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Our location: Entry point Sawbill lake. Starting with the portage from Alton to Kelso Lake, we stayed at the 2nd campsite to the south of the portage on the west side of Alton Lake. This bear immediately left our campsite and passed by the next campsite to the south of us (empty) and stopped at the next campsite to the south (not empty).

At our campsite, we had our food pack hung between 2 trees. The ropes were 15 feet off of the ground, in between the trees we tied a pulley into the rope. So the bottom of our Duluth pack was over 12 feet off of the ground. The bear could not reach the pack. However, this bear seemed to know that a pack hung in a tree means food, and the bear climbed 15 feet up one of the trees to where my rope was on a branch and pulled on the rope and branch until the branch broke. This lowered my pack to 6 feet off of the ground because the rope was still intact. The bear, who could reach 6 feet high, then proceded to pull our plastic Duluth pack liner out and ate 5 days worth (all) of the food.

After leaving our campsite, the bear directly walked 2 campsites down and did the same technique of climbing the tree and pulling on the branch or rope. The camper at that sight tried to scare the bear away, but the bear was not scared and continued to try to get into their food pack. After 5-10 minutes of yelling and pot banging, the bear then started to leave but then turned and "bluff charged" the camper. The bear stopped at the pack--which the bear took into the woods and ate most of their food.

Advice: Check with the forest ranger before your trip--we reported this bear and found out that this bear had visited campsites several times the week before we arrived on Alton Lake. Also do not assume that a pack that is properly hung in a tree is enough, make sure you hang the pack in a location far from where a bear like this would look. This bear knew how to take a pack down and knew where the campsites were.