Notice: Increased Black Bear Activity-Caution Advised

Wilderness camping and teenage girls do not go together, at least not in this day and age. My husband decided that our family needed to bond through some outdoor adventures this summer, so only a few days after our whitewater trip, we headed to Fort Mountain in North Georgia. Arriving after hours left us without the reassurance of the park rangers that all would be safe. Instead, we read the posted announcement about how active the black bears are this time of year and that we needed to have all our trash emptied by 3p.m. Seriously? We had stopped and bought a couple of pizzas on the way up and Wesley had insisted we wait until we arrived at camp to eat them. You know…the whole picnic in the woods thing. Now instead of Yogi Bear and Boo Boo, we were facing an unusually active black bear population. Perfect for a 15 year old girl whose only fears in life have always been the woods at night and wild animals. Double perfect! Now, we would all smell delicious to our hosts in the forest. We set up the tents,built a fire, and settled in for a relaxing evening of reading and conversation. All was going great until Charlotte realized that it had gotten really dark. Panic set in. Tears. Begging to go home. Swearing she would never do THIS again! I tryed to comfort her with words; no luck. I tried to wrap my arms around her; that didn’t work either. I went to the tent and snuggled with her; not effective. After about an hour of misery (hers and mine), she finally calmed down enough to play a game on her cell phone. I later found out that she had reception on that mountain and had been texting her boyfriend all afternoon. Wesley told her that next time there won’t be a phone. She told him that there will absolutely never be a next time. I don’t even want to be around when that comes up again. Wilderness camping doesn’t allow for air mattresses and porta-potties so let’s suffice it to say that I did not have a comfortable night. By the time dawn arrived, I was so ready to get up and out of there. My rough and tough husband suggested a lengthy hike to get us all going. I suggested that if he wanted to keep me from going off, we would enjoy ourselves as we packed up and headed home. A short, brisk walk prevailed and everyone was happy as we drove down the mountain in the infamous VW Vanagon. At least it kept its cool on this trip.