June 5, 2015 - Richard and Pat Bachor Are Not Crazy

Here is an excerpt from my log on August 12, 2010 for a little background:

Richard and Pat Bachor stopped in to say hello. They are camp hosts who are going to replace us here in September. They have been here before and shared some of their experiences with us. They did have bears in the campground once or twice when they were here last year. Richard told of some campers eating at their picnic table after dark. The woman could hear something, but did not see anything. Then she got a flashlight and discovered a bear in the tree next to them watching them eat.

Here is an excerpt from my log on July 19, 2011 for a little more background:

We were just finishing eating we saw a man walking in the woods. I couldn’t figure out what he was doing, but he was carrying a spray bottle. He disappeared. A few minutes later, he reappeared with a wad of something. I asked him what he had and he said he didn’t know. But, then I recognized that it was what was at one time an RV sewer hose. It was literally torn to shreds. He said that a bear had done it.

 

We could see the tooth marks on the fittings. The man told us that bears like to chew on plastic.

 

Then it dawned on me. Last year, shortly after we arrived here, we got a visit from some other campground hosts who live fairly close. They had been driving by and decided to come in and visit the current hosts – us. The man told us that a bear had stolen his sewer hose. He was a very nice man, but I decided that he must be a little nuts. Why would a bear steal a sewer hose?  That’s crazy. So, today I got proof that a bear will steal the sewer hose because it likes to chew on plastic. Maybe the couple will stop in again this year and I can apologize for thinking he was crazy.

(The man had been spraying invasive plants)

Back to the present.

We were up in the campground this morning when a Cosby maintenance truck drove in with Robert, Linda, and Tom. Linda and Tom headed to clean the toilet building and Robert had a can of wasp and hornet spray for the bee’s nests in the campground. I walked with him to show him where the campers saw bees. Robert looked and said they were honeybees. Of course, we don’t want to kill them; they are having enough trouble as it is. Honeybees are not as aggressive as hornets and yellow jackets, so they should not be a problem for the campers.

The elderly man, Junior was back and had is tarp and lawn chair set up in Site 2.

Back in the parking lot, I saw Andy standing with some campers who were loading up their vehicle to leave. There was also another couple with him who had a dog.

 

I did not recognize them right away, but when they introduced themselves, I remembered their names. They were the campground hosts who told us the bear had stolen their sewer hose in 2010. I immediately apologized to Richard for thinking he was a little crazy. Now they are on my log distribution list and can see how I was convinced that a bear will chew on a sewer hose. You are not so crazy after all Richard!

We were having such a nice time talking that I invited them to Sao for some coffee Andy had made before we walked up to the campground. It was a bit strong this morning.

 

When we talk to campers about not leaving food, or anything with a scent, out to attract bears, we tell them that a woman had told us a bear tore open and drank from a bottle of bleach and a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid. Today, Pat reminded us of that. She is the one who told us a bear will drink bleach. Anything with a scent folks.

Another Richard and Pat story. They had a group in the group site with a bunch of kids screaming and making a lot of noise in the night. Pat said she didn’t think anything of it. Just kids playing. The next morning, the adult campers asked if they had heard them and said it was a bear that had torn into all the tents during the night that set off the screaming.

A wildlife guy came and set a trap to capture the bear. The Bachors got the privilege of naming him. They named him Ted E. Bear. They figured it was the same bear that stole the sewer hose and tore into the tents. Later, they adopted the dog and named him Teddy, after the bear.

I don’t remember if I mentioned this before. This is a management boulder in park lingo.

 

You may remember all the problems we have had in past years with park visitors parking along the roadsides, into the forest, and sometimes blocking the road. A few days we had gridlock in Big Creek. Last year, Maintenance Junior came over with a tractor and placed boulders all along the road to prevent people from parking where they should not. I have to say that it is working. People still park on the roadside near the Big Creek trailhead where he did not place management boulders, but not on the campground road. Of course, there was that drunk young woman who parked on top of one of the boulders last week. She was an exception.

We took a quick trip to Newport in the afternoon to pick up the grocery items we needed to get through the weekend. I took my computer, but forgot the JetPack. I put the groceries away and we drove down to the river to send/receive email and pay a bill.

In the evening, the woman in Site 3 was serving bison chili to anyone who wanted some. She had made a huge pot full. Junior was there and having seconds.

Andy hauled a cooler of food from Site 10. I wrote up a courtesy notice and carried a sandwich bag of potato chips that had been stuck in a sneaker and a bottle of some sort of lotion.

One the radio

Just before 1400 someone reported that there was a Ford Explorer about ten feet down an embankment, sideways on the hill, and up against a tree. There were no injuries.

At 1915, there was an 87-year-old man in a campground with a head injury.

A 27-year-old man on Laurel Falls trail had hurt a foot and was hobbling on one leg down the trail. Ranger organized a rescue team to carry him out. They took Rescue One to the trail head at 2008. That is a big pickup truck with rescue gear. They reached him at 2040. That is impressive; it took me a LOT longer than that to get up to Laurel Falls. The man was back in his car at 2106 and all units were clear.