A "bear" scare on the Blue Ridge Parkway

In the early summer of 1980, Janice and I decided to take a weekend off to go camping on the Blue Ridge Parkway. As we drove into the Pisgah Mountain campground near Ashville, there was a sign saying "Bear Alert" posted. The ranger told us that they generally do not bother people much, and we were very happy to set up our tent and we quickly forgot all about it. In the middle of that night, I heard a big noise outside. Both Janice and I woke up quickly, in time to watch a big black bear banging our cooler on the picnic table, trying to get everything out of it. He then ate the entire contents as quickly as he could put them into his mouth. We witnessed him eating eggs, bacon, bread, sandwich meat, etc. He also drank a half gallon jar of milk, and - like the coca cola commercials - he would bite a hole on the top of a soft drink can  and then drink it with his head up toward the sky. While this was going on, Janice was making a plan of what we would do if he decided to come into the tent looking for more food.  I would have to use the ax in my hand to fight him off while Janice would cut a hole on the back of the tent and get the kids to our station wagon! Fortunately, he left without coming into our tent so we did not have to carry out our plan. Believe it or not, a few minutes later he came back to finish the last cold drink from our cooler and left us for good! The next morning, our kids were very upset with us because we had not woken them up to witness the visit by the bear! The picture below was taken in front of our tent the day before, and I do not think we used that tent ever again!