The night a bear ripped open my old tent at Lost Lake changed my whole approach to gear

I was up at Lost Lake near Hood River back in June. Middle of the night, heard scratching, then a huge rip. Bear got into my cheap 3-season tent because I had a granola bar in my pack. Folks always say store food away from camp, but I thought I was fine since it was zipped up. Now I spend the extra cash on a bear canister and a tent with tougher fabric. Anybody else learn the hard way after a specific incident like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

drew5524d ago

Feel your pain man, same thing happened to me.

faith_thomas24d ago

Did you try calling them directly instead of dealing with customer service chat? When I had that issue last month I found the 800 number hidden in the fine print on their site and got it sorted in like ten minutes. The chat people kept giving me the runaround but the phone rep actually knew what they were doing and applied a credit right away. Just make sure you have your account number and any reference numbers handy before you call.

patricia55824d ago

Called up a local gear shop in Hood River the next morning and asked what they'd do. They told me about stronger tent materials like silnylon and those bear vault canisters. @drew55 it's rough when you learn the hard way, but now I don't even keep a single stick of gum in my tent. Ended up swapping to a canvas wall tent for car camping and a lightweight hiker bivy for backpacking - both have held up to raccoons and a few close calls with bigger critters. My old tent went straight to the trash after that night.