Day off August 8

Photos of the day are here.

Too much wind forecast so the day was cancelled.  A group of us decided to explore Keyhole Hotsprings since I haven't been there in 5-6 years.  Awesome natural hotsprings and a hike in and out to keep things interesting :)

After returning to the golfcourse we had a bear encounter!  The resident sow and her two cubs were ripping into our tent for some reason.  Now we never keep any food in the tent, and never have had food in the tent, nor do we cook in the tent.  We also don't keep any smelly toiletries such as deodorant, shampoo, or toothpaste in there either.  Only sleeping bags and pillows.  The only reason we can think that they were interested in our tent was because it was on the perimeter near the tree line, and the farthest away from everyone else's.

Anyways, Al and Brett dried to drive them away with Al's truck with the horn honking etc., but the bears wouldn't budge.  Finally they wandered off and we were able to inspect the damage.  Only a small tear in the inner mesh, easily repairable with duct tape :), but the outer fly is toast.  Fortunately it's not forecast to rain anymore this week so the tent will survive, but the last trip for this tent :)  Moved the tent away from the perimeter so we are not the closest to the trees anymore!  Conservation officers showed up later to evaluate the situation...apparently these bears have been aggressive towards golfers too so they are becoming extremely habituated which is usually a death sentence for the bears.  Too bad.