Children, Ribs, and Bears...Oh My
While we were on the NJ NY border we decided to pop into town only .5 miles off
the trail and treat ourselves to some greasy bar food with some beer. We left
town forgetting to fill up on water so after a couple miles on trail we were
looking for a good source. We heard some loud voices and followed down a random
road. Luckily it ended up being a summer camp where we not only got water but
were handed juices and snacks too! After a couple minutes about 20 teens came
out of the dining hall and started excitedly asking us all about our trip. They
gathered around us and we felt like celebrities as they looked at us with wide
eyes. By the time we left that camp it had become near dark. We became desperate
for a camp spot so when we saw a slightly flat spot that was possibly part of
someone's backyard we started setting up. We decided to hang our food (as we
were in bear country) but as we pulled our food up, the branch came crashing
down. We quickly decided it wasn't worth the possibility of waking someone up
and getting kicked out of our stealth spot, so we kept our food in our tent. At
about midnight we heard heavy footsteps and cracking sticks so we woke up and
figured it was a bear smelling ribs from the tavern that we had packed out. We
turned on our headlamps and heard the bear stop and as we started talking loudly
it ran off. Needless to say it was a sleepless night.