Is anyone else keeping up with Turtle Feet on the AT? Apparently she had a bear encounter last week. Glad to hear that she is OK and that only her hammock, tarp and pack were damaged.
Turtle Feet's bear encounter
Is anyone else keeping up with Turtle Feet on the AT? Apparently she had a bear encounter last week. Glad to hear that she is OK and that only her hammock, tarp and pack were damaged.
Turtle Feet's bear encounter
“Indian builds small fire and stays warm, white man builds big fire and stays warm collecting firewood”—unknown
“The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea”—Karen Blixen
Glad she's ok even if her tarp and hammock aren't. In the past I've never bear bagged the Dr. Bonners soap. Oh well, one more thing to haul up into the air.
Knotty
"Don't speak unless it improves the silence." -proverb
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Wow, cool story and great information as well.
JimT
Gulp.
Can't wait for my thru.... lol
[Glad she's ok!]
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Major bummer, but glad no one got hurt. As I've watched a friends pack get stolen (and then managed to chase down the bandit bear and retrieve it ), anything at all with a scent, even canned, bottled, or in an "odor proof bag" should be hung or placed in a bear canister. Stinks that someone once again learns the hard way.
We have been following her trail in her journal.
An adventure to remember.
Turtle Feet wrote it well; we all will remember the lesson.
Really glad she didn't get hurt. Making a serious mental note though...
Wow!! I just read her mishap with the bear and I've bookmarked her journal so I can go back and read the rest of it. I wonder how that story would have went if she had actually been in the hammock. If the bear would have left her alone or if it would have actually continued to rip up her gear to get to the Dr. Bonner's soap??? She was very wise to sleep in the shelter that night. It does give me pause for all the times I've set up my hammock and left all my gear strewn around while I've headed to the shelter to eat. Sometimes I've taken my whole food bag and sometimes I've just taken that night's meal with me and left the rest of my food at my camp. It just hadn't occured to me that something could happen while I was away. I guess because it's still daytime. Everyone knows that the boogyman only comes out after the sun goes down. Good lesson here, I'll be even more paranoid now.
Dr. Bonner's Peppermint is really strong smelling. I carry the Eucalptus soap because that scent is "supposed" to help ward off insects. I don't usually have much of a problem with insects so maybe eucalptus does ward them off?? I have no clue if bears like or don't like the smell of eucalptus. (that would be nice to find out though) I do make sure to put the bottle in my bear bag at night after I've done any washing that I needed to do.
Thanks for the link to Turtle's page, I'll be reading her adventures now.
TinaLouise
Dr. Bonner's was one of the things mentioned by name in the lists I've read of what to bear bag. I stopped using it some time ago, due to the needless strong smell. Now I only use unscented soaps on the trail, mostly--
Wonder Wash.
For what it's worth, when my daughter and I "thru-hiked" the SNP about 4 summers ago, we saw bear each and every day for the whole week. They always ran away from us. Though she had some damage to her unattended gear, I'm sure glad the hiker was not injured!
Rain Man
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Last edited by Rain Man; 06-29-2011 at 07:47.
"You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims." --Harriet Woods
http://www.MeetUp.com/NashvilleBackpacker
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Glad all is ok!
I've thought about carrying Hunters no scented soap.
currently have a Eucalptus soap from Body works
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