I really was just jesting in a dry sort of way--you know how concerned everyone is these days with the possibilty of "loaded" backpacks.Originally Posted by max patch
I give the alien origin more credit than a ranger origin in this case.I really was just jesting in a dry sort of way--you know how concerned everyone is these days with the possibilty of "loaded" backpacks.
I've heard of bears opening zippers without damaging the pack.
im sure it was a chipmunk, maybe a rabbit.What other animal would be able to carry the pack....come on!
ummm...human?
Hopefully it was 150' in the correct direction, free slackpacks are the best.
A deer. I know a thru hiker that had a trekking pole stolen by a deer. It wanted the salt in the grips. A pack could also have salt and get carried off by a deer. I know another hiker that had a bandana stolen by a squirrel, it wasn't recovered. And folks are worried about bears?
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In 1977 I was camped in Low Gap in NC and a bear had opened my Jansport pack which has a semi-circular zipper on the front. He/she opened the zipper, stuck its head in the pack, caused no damage except for a slight tear on a stuff sack, and then left. I witnessed the whole episode. Found out later that day I was in a bear sanctuary. In 2010 bears were active in the area of the Woods Hole shelter. Several people lost food and packs. One group tied their put their food in a pack and tied the pack to a small tree. The bear broke down the tree and took the pack
More walking, less talking.
Theoretically it could have been carried away by a flock of geese also but just theoretically. When you are in bear territory and interaction is increasing between the wildlife and hikers, rare encounters may happen more commonly but still they are rare . Deer is in that category for me.Plausible but nowhere near bear.
What about a swallow? I don't think a European swallow could carry it away, an African swallow, maybe.
Unlikely, for that to be true the pack would need to be extremely light, like less than the weight of an average coconut...
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Perhaps if there were two swallows...
I had a bear encounter today. Bear didn't get my pack though....because I wasn't wearing one. I saw a 2-3 yr old male, looked well fed too, in downtowm Alpharetta this afternoon strolling through the busy 8 way intersection of Windward and Deerfield. Called PD to let folks know there was a bear in the area and to have them watch for any aholes feeding the bears marshmallows.
Similar thing happened to me in PA. My bag was covered in thick and slimy bear slobber! It was gross. And I saw the bear.
Maybe a thief who dropped it and ran because they thought they were going to get caught. If I were looking to steal high dollar equipment I'd find a shelter just a few miles from a road crossing and hike in at night while everyone would be asleep. Someone watching shelter journals could easily predict who/what/how many would be at the given shelter. You could even wait at road crossings and give people trail magic in order to case what kind of equipment they had.
Does it make sense to anyone that a bear could carry a pack 150 yards, presumably with either its claws or teeth, without doing any damage? Why would it take a pack with no food smells? If there were food smells, why wouldn't it rip the pack open looking for the food?
Maybe it was just somebody playing a practical joke, trying to make people think it was a bear. A jokester wouild make sure to place the pack where they knew it would be found easily. A jerk who really wanted to screw with you would put it somewhere they thought you might not find it at all. Did the guy piss anybody off recently, and were they at the shelter or even just possibly in the area that night?
When I was at basic training in the Army our drill sgt used to go through the barracks after we'd left in the morning and if your bed wasn't made to his standards he'd toss the whole thing and make a mess of it. One guy in particular had his bunk tossed more than once, and it just infuriated him. It was funny to watch his reaction when he returned at the end of a long day to find his bunk messed up. So we started racing back to the barracks so we could get there before him and toss his bunk even if the drill sgt hadn't done it. After 8 weeks the guy never figured out that we were doing it and there were 7 of us in on the gag.
I saw cellphone video of that bear last nite on the local news. He was at a Walmart.
You mentioned some nice plausible explanations for the human scenario. I like it . But , there is a but here. Is that shelter close to a busy road?
Did he ( a 70 years old man have any dough with some hikers?
The bear has been seen around the time of incident , so who dares to go 100 yards in the wood in the middle of the night to prank a mature hiker?for what reason?
Still your scenarios are plausible alternative if the BEAR was nor around. Right?
About 2 1/2 miles. Each way.
Hahaha! Fantastic way to start my morning. Coffee and a solid laughHopefully it was 150' in the correct direction, free slackpacks are the best.
That theory is hard to swallow.
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