Racoons and bears do have a few similarities, size obviously not being one.

It's the same basic problem of a thieving disposition and lack of education and opportunity. Perhaps if a bear were the same size as a nasty racoon, I might take the bear for its better personality...but duno... whatever.

Fear of bears can really get debilitating for some people, and that's unnecessary, especially considering that most backpacking is done were there are no brown bears.


This incident I describe was in 1975 or so.

The park had a free campground for the "hippies" that was separate from whatever else they had in the way of camping near downtown Jasper.

There was zero management. It was located a mile or two west of Jasper, on the north side of a small a tributary right near where it entered the Athabaska River, from the west.

The night I stayed there, I was told that the majority of campers, lots of French Canadians and perhaps numbering 50-100, were on LSD, and having just gotten out of jail myself in Saskatoon due to a minor drug infraction, I was keeping my nose clean for the sake of the Crown.

The scene with the bears was comical and certainly a bit scary, and it continued nonstop. I'm not exaggerating about the tarp cords. I'm sure this was repeated day after day there that summer, and I wouldn't be surprised if something bad happened at some point.

No brown bears, although as I took a little walk up the creek, was being rather careful due to heavy brush. All I found besides bear tracks, was a group of naked young people engaged in a very weird, possibly drug-based ceremony of some kind.

Sadly, I'm sure all those bears are long dead.

Today instead of hippies I hear it's the elk that raise hell.