Back in the early 1980's, my buddy and I arrived at an empty leanto in the eastern Adirondack high-peaks . . . we were well seasoned by then, and knew the ropes. After cooking/eating 100 yds. away, then hanging our food (no cannisters then!) another 100 yds. away . . . we were ready to settle down in the leanto for a nice, restful evening.

Along comes this group of 4 fellows from Brooklyn, all husky young men in good shape carrying all new gear ! ! ! They ask us for room in the leanto . . . we have no problem with that at all. They unpack their sleeping bags/pads, and decide to skip their evening meal that night in lieu of some snacks. Taking out bags of cookies and gorp, we ask them why they are eating "inside" their sleeping bags, leanto, etc . . . they start getting this pissy attitude with us about their decisions . . .

We move out, setting up our tent away from the leanto . . . we warned them. About 3:00 AM, we were woken by the sounds of yelling and ripping fabrics . . . I peeked out of the tent and saw flashlight beams piercing the darkness. We ran up to the leanto, they were all wide-eyed and full of adrenaline. We stayed with them for a while before returning to our tent . . . I'm sure they slept little for the remainder of that night.

Bears.

~jk