On one hike we were headed for a lean too that was a distance up the trail when we decided we wouldn’t make it before dark so we stopped to set up camp.  This was back when flash lights were crap and we had no desire to continue hiking in the mountains in the dark.  So we settled in, made dinner and went to bed.  Later that night we heard screams coming from the direction of the lean too.  But being chickens by nature and with no desire to run thru dark woods with crappy flash lights we stayed put.  Come the next morning we encountered the source of the prior nights screaming.  Apparently a group was at the lean too and decided that instead of hanging their food in a tree; they would put it in the back of the lean too, wrongly believing that no bear would walk over them to get to it.  Well surprise, the bear not only came to visit them that night, but did not hesitate to shred their equipment to get at the food contained within.  This is why you need to respect the local’s strong desire to eat and not care if you are going to make it easy for them.  Luckily no one was hurt, but their rented equipment was destroyed, I guess they didn’t get that deposit back.

On another trip we watched a bear and her two cubs help themselves to someone else’s food.  They had strung it up by three lines which is a good setup, unless…   Mom sent each cub up a tree where they cut the lines and as the food swung down on the final line, Mom grabbed the bag and dinner was served. Clearly not the first time they had used this approach.  I never lost any food to bears, the closes I came was a chipmunk that did a tight rope act and chewed thru the side of the bag where the garbage was.  Thou there were many a night I was convinced we would wake up in the morning and have nothing to eat and wishing I was staying at a Cabin In The Woods instead of a tent.

I’m also a big fan of a good flash light, the brighter the better.  I wish head lamps were a thing while I was actively hiking, I might have even gone to see what the screaming was if I had one.