Bear In [his] Mind

I am in the midst of planning a camping trip to the High Peaks Region of Adirondack State Park. For those who have never been there, it is a gorgeous part of New York State. I have camped in that area five times already and I would keep going back. The trip will consists of around two miles of backpacking, setting up camp in the vicinity of Marcy Dam, and day trips from there to some of the most stunning views available in this part of the country.

My partner in crime here at Hayom, Shtender, has joined us in the past for all of these trips. Our last trip was seven summers ago and that’s where the trouble started. After backpacking in and setting up camp and properly hanging our food, we turned in for the night. Sometime in middle of the night we had visitors. Now, I’m a pretty deep sleeper (or at least I was back then) and I heard nothing. But Shtender in the next tent claims they came so close to our tents that he was able to hear them breathing. The next morning we found that all the time spent securing our food was in vain. The bears had devoured most of our food. Whatever remained had bite marks and claw marks all over and was of no use to us. We had to hike out and restock.

Here is where I need to tap in to the persuasive powers of all [twenty] of our readers. Shtender claims that he is too traumatized from that experience (seven years ago) and he is refusing to join us this year. Personally, I think he is more traumatized by the thought of backpacking a few miles. If anyone can convince him to change his mind, I will forever be indebted to you.