pat360•21d agoProlific Poster

Shoutout to the park ranger at Big Bend who warned me to seal my snacks in a bear canister

I thought it was overkill, but after a raccoon ripped through my tent and stole my entire bag of trail mix on night two, I drove 40 miles back to the ranger station to buy his last canister and haven't camped without one since, so has anyone else learned a lesson the hard way from ignoring local advice on a bulletin board or from a ranger?

3 comments

3 Comments

lucas16515d ago

Wait, have you ever actually tried getting a raccoon out of a tent at 2 AM? Because I have, and let me tell you, that little dude was not scared of me at all. He just stared at me like I was the one who was in his territory. Mary462 is right though, it's wild how people will ignore the one guy who actually lives in that area and sees the same problems every single day. But I also get where the_robin is coming from, not every tip is gold, some rangers just give generic advice that doesn't fit. Still, I think the trick is figuring out which advice is coming from actual experience versus just a rule they have to say. Like the bear canister thing, that ranger clearly had seen my exact situation play out a dozen times before.

mary46221d ago

Ignoring free advice from people who actually know what they're talking about is basically a hobby for a lot of folks. It's like people who never check the weather and then act shocked when it rains.

the_robin21d ago

ok but is it really free advice if the person giving it has no clue about my specific situation? like people love to act like their one size fits all solution works for everyone, but half the time they're just parroting something that worked for them once. i'd rather get wet a few times than jump on every random tip that pops up.