Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 11:40:13 -0400
Reply-To: Emmet McGovern <webmaster@BEACHIN.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Emmet McGovern <webmaster@BEACHIN.NET>
Subject: Re: Bears & Adventurewagens (repeat)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
HAH! Great story. Im sure you werent pleased at the time though. I never
said hanging was fail safe, but it works when theres no alternative. I'll
take a lost food supply bag and some rumaged clothing over a damaged van any
time.
In 93' I was in Yellowstone having a picnic with some friends when a black
bear invited himself along in broad daylight. We stood about 50 feet away,
ignored by the bear, and said goodbye to our meal and beverages.
Emmet
-----Original Message-----
From: Austin [mailto:austins@IX.NETCOM.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 11:31 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Bears & Adventurewagens (repeat)
In 1991 I & the 2 r.r.'s went up to Tuolumne Meadows for a planned few days
at Young Lake, Ragged Peak, Conness glacier, etc. Started out near
Lembert Dome, made it to Young lake (~ 8 miles), had some dinner,
*properly* stored our food between 2 trees & 15' up, & hit the sack. Comes
3 am & Mr. Tioga bear climbs one of the trees (picked the one right behind
the tent-scared the stuffing out of the three of us): the limb he's
crawling out on (that held my son's weight just fine) snaps & he crashes
down with our food sack, & wanders off. Next am we find what's left ~ 150
yards away....he'd had quite a feast. The hungry little ones decided fish
for breakfast, lunch, & dinner was stretching it, esp 'cuz ol' Dad is not
well known for his fishing abilities (trout are not an endangered species
when I'm after them).
So we hike our tired 'n' dirty butts back to Moby (the great white
Adventurewagen).....& find the passenger side window in a bazillion pieces
both inside & outside. Against all common sense I'd left the windows open
a crack, "cuz there was NO food, or food containers, anywhere
inside. Howsomever Ms Tioga bear (please note gender balance of 'guilty'
parties) knew what I didn't: my beloved little ones had surreptitiously
smuggled in baggies full of M&M's - peanut, of course, chocolate covered
raisins, & other assorted survival food to enable them to endure the
l-o-n-g trip from the Bay Area. Of course they'd forgotten all about it
when we started, but *now* they remembered!!! So Ms T-bear sniffed out the
goodies, crawled through to the back, & spent a goodly amount of time
chasing MnM's all over the floor & into the corners where she captured
them, leaving lots of tongue-streak evidence on the cardboard I had
covering the rug for the trip. She'd put her hind feet on the front tire,
hooked her claws through the vent crack, & pushed/pulled the window 'til it
broke. The alarm went off, & of course Ms bear wasn't the least perturbed,
according to the park ranger who'd been through this many times before.
Yes, bears *ARE* able to read (~ 3rd grade level, I believe), they *ARE*
incredibly strong, and, unless you are between them & what they want, they
could care less how upset you get.
Austin
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