Bears and Kids...
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 8/17/08
I love DL Bliss--very scenic, great beach and campsites are more than adequate generally. Here are a few things I think one should consider if you're going to maximize your enjoyment there:
1. The bears are no-joke...be prepared to see some. They scare pretty easy if you clap or bang things together to frighten them away, but that may take some time as they're used to humans. On my second week-long trip, I had not been away from my 4Runner more than 2 minutes during unpacking, when to my surprise I look back and see a bear out of nowhere start to wrestle with my cooler. After getting loud to scare it off, it decided to jump right into the back of my SUV and climbed into the front seat to shelter itself from loud-me...Luckily no damage to the leather! Later that night, I was alone by the campfire--pitch black, and quiet. I looked to my left and to my sheer shock there was an adult bear less than 4 feet from my head checking me out!!! Well, that was enough to freak me out for a few hours, but as I flashed the light back towards the seat I vacated in supersonic speed, there was actually two bears--an adult and a baby bear--not the best combination if you at all make them feel threatened.
2. Make absolutely certain that all your food, coolers, and anything fragrant (including perfumes, deodarant, etc...) goes into your bear-box ANYTIME you're not using them.
3. Please, Please, Please, for the sake of everyone around you, remember that camping is a chance to get away into the peace and quiet of the woods. If you are taking children, please be respectful of the other campers in your area that like the relative tranquility of visiting the woods. You are living in very close proximity to other campers--not cramped at all, but still close--and because of that, everyone will hear everything you say. In my last week, my wife and I unfortunately had to spend two nights next to a family of 2 adults and 4 kids from say 3 years old to 8. The kids would yell songs and converse very loudly at 7 am. One son felt everything out of his mouth had to be at deafening decible levels, and made all peace and quiet unattainable.
Unfortunately on the last two nights of my 2 week vacation, a seemingly nice family moved into the site next to ours. What ended up happening was, they had actually taken 4 sites next to each other and when all was done, there were 8 adults and over 15 kids, yet again from say age 2 up to 7-8 years old. These parents were the type that just let their kids run wild all day and night while they congregated with their adult friends and drank bottles and bottles of wine while ignoring their kids. The fisrt night we had to ask three times for them to try to keep the kids quiet after 10PM. The screaming and yelling didn't end until 11:15 PM. I kid you not, they would have 10 kids in a tent next to us yelling at each other for hours. They have group campgrounds for groups of this size where people can be around others that generally are going to be louder than a typical 3-5 person camping experience, but these people decided to make everyone else in the loop deal with their unruly and obnoxious kids...totally disrespectful. Our other neighbors cut their trip short by 2 days because of the noise, and we contemplated doing the same. I could not believe that the parents were so disrespectful, and their lack of parenting skills almost ruined our trip, so just think about others if you are planning to take several kids camping. They will want to have fun--and I'm all for that--just please understand that screaming and yelling like it's recess hour after hour can be extremely annoying to everyone around you.
4. If you are going to the beach, get there early (say by 10:30 M-Th, and by 10 am F-Su). There is not much parking at all, so if you can't find a spot, you'll be walking a long way downhill just to get to the beach. I only had to walk once, but it's far.
I reached my limit--have fun.