The Bear Who Came to Dinner...

~at Kelly and Karen's Tent~

Spanish Peaks Scout Ranch--July 2012



Happily anticipating a shower and fresh clothes, Kelly "Rambo" dropped off her backpack in the girl's tent and headed to the shower to wash off four days worth of dust and sweat. In her eagerness, Kelly neglected to remove from her backpack the granola bars she hadn't eaten during the four-day wilderness backpacking trek. Leaving food in your tent is not a good idea in bear country...

Idly wondering why Kelly would leave one of her hiking boots carelessly tossed out the back "door," I replaced it beside its mate back in the tent and then I notice my sleeping bag hanging almost totally off the cot and my pillow on the floor.  "Hmm, somebody's been sleeping in my bed," I chuckled to myself. The scouts aren't really supposed to go into the adults' tents but perhaps it was my son Daniel looking for the money I was keeping for him or seeking a towel to borrow.

I shrugged it off and went out to sit under the pine trees with the other adults, when an impromptu leader's meeting ensued and Kelly, having returned from her shower, stepped over to our tent to get some paperwork.

"My backpack is gone!" We gave her all sorts of helpful advice: "Look under your cot." "Maybe Chandler has it." "Are you sure you put it in there?"

I checked the perimeter of our tent; others searched throughout the entire campsite. Scott was walking up the hill behind our tent city when he saw what appeared to be a pile of trash. It wasn't. It was Kelly's back pack with stuff emptied out and scattered about. Her ground pad was more than slightly shredded and her sleeping bag was gone. As were the granola bars.


The next day we returned from our activities to discover that the bear had returned to our tent and, finding no food, he had ripped into a couple bags of clothing. The bear also checked out a neighboring tent. While there, it appeared that he had had a first-hand experience with mentholatum (that picture in my head still makes me laugh.)

We decided to form a search party for Kelly's sleeping bag. The Boy Scouts spread out, searching the hilly woods behind our campsite. They spotted handfuls of down feathers here and there, which led them finally to the sleeping bag which was ripped beyond repair.

After these two episodes, we set up a bear patrol, leaving a leader or a couple of the older scouts in the campsite at all times. Sure enough, the bear did return but all it took to scare him off were some manly shouts and a big rock tossed in his direction. I was actually a bit disappointed that I never got to see a bear but Kelly and I will forever hold the dubious distinction of hosting the "bear who came to dinner..."