Backpacking Diary: An Encounter
at Avalanche Lake
When I was a kid, our family vacations
involved a four-person tent and a patch of lonely woods. I didn’t
mind. I loved hiking, campfires, and sleeping in a tent. There’s
one trip, however, that stands out as the most memorable.
It was the summer I was eleven.
My parents took me on a backpacking trip through Avalanche Lake.
Dark cliffs tower on both sides of this mile-long lake, and there’s
no shore. The trail we took was an adventurous route of wooden
catwalks bolted to the cliff face. The lake itself was smooth
as a mirror, reflecting the tall cliffs and the narrow stretch
of sky between them.
At the end of the day, we arrived
at a cluster of campsites. Several other groups of campers were
setting up tents and cooking meals. We picked a site of our own
and got ready to eat dinner. We had the best franks and beans
I’d ever eaten. Just about anything tastes amazing after
a long day of hiking.
After dinner, my dad put the rest
of the food in a bag. He tied a rope to it and slung it over a
thin branch. He missed one thing, though: a piece of chewing gum
I’d been saving. I had dropped it near the tent. I didn’t
think such a small thing would attract any dangerous wildlife,
though, so I didn’t say anything about it. I had no trouble
falling asleep that night.
I woke up to a strange clanking
sound. I looked around and realized my parents weren’t in
the tent. I stuck my head outside. Lots of other people were up,
including my parents. Everyone was banging on a pot or bowl or
canteen. Then I saw something black moving through the trees,
and I knew why. It was a bear.
Black bears are common in the
Adirondacks, but I’d never seen one in the wild before.
This one looked no bigger than a large dog. It was moving quickly
among the campsites toward a stand of trees at the edge of the
camping area. I grabbed a pot and began hitting it. The bear moved
to the base of one of the trees and began to climb. I looked into
the tree and noticed something else: three bear cubs.
Once they saw those, my parents
got me out of there quickly. There are few more dangerous places
to be than between a mother bear and her cubs. On the way out,
I noticed the chewing gum I’d left out last night was gone.
I have no way of knowing whether
the bear or another animal took my gum. But my misstep could have
attracted her in the first place. Here’s an overview of
what we did right and what we should have done.
Proper food storage. My
dad put our food in a bear bag. To do this, put the food in the
bag, close it securely, and tie a rope to one end. Tie a rock
to the other end of the rope. Then throw the rock over a thin
tree branch. Pull the rope up until the bag is hanging about eight
feet from the ground and at least four feet from any tree trunks
or branches. The tree branch you choose should be at least 150
feet from your campsite. Most people think this is enough to keep
bears away. It’s not.
We made the mistake of storing
only food in our bag. Bears have an extremely fine sense of smell.
If you really want to keep them away, you also need to include
all “smellables”: shampoo, insect repellent, chap
stick, soap, lotion, any container that’s ever contained
a flavored drink, bandages, clothes worn while cooking and eating,
dirty cookware, toothpaste, deodorant, medication…and chewing
gum. In addition, you should never eat near or in your tent. Many
parks suggest you don’t use sunscreen, insect repellent,
shampoo, or lotion after 3 pm.
What to do if there’s
a bear in your campsite. Grab a pot and make noise. If
there are several people in your campsite, everyone should make
noise at once while slowly advancing. This is intimidating for
bears, and it will usually run them off. We did this by the book,
and it worked. Our mother bear climbed the tree where her cubs
were, giving everyone a chance to pack up and get out. If there
are cubs, don’t get between them and the mother. This is
one of the few situations where a bear will attack you.
Our encounter didn’t
turn out to be fatal. Most bear encounters aren’t. However,
it’s important to cut the risk by properly storing your
food and other belongings. Bears often return to places where
they’ve found food before, and our bear was probably used
to raiding for food around that group of campsites. By taking
care to store your food and other smellable items the right way,
you aren’t just keeping the bears away from your site for
the present. You’re also helping to prevent future encounters.
Contributed By Jennifer
Williamson
