Road trip tent camping anyone?

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Bigfoot......My bro in law witnessed a bear come into his camp site in Sequoia national park and paw at a cooler that had nothing but 2 beers in it as they put all their food in a supplied metal food locker. He watched out the tent zipper as the bear tipped the cooler over, swatted at it and then it opened with the 2 beers rolling out. Then he hit the cooler, maybe he was pissed because it was only Busch, and not Natural Lite Ice?
C'mon- everybody knows bears prefer Hamm's!
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Pretty sure that wouldn't stop one.
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Wife’s cousin was tent camping with a Honda Civic. They left some un eaten fast food in the car with the windows down a crack. A large bear showed up at night and climbed all over the hood and roof, collapsing them both and smashing the windshield. Car was totalled, looked like it was in a roll over.Try explaining that to the insurance company.RJ
 
The funniest "food-in-a-car" bear story I ever heard was from a ranger in Sequoia National Park as he was admonishing the park visitors at his fireside chat to use the metal food containers at their campsites.
He told the story of a summertime visitor who put his food in the bottom of his sleeping bag and then proceeded to put his bag in the back of his station wagon. Being a warm night, he left the tailgate down. During the night a bear came along, grabbed the sleeping bag, pulled it (with the rudely awakened individual inside) out of the station wagon and dragged the occupied bag and all down the road.
The guy eventually got the bag unzipped and lightened the bear's load.
I bet that bear found more than just food in that bag...and it didn't smell nearly as good.
 
The funniest "food-in-a-car" bear story I ever heard was from a ranger in Sequoia National Park as he was admonishing the park visitors at his fireside chat to use the metal food containers at their campsites.
He told the story of a summertime visitor who put his food in the bottom of his sleeping bag and then proceeded to put his bag in the back of his station wagon. Being a warm night, he left the tailgate down. During the night a bear came along, grabbed the sleeping bag, pulled it (with the rudely awakened individual inside) out of the station wagon and dragged the occupied bag and all down the road.
The guy eventually got the bag unzipped and lightened the bear's load.
I bet that bear found more than just food in that bag...and it didn't smell nearly as good.
Hilarious :rofl:
 
Has anyone ever watched one of those Alaskan TV flicks where the dude living out in the wilds, nails his cabin shut, with NO food inside, and returns a few months later and bears have got inside and tore it to nothing!!
 
There are quite a few RV's for sale for under 5K around here. With 10% Russian gas at $5 a gallon, 9 mpg kinda sucks. That's ~50 cents a minute on the highway.
 
"There are many bears in this area, they are always hungry and always looking for an easy meal. Bears have a very acute sense of smell and we recommend that you have no food, or drinks, or snacks or even chap sticks in your room so as not attract any bears. Anything that has any type of scent will attract bears."

So I have spent the last 40 years working on National Scenic Trails (think Appalachian Trail or Pacific Crest Trail). Our crews pack in bear proof coolers and food storage containers (google it). When backpacking it is common practice to stop early and cook dinner, and then go on down the trail for a good bit before camping, leaving the food smells behind. The smell thing goes for anything smelly sweet - the shampoo and soap you use, your toothpaste. I even use non-scented laundry detergent and no fabric softener on my backpacking and trail work clothes.

In Shenandoah National Park in the 80s I saw the result of thinking that putting it all in the trunk was safe when we returned to my buddy's Rambler to find big scratches around the trunk lid. The early 60s Valiant next to us had the usual rust behind the rear wheel where the bear tried to get access by ripping the rust hole bigger!
 
By the way those little compressed air horns are a great deterrent when things go south.
 
In a way, I admire people who like to tent camp, but my idea of roughing it is staying at a hotel without HBO and free WIFI.
 
In a way, I admire people who like to tent camp, but my idea of roughing it is staying at a hotel without HBO and free WIFI.
I "rough it out" at Embassy suites, open "free" bar every evening and "all you can eat" made to order breakfast!! I would use the pool but the water is always too wet!!! We get free stays all year long all over the country.
 
Has anyone ever watched one of those Alaskan TV flicks where the dude living out in the wilds, nails his cabin shut, with NO food inside, and returns a few months later and bears have got inside and tore it to nothing!!

Yep....The Last Alaskans. Show about the 5 or 6 families or individuals who still hold a cabin permit in The Alaskan Wildlife Refuge.
 

up until about 5 years ago when he retired, a guy in our town had a 1972 Dodge pickup with a camper in back, and he pulled his 64 max wedge Belvedere to the race track on an old open trailer. He is the epitome of John Milner, the same exact setup for decades, he even had an old Wards Westernfield bike to ride at the track, which he still rides around town. Still has the max wedge too, and the GTX he bought mew straight out of Vietnam. On the day he retired from the Chrysler Proving Grounds, he bought a new Hemi Ram pickup and a big new enclosed trailer. Guess he finally saved up enough money!
 
If you're not pooping outside you're not camping
If you're camping and you see a bear.............you're going to poop outside!!!!!!!!!!! And if the bear chases you.....you're going to poop a lot outside!!!!:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
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It occured to me that the reason so many people are encountering bears while camping is because they stay in state or national parks. Those bears are trained to seek food there and are used to being around humans.
I only camp in dispersed sites and dont recall ever having a bear in camp. That doesnt mean it hasnt happened but they didnt disturb me. And I have spent 1000s of nites in the woods.
My friend Dax did have a bear get into a stash he left deep in the mountains for cow camp. Apperently bears love propane and stove fuel ! It must be like whiskey to them ...lol
He still uses the mess kit with teeth marks .
 
It occured to me that the reason so many people are encountering bears while camping is because they stay in state or national parks. Those bears are trained to seek food there and are used to being around humans.
I only camp in dispersed sites and dont recall ever having a bear in camp. That doesnt mean it hasnt happened but they didnt disturb me. And I have spent 1000s of nites in the woods.
My friend Dax did have a bear get into a stash he left deep in the mountains for cow camp. Apperently bears love propane and stove fuel ! It must be like whiskey to them ...lol
He still uses the mess kit with teeth marks .

Like the picture the guy took of his bud petting the buffalo in Yellowstone. Hey Bubba hold my beer and watch this.
 
I did power tour 2009 by way of "KOA". We ended up in a motel 2 nights that week. The rest was in a tent out of the trunk of my 78 fury
 
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