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Jacob and I went for a long weekend to hike a loop at Mt. Rodgers VA. We parked at Elk Garden and soon encountered heavy rain until it stopped near the summit of Mt. Rodgers. Our intentions were to cook supper and eat at the shelter but it was getting close to dark and thunder and lightining were getting close again. We went another 1/2 mile and set up our tent in a grove of fir trees, cooked supper and got in our sleeping bags. Soon after it began raining and getting windy.

Around 9Pm we felt our tent move, thinking it was a limb from a treen brushing our tent in the wind, suddenly our tent starting started collapsing; I grabbed my head light and looked out the door to see what was going on. I could not believe my eyes, a big black bear was running away with my packback that was beside the front door. My pack had my wallet, car keys and all my wet clothes I had taken off. At this point the rain was running into our tent and wetting everything. I jumped out and set up the tent again while Jacob keep the tent from collapsing inside. After getting the tent fixed I got back inside where we discussed what to do next. Jacob had a car key but hiking back in the dark and rain didn‘t seem like a safe choice given the rocky terrain and that we only had one backpack to carry everything in with. We figured we would look for the clothes and pack in the morning.

We decided the bear had smelled our cooked food and uncleaned pot so we took all of our food and cooking gear to a bear box about 300 yards away. On the way we found my closthes then noticed a light in the woods. Jacob went over and found my battery bank with it‘s flashlight on, and next to it was my backpack. Praise God we found everything! After securing our food we retuned to the tent for a sleepless night. During the night I got up to go to the bathroom only to see the bear 20 feet away. He probably was looking for more food. 

Then next day we decided to return to the truck since all of our gear was soaking wet. Overall we learned to not to cook at your campsite when there are active bears around as noted on the signs around the shelter. This enounter was totally our fault for not being more bear aware and taking stardard precautions.