Bear Attack Prompts Tent Ban at Popular Colorado Campground

Camping in the state of Colorado is just a way of life. Thousands of residents and visitors flock to the mountains of Colorado every summer to get away from it all and enjoy the great outdoors.

Colorado Camping Culture: Why Tents and Pop-Ups Are So Popular

Many of those campers choose to set up camp with a tent or a soft-sided pop-up camper. While these are great choices, one area of Colorado has banned them for the foreseeable future.

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Now, why would state officials decide to ban these types of structures for camping, you might ask. The answer is quite simple, actually. Bears.

According to the Aspen Times, the United States Forest Service has prohibited tents and soft-sided campers at the Difficult Campground located four miles east of Aspen after a close encounter with a black bear and two children.

READ MORE: Hiking Bear-Active Areas In Colorado: What You Need To Know

The incident resulted in a bear scratching and leaving puncture marks in a tent where a little boy and a girl were staying in the early morning hours of Monday night into Tuesday evening.

Repeated Bear Sightings Prompt FS Action

The campground hosts notified the U.S Forest Service of the latest incident, resulting in the relocation or refunds of about 20 campers in tents on Tuesday afternoon. Campground hosts said that there have been at least four different bear sightings in the past week in the campground.

READ MORE: Best Summer Camping Spots Around Colorado

By order of the United States Forest Service, the campground has issued a ban on soft-sided campers and tents. These camping structures include pop-up tent trailers and truck bed campers.

Those who had reservations at the Difficult Campground with hard-side campers or trailers are still being allowed to camp at the White River National Forest campground.