My brother and I were once camping on the Tour du Mt Blanc. As we were washing up after eating in the dark, we saw multiple sets of approaching eyes reflecting our one headlamp. Wolves? We couldn't tell. They seemed very large and intimidating, whatever they were and weren't a familiar form even as they got closer.
We became increasingly nervous until it turned out that we'd camped on the wrong side of a fence and curious horses were approaching our campsite in their paddock. Probably didn't help that I had a childhood fear and recurring nightmares about horses. Later, we woke up to them licking the tent.
I woke up once to what I thought was the sound of Velcro outside my tent. I called out to my cousin (his backpack was leaning against the tree next to my tent) that it is too early and I was trying to sleep.
Unzipped the tent and took a look out. The sound was a bear ripping my cousin's backpack open. He did not leave any food inside, but had let some food touch the pack and left a scent.
I quickly closed the tent and let the rest of the group run the bear off.
I don't think I could camp anywhere that had bears!
Since the requirement in the US for the use of bear canisters (plastic cylinders that bears cannot open) for food storage the problem has gotten a lot better. Bears used to be more aggressive once they learned that people have food. Now in general they have learned that the food cannot be accessed and tend to stay away; though some have learned that if you scare the people when the canister is open they can get the food out.
Re:Dyatlov Pass Incident
by wavefunction on Friday June 03, 2016 @02:17PM
(#11832139)
@Cerium I'm not aware of any such requirement per se, mostly just that it's good advice. We used to tie our food up but you have to pick the right tree or the bear will simply climb up the tree or pull the tree over to bring the food within reach.
The regulations are not national, but enforced by individual park services. As far as I'm aware all national parks with bears require proper food storage. Many states have regulations as well. A quick search shows that parks in New York with bears require their use during the summer.
Felt pretty silly when I noticed a large herd of deer not far away the next day.
I suspect having more people with me would have made us react even more irrationally. I'm a pretty experienced hiker and generally fairly level headed....