I'm 3 weeks into my AT thru, and a little over a week ago a bear swiped my bag from a PCT hang. My bag and its contents were nowhere to be seen anywhere around the shelter. Defeated, I went back into Franklin and got a basic dry sack as a placeholder until my replacement arrived.
Two days later, I found my missing bag at a trail junction like 5-10 miles past the shelter I lost it at! The food was all eaten inside and only trash remained, but I had my beloved bag back! I kept hiking on and at the end of my day, I ran into a group of people who I shared the shelter with where my bag was lost. One guy found it and packed it out thinking he'd run into me again, and he was the one to put it at the trail junction where I found it. The red loop on the bag was ripped off, and there were just 3 tiny pinholes (pictured) that were easily fixed by some duct tape.
After a bear had ravaged through my food bag, it was barely even damaged! I am dedicated to taking this bag with me to Katahdin 💯