The N.C. High Peaks Trail Association recently purchased, donated and installed two bear-proof steel food storage boxes at Commissary Ridge, a popular backcountry camping spot on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail not far from the Mt. Mitchell summit.
The roughly 3-foot-square, 330-pound boxes have bear-proof door latches that should enable campers to store food and other bear-attractive personal items locked away from the prying claws and powerful noses of the area’s black bears.