intrepid_camper wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 8:34pm:

...  Would YOU stay where you know you might find a bear...or would you avoid it?  If you did stay there, would you do anything different than usual to keep your camp and food safe?? :-?

I'd be careful, but Knife Lake used to have it's share of bears. I remember old Dorothy with her gloves and tools just finishing up some repairs on the cabin screens because of a bear. I once had to take a campsite on Upper Pauness Lake as it was the last one available, even though we saw a bear walk through it as we passed by. Yes it visited us but we deterred it easily and we hung our food pack well. But the next day I was a little lax as I'd left the pack down and was down with a friend on a rock playing cards... All of the sudden a bear was dragging my pack away so I jumped up and chased it away with my cheasy at my side sounding real tough. Another time I was just north of Moose Lake in like Splash Lake or something like that. We had a bear come into camp and we chased it off only to hear the campers down the shore have to chase it off too. But never did I move because of a bear. I understand you keep a clean site and take good precautions... And you have Dan. What bear wouldn't be afraid of Dan.  ;D One thing I've noticed that there isn't the good hanging trees as I remember having back in the day. One word of caution... If you would consider the "bear rope" that is offered at the BWJ... just note that it is a two pulley system meant to be hung by a branch vs between two trees. Hanging between two trees with this set up is not impossible but takes some thought. Only once on my ten day solo in May did I find a tree with a branch that was high enough and strong enough. The rest of the time I slept with one eye opened. I'm buying a barrel!  ;D