Bears!

[tasadam]

In areas where there are bears you should not cook in or store food in your tent! In these areas, all food should be stored so that bears can not get to it. Hang your food at least 12 feet off the ground and 4 feet away from the trunks of trees. Prepare your food at least 100 feet away from and down wind of your tent.

Taken from http://www.hilleberg.com/CookinginYourTent.htm
They can keep that to themselves, I will put up with the odd possum fossicking around in the vestuble any day...

[Son of a Beach]

In areas where there are bears you should not cook in or store food in your tent! In these areas, all food should be stored so that bears can not get to it. Hang your food at least 12 feet off the ground and 4 feet away from the trunks of trees. Prepare your food at least 100 feet away from and down wind of your tent.

Taken from http://www.hilleberg.com/CookinginYourTent.htm
They can keep that to themselves, I will put up with the odd possum fossicking around in the vestuble any day...

Sounds scary... I'm glad we don't have any wild Koala Bears in Tasmania!!!

[whiskeylover]

No bears in Tas? What about the drop bears - I think a cast iron tent is the only safe option.

[MJD]

I suppose the only problem with hanging your food at least 12 feet off the ground means that the only thing edible that is easily within the bears reach is now YOU.... or the girlfriend if you are lucky.

[Steve]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnRE0FUvDoI - Tent Pouncing Bear | Yellowstone National Park
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB-vQivWd-c - Bear Relaxing in Hammock

[MountainMule]

Actually I am researching a Northern Californian walk at the moment - and the hiking community - and the park authorities - take bears pretty damn seriously.
Like everywhere else park rangers take a very dim view of walkers who don't follow the rules: in some parks it is mandatory to carry bear-proof containers.
ALL food, and even stuff like toothpaste, deodorant [ who carries that on a tramp?] sunscreen must have secured in these bear containers. If you don't you are likely to be picked up by a ranger and fined on the spot.
Stringing your tucker up between a couple of trees is old-hat. The bears have worked that one out. It is illegal in some parts to do this.
Why all this hassle? Because if bears, [ black, brown, brindle - they're all known as 'brown' bears, as opposed to the fearsome Grizzly - get used to human tucker they turn nasty.
That's when they start ripping into cars, tents, human beings. All the bears are tagged, and if they turn feral, often as not they have to be shot. That's why they make serious bear rules.
Hmmmm , why the hell am I planning on walking among the bears anyhoo....

[Dutchy]

I camped 2 months straight in Canada and Alaska....prime bear country! And we didn't shy away from bear hot spots either.... It's really no different than being aware of snakes, be smart about it and you'll be fine! Follow the rules (don't cook near camp, don't wear 'cooking clothes' in bed, store food away from your tent) and you'll be sweet! Planning to go back 2011!!!! Can't wait!

[Drifting]

Bears are just something you have to be aware of. There's an interestinfg podcast about hiking with bears on the Practical Backpacking site.

[Lindsay]

Have a read of "A Walk In The Woods" by Bill Bryson. Gives you all the information a layman needs about bears

[iandsmith]

Gee, it makes me feel good to know that I can retreat to my motorhome each night! You guys can have the tent pitching all to yourself. Loved some of the comments! Cheers

[AdamM]

Spent 5 weeks in the US in July/August, including time staying in Yosemite and near Yellowstone and boy do they take bears seriously! When booking my permanent tent in Yosemite, the booking confirmation inclucded a warning that a bear locker (I wasn't sure what this would be, having never been to the US, but it turned out to be simply a small steel cabinet with latches bears couldn't open!) was provided out the front of each tent and all food and scented items must be stored in it and not the tent or car, with a $5,000 fine for not obeying! Didn't see any bears, but the bear that killed someone in their tent in Yellowstone was only a couple of days after I was there! Talking to the locals at Yosemite, apparently they do see a bear in the campsite about once a year.

[Drifting]

Attachments

[tastrax]

Ha ha ha

Is that last line for real or is it a great piece of photoshop work? I love it!

[ILUVSWTAS]

Thats absolutely hilarious.

[Drifting]

Well, it's a private campground sign, so probably real LOL

[walkinTas]

Damn that is funny. It'll take me an hour to recover.

[journeyman]

When I was bushwalking in Canada people would ask me how I went bush in Oz when there were so many dangerous animals - they didn't seem to see think their bears were as bad as our snakes and spiders.

[corvus]

I guess that is because the locals know that if you meet a bear you just lie still on the ground and it wont bother you

[Jellybean]

Classic!!

[HitchHiking]

Being from Canada myself I do enjoy recounting past bear encounters Had a good one coming down off the glaicer a few months back, a yearling must of had a food source in the bush as we crossed a land slip and didnt want us any closer. It was up on a boulder swinging its head and woofin the whole lot. We took a wide berth around it as it perched and watched us. It didnt look to healthy bit on the slim side with mingey fur. The type to watch out for.

[north-north-west]

When I was bushwalking in Canada people would ask me how I went bush in Oz when there were so many dangerous animals - they didn't seem to see think their bears were as bad as our snakes and spiders.

I found Bill Bryson's terror of Australian fauna quite ludicrous, coming to it after reading A Walk in the Woods. All we have is the crocs up north, with a few snakes and spiders thrown in. Do the AT, and you have to worry about bears, gators, mountain lions, murderous rednecks (OK, we've had one or two of those here too), rutting moose, rabid raccoons and hanta-virus-carrying mouseshit. Give me Australia any day.

[jcr_au]

When I was bushwalking in Canada people would ask me how I went bush in Oz when there were so many dangerous animals - they didn't seem to see think their bears were as bad as our snakes and spiders.

I found Bill Bryson's terror of Australian fauna quite ludicrous, coming to it after reading A Walk in the Woods. All we have is the crocs up north, with a few snakes and spiders thrown in. Do the AT, and you have to worry about bears, gators, mountain lions, murderous rednecks (OK, we've had one or two of those here too), rutting moose, rabid raccoons and hanta-virus-carrying mouseshit. Give me Australia any day.

Yes, but do you remember his description of John Howard & Canberra, spot on and hilarious

[north-north-west]

Yes, but do you remember his description of John Howard & Canberra, spot on and hilarious

He also did the all-time second-best ever radio cricket commentary pastiche, beaten only by Douglas Adams' magnificent little piece in Life, The Universe and Everything.

[Liamy77]

maybe the solution could be to import some bears into Canberra?
love the camp sign btw


but this is how to handle bears! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f94WI-0chv4

[tasadam]

I've got a question...

bear1.JPG (102.74 KiB) Viewed 17379 times

bear2.JPG (93.3 KiB) Viewed 17379 times

bear3.JPG (116.03 KiB) Viewed 17379 times

bear4.JPG (93.32 KiB) Viewed 17379 times

What's that line made of??

[north-north-west]

That's the fibre they're using for the NBN.

Last edited by north-north-west on Wed 22 Dec, 2010 9:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Drifting]

That's just a cub- probably only weights 30-40 kg. Still pretty impressive line. Or photoshop???

[Nuts]

Meh, seen possums do that...and bigger!

[HitchHiking]

thats some great shots of Yogi. Wonder what they are feeding the birds!

[Liamy77]

while we're talking about signs (and bears ) where is your avatar sign from Hitch hiking?
nice reasuring locale huh?!