Here’s a quote from the FLTC e-list about a visit to a lean-to with a valuable lesson and good advice at the end:
“Today, after doing 9 miles on the three upper ski loops in Alleghany State Park, I decided to drive down to Coon Run to take a short hike to the Willis Creek Lean-to by bushwhacking from the park trail to the FLT/NCT. The lean-to was in good shape, but some slobs had been there either the night before or earlier in the day.
Their fire was still smoldering and the tin cans in the fire pit were too hot to remove and pack out. I did the best I could with the fire.
I packed up some forks and wine bottle wrappers they had left behind but while fooling with the fire I forgot to grab the small bottle of barbecue sauce they had also left on the picnic table.
Slobs are to be expected to be slobs, but I was surprised to find the journal under jars of peanut butter and jelly in the mail box. Left there I suspect by some well-intentioned but misguided hiker as a gift for whoever might show up hungry, unaware that the most likely beneficiaries of their kindness would be a bear or raccoon. So those jars also came home to my trash.
Hopefully, people don’t get into the habit of leaving bear bait at the lean-tos. A habituated bear usually ends up a dead bear long before its prime
Leave a comment