearing that the fingerboard shelter had a trouble with an aggressive bear bear . I didn't really want to stay there at the shelter but the fog and rain rolled in Lake late and I did not make good time over the wet rocks and rough terrain. I'll tell you the last two days of hiking in New York have been tough going. my phone battery died and I didn't even know what time it was. I reached where I thought the shelter would be just as in a Normas fog rolled in at dusk and E Normas fog.  I don't know why this thing can't get in Normas right but I can't. Anyway I stumbled around for about an hour trying to find the shelter. I found signs for the shelter. I found scaffolding for the shelter. I yelled to try to locate the shelter . Still I could not find the shelter in the dance fog. I found out later that close bear mountain because of the intense fog. It was foggy! Eventually I found the shelter with four people in it. This is where the story gets interesting . Being very hungry I decided to eat the zucchini bread I had bought at heavenly hills bakery and dairy bar. While eating the food at around 9 PM the people in the shelter informed me they had seen the bear the trouble there while hanging their food bags.  I made a comment that I would prefer to keep my food bag with me in the shelter exploded in objection. Rather than face the angry lynch mob I informed them that I had sent back my 50 foot rope in a pack shake down and I only had 20 feet of rope so I would need to tie off to their  bags. They agreed to this and after I finished eating one of the fellows got up his trail name was half blind and followed me out to the tree. When I shined my headlamp up to their bags I heard something and looked up and saw a fairly large bear in  tree in the tree. Yes a bear was in the tree where their food bags were hanging. The other guy came out of the shelter with a better light and we could clearly see the bear climbing around in the tray in the tree. I stated that I did not feel comfortable hanging my food bag there and that they should probably remove their's but they insisted that I hang my bag there with their bags. This did not seem like a good idea to me. Hanging a food back in a tree with a bear in it.  They insisted. We proceeded to lower their bags and to clip my bag onto their's. The bear was agitated and made hissing noises climbing higher into the tree. Once my bag was securely fastened to their's  they continued to yell at the bear and the bear eventually came down the tree which made me very uncomfortable because it was dark and foggy and we couldn't really see where the bear was. We all retreated into the shelter where I promptly fell asleep. The next morning at Dawn one of the fellas got up and upon returning to the  Shelter informed us that all the bags were there except for mine. The bear had somehow knocked my bag free and made off with a day and a half of food. Truthfully I had very little food in the bag. However there is a powerful Moral to the story. Don't hang your food bag in a tree with a bear in it!!! Moral to the story. Don't hang your food bag in a tree with a bear in it!!!If I hadn't been so stupid My life would probably have gone a lot smoother. End of story.