Camping in Bear Country

[Bike Writer]

I've had a couple of experiences with bears while camping. The first one involved a bear and a racoon. A bear had been wandering the campground but a racoon got to our cooler first, it was outside of the car. Oh did I mention that we were very young newly married and rather inexperienced at camping in bear country. A neighboring camper saw both of the animals, I had only heard them moving around. Hubby had slept through the whole thing.

2nd encounter was years later with more experience under our belt we kept NOTHING, not even a stick of gum in the tent. In the morning when we pulled into camp we saw a bear inside someones screen room eating from their cooler. We were also the only tent in the campground. Everyone else had a camper. Not a good sign but the fishing that day had been outstanding and we wanted to go back to the same lake for a few more days and didn't want to drive the 40 miles or so out of hill country away from the bears so we decided to stay and felt fine with everything locked up in the car.

That was until we heard several bears moving about the campground. We made a dash for the car and slept there the rest of the night. At first light I noticed that the tent fell down during the night. Actually it didn't, it was taken down and ripped up by a bear. Glad we were in the car.

We patched up the tent with duct tape and mended the poles with whittled branches so we could use it for a change house, got our fill of hauling in great catches of fish till our arms ached from reeling them in over the next couple of days and spent two more uncomfortable nights in the car.

Looking back even though it was quite frightening, it was also fun and adventerous. It kept me spooked for a couple of years even when camping in very civilized and highly populated areas.

These encounters took place in Michigan's upper penninsula in the western hilly countryside.

Sleeping on the ground in a tent is not doable for me any longer but I look back fondly to those days. Car, canoe, tent, fishing rods and a wandering spirit - we wet a line in 4 of the 5 Great Lakes and countless lakes, rivers and streams.

Sorry for the ramble but I hadn't thought about the bear camping trips in a long while and this thread brought back a whole lot of good memories.

Have fun, don't worry and keep the car keys handy.