Date: 2008-04-19
From: Standing Bear Farm

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Oh yes, I have a bear story...It began at the end of one of my worst feeling days yet. It was only 14 miles, but it was rainy, chilly and the terrain was grueling... felt like I only hiked uphill all day and I was burned out from all the hiking and no breaking. SO here goes.BS and I arrived at the Roaring Fork Shelter around 6:00 only to find that the shelter was full. We were cold, wet, tired and miserable... too tired to set up a tent. WE were lucky to find that there was a bug space beneath the shelter with room for both of us to tuck into for the night. I felt much better after eating and sat down to read the trail register. I took one look at it and immediately started feeling panicky. Two nights before the place had been ransacked by a bear who helped himself to 4 unlucky hikers' food bags. The account was precise, documenting each of the bear's visits... apparently it had circled the shelter several times. A lump formed in my throat as I envisioned the beast swiping it's paw under the shelter looking for left overs only to find its favorite dish--hikers in a blanket! A lump formed in my throat. One of the thru hiking rules is that you hang your food every night, ostensibly to keep away from bears, but everyone knows that, in a shelter, mice are more of a problem. Usually. But Thru hikers get lazy and sometimes are stubborn. Some never hang their food at all, and, much to my dismay, even reports of rouge bears are not enought to rally them to change their ways. 2 hikers refused to hang their bags. Still, I thought, 5 food bags needed to be hung, and I hoped that would be enought to distract the bear from harrasing folks in and under the shelter. HAnging the food was more of a debacle than usual, mostly because I was getting everyone excited about the bear that I was certain wanted to pilage our camp. In the end, 3 went up in the tree, and 4 went on the roof of the shelter... Yes, the roof of the shelter. IT was completely dark by the time we hung the first batch of food bags, so we figured that was the last viable option. I hunkered down under the shelter with my knife, mace and treking poles at the ready.Around midnight I heard it: the unmistakable sound of a nearby tree falling. "Guys?," I whimpered. "I think I just heard the tree fall down." headlamps were set ablaze as the camp mobilized into action. OUt from under the shelter I sprang with my trusty Lekis (treking poles), as did BS. We rounded the corner of the shelter to find that just about all 10 other campers had done the same. It wasn't until then that I realized how hilarious the situation was: 12 adults running around in the middle of the night trying to slay a bear titanium sticks. Still, I liked the illusions that they brought some kind of safety.THe bear made off with 2 of the 3 bags that were hung in the tree. We have no idea how he snatched 2 since they were all on a biner tied to a rope and, last I checked, bears do not have opposable thumbs. It remains a mystery. Mosey, the owner of the bag that made it through the first bear attack, decided to keep his bag where it was. His logic was sound, and I think it helped keep me from being a bear hor's deurve. He figured that the bear knew it was already there and would come back for it. If he took it down, he thought, bear would come to the shelter looking for more food.Well, I'm sorry to say , that Mosey's bag was sacrifices around 2:00 am. Lucky for us all, that seemed to sate Bear's appetite, for he was not found roaming around camp again that night.The folks who came to the shelter the next night were not so lucky. Bear made his first appearance at 7:30 pm, then proceeded to stalk them all night, even going into the shelter and standing on his hind legs while trying to get food off the top of the shelter. Man did we luck out.