In the eastern High Peaks the Bear canister is MANDATORY. If you are caught without one, you will be fined and the rangers will drag you behind a lean to and beat you to a pulp.
I see... clearly a practical policy resulting in less paperwork!
Also thanks Lumberzak for the link to the rules. I'm just now finding some of these details in planning for an upcoming trip.
"If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it." Lyndon B. Johnson
2) Canoe the food bag to a small island. If available this is my preferred (easiest) method.
I had thought about doing this if the situation ever presented itself. However, a couple of weeks ago at Lows Lake we spotted two swimming bears on the same day! The first was at Hitchins Pond, making its way towards the landing at the Upper Dam, as were we. For awhile we were on a collision course, but when our distance closed to fifty yards or so, the bear blinked and swam back to the far shore. The second experience was more unnerving. At about six that evening, we had just sat down to dinner at site 14 when we saw another bear swimming generally in our direction. It made landfall on the island just east of ours, and of course we were convinced it had been attracted by the aroma of our food, and would soon cross to OUR island. That didn't happen, and we saw no more bears, swimming or otherwise, during the rest of our five day Lows Lake trip (though we saw lots of scat).
My point is....the idea of safeguarding food by placing it on an island is apparently no guarantee that it won't be found, so it should continue to be wrapped to control odors and hung properly.
Personally, I love my canister for canoe trips. The additional weight and bulk is a minor consideration when I'm floating and not toting, and it gives the peace of mind that my trip will not be cut short as a result of losing my food.
2) Canoe the food bag to a small island. If available this is my preferred (easiest) method.
I had thought about doing this if the situation ever presented itself. However, a couple of weeks ago at Lows Lake we spotted two swimming bears on the same day! The first was at Hitchins Pond, making its way towards the landing at the Upper Dam, as were we. For awhile we were on a collision course, but when our distance closed to fifty yards or so, the bear blinked and swam back to the far shore. The second experience was more unnerving. At about six that evening, we had just sat down to dinner at site 14 when we saw another bear swimming generally in our direction.
You have encountered the famous swimming bear of Low's. I hadn't heard of his presence this year, but he (or she) has made quite a story in the past two seasons. According to Dawn (the DEC asst. ranger who daily patrols Low's), every evening the bear would make the rounds of the main lake campsites, beginning around site 14, heading west along Gooseneck Island toward site 18, then swim nearly a mile via Pole and Frying Pan Islands toward the multitude of campsites on the north shore and hit them all the way to Grass Pond. I understand his success rate is quite high. Sometime during the day he returns back toward the east, to repeat the process the next evening.
"Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth." -Walt Whitman
We spoke to Dawn who said she hadn't heard about much bear activity this year (or last) except around site 12. This was our fifth consecutive year in the area in September and hadn't seen any bears there before.
What we saw was clearly two different bears. Bear #1 (at Hitchins Pond) was enormous...in fact, I thought at first it must be a moose...and was pretty uniformly black in color. Bear #2 was much smaller and had a distinctly cinammon colored muzzle.
By the way, it must have been our year for swimming mammals. A week later, on a day hike at Wolf Lake State Forest, we saw two raccoons swimming head to tail across the lake.
Last edited by danceswithflies; 09-26-2006, 09:03 AM.
Reason: additional information
You have encountered the famous swimming bear of Low's. I hadn't heard of his presence this year, but he (or she) has made quite a story in the past two seasons. According to Dawn (the DEC asst. ranger who daily patrols Low's), every evening the bear would make the rounds of the main lake campsites, beginning around site 14, heading west along Gooseneck Island toward site 18, then swim nearly a mile via Pole and Frying Pan Islands toward the multitude of campsites on the north shore and hit them all the way to Grass Pond. I understand his success rate is quite high. Sometime during the day he returns back toward the east, to repeat the process the next evening.
That's a great point.
I constantly stress, often to very skeptical ears just how smart and determined bears and other animals can be.
They can and will swim several miles easily. They are able to swim across currents that humans cannot believe.
As far as how far away they can smell something, i did some research after my recent postings that they could smell something from 3 or 5 miles away. I was wrong, way wrong. According to organizations that study or have dealing with bears, these are the facts.
A dog has a 100% better sense of smell then a human
A bloodhound has a 300% better sense of smell then a human.
A bear has a sense of smell 7 times more powerful then a bloodhound.
If you do the math, that means a bear's sense of smell is 2100 times more sensitive then a humans.
In field observations, bears were documented as smelling a decaying carcass and going to is in a straight line from 90 miles distance.
A bear broke into a cabin in Minnesota and bit though over 100 cans of food, not touching ten cans. Contents of the 10 cans? Sauerkraut!! They can't smell through the can, but they can smell the tiny bit of residue on the can from the canning process a long time ago.
Bears are able to identify the genus of a scent, and in the case f other bears, identify the particular individual from a very long distance.
Finally, bears can differentiate between fear and agressiveness from several miles away, solely by smell.
A bear has a an area of "smell receptors" that is multiple times larger then any other creature. Smell is their strongest sense and the one the rely on 95 % of the time.
Brown bears (which encompasses the grizzley and Kodiak and white bears of prince edward island) are not likely to climb trees. Their claws are sort of shovel shaped at the end, enabling them to dig quickly. A polars bears claws are like a razors at the end so they can grasp a seal in it's hole and lift it out with one paw. Black bears howeverm have claws that act as "crampons". they can climb up or down and even slide down a tree using their laws as brake. Black bears are "at home" in trees and often limb then to conceal themselves. Black bears who are "backpacker savvy' have been know to climb trees and break the line holding a food bag.
All bears are omnivores, they can and will eat anything. They are creatures of opportunity. Whatever is the easist to obtain, they will go for if the risk is not greater then the reward.. They are eating machines to in order to obtain the body mass needed for hibranation. However, if there is a consistant easy food source, they do not hibrinate.
So my real point here is to understand that what many people may consider "bear safe" may not be the case. Never underestimate the animals.
"If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it." Lyndon B. Johnson
Go figure... I guess I'll need another excuse to take those night-time canoe trips on clear and starry nights that doesn't involve ferrying the food pack to the island.
As you point out - bears are creatures of opportunity... perhaps the reason the island food store has worked for me for so many years was because they just didn't find that night swimming was all that opportune and convenient.
It might be time to look into the cannisters... I've always appreciated the convenience of the portage bag for this and found them easy to organize since it opens on the side rather than the top.
Those using the cannisters... any suggestions on organizing 1-2 weeks worth of food so you don't have to do regular dumps to find the stuff on the bottom?
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