Total newbie question:
All of the advice I've seen about camping in bear country has suggested the 100m triangle for optimum safety (cook, hang, and sleep in 3 different places 100m apart from each other). However, a lot of the photos I see from AT shelters shows cook stoves and meals set up at the shelter. Does anyone think this promotes bear encounters at shelters? Or do you think bears will check out shelters either way since humans = food?
I recently checked out trail updates on the ATC website and it seemed like a lot of them involved nuisance bears at various shelters. Then today, I saw a YouTube video where a group of hikers placed their food bags on top of the shelter as there was no ideal hang location and no bear cables. While the story was anecdotal and I got a good laugh out of it, I wondered why the hikers were all surprised to wake up and find a bear trying to climb the shelter.
I'm just curious what people's opinions are of this.