[pct-l] Bear Canisters

Sat Feb 28 06:48:02 CST 2009

Good morning, Romano,

There is an explanation of the process early in my Journal, but here is part
of it:

“The process is this: I will write my Trail Journal notes on paper. At a
town or resupply point I will phone home with a brief verbal report, then
put my paper notes and a full camera memory chip in the snail-mail. The
notes will then be transcribed at home, provided they are legible, and will
be posted to Trail Journals. The result is, there can be a lag of up to two
weeks between when the notes of a day are written and when they are posted.
I could shorten the lag if I typed my notes into a small PocketMail
composer, and transmitted the resulting files as e-mail whenever I find a
phone. Many hikers do so but, even though I have a composer, I am reluctant
to carry the additional 9-10 ounces.”

Since that was written I’ve divested myself of the composer(s) – I had two
of them – and I certainly won’t tolerate the weight of a computer.  I, too,
am old-school in my approach.  In the early years of the manned space
program I read that USA had spent an obscene amount of treasure trying to
develop a pen that would reliably work in a zero-gravity environment.  The
Russians thought about that for a while then gave their Cosmonauts a pencil.
 I have no idea if that story is true, but it typifies my low-tech approach.

Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT -- 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 9:44 PM, Romano Scaturro
<romano at swiftwireless.com>wrote:

> I checked out your journal.  Very nice.  Did you carry a laptop with you or
> did you transcribe your notes to computer afterwards?  If you had a laptop,
> how did you recharge batteries?  Do you upload your notes to the internet at
> intervals along the way?
>
> I'm old school and still journal my travels with a pen and notebook.  After
> my trips I staple all my journal pages together along with pictures and/or
> news articles and throw it in a travel box which, perhaps someday, my kids
> or grandkids will discover.
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "CHUCK CHELIN" <steeleye at wildblue.net>
> To: "Ken Powers" <ken at gottawalk.com>
> Cc: <boss9871 at aol.com>; <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 5:15 PM
>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Bear Canisters
>
>
> Good afternoon, Ken,
>>
>> I also camped at Glen Aulin in '07.  It was early in their season and they
>> were just setting up the camp for the summer.  They said it was OK to camp
>> near the bear box, but I don't know what the rules are when they have a
>> full
>> camp.
>>
>> Sure enough, near dusk a young bear came sniffing around.
>> http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=189481
>>
>> Steel-Eye
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 4:02 PM, Ken Powers <ken at gottawalk.com> wrote:
>>
>> I agree with everything you said except that the Glen Aulin bear box is
>>> not
>>> accessible to PCT hikers. I thought that also until we stopped there in
>>> 2007
>>> and stayed at Glen Aulin. The backpackers camp behind the "lodge" had
>>> several bear boxes and we made use of one even though we were carrying a
>>> bear canister. It was just easier. And a nice place to camp, even though
>>> there were many other campers there.
>>>
>>> Ken
>>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Bob Bankhead" <wandering_bob at comcast.net>
>>> To: <boss9871 at aol.com>
>>> Cc: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
>>> Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 3:27 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Bear Canisters
>>>
>>>
>>> Just because a canister is not required does NOT mean it is not needed or
>>> advised.
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.sierrawildbear.gov/foodstorage/map040108.pdf
>>>
>>> This is the current map of canister-required areas but it is dated March
>>> 2008. Supposedly Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs and the Inyo NF were going
>>> to
>>> expand their requirements to encompass everything in their control, just
>>> like yosemite NP did last year. I'd wait until at least April 1 to see
>>> what
>>> happens.
>>>
>>> It is impossible to camp bear box to bear box throughout the entire
>>> canister-required area; the distances are too great in spots. Suck it up
>>> and
>>> plan on carrying the darn things. How far depends on how willing you are
>>> to
>>> modify your hiking plan.
>>>
>>> Option 1:
>>> Rent a canister at (or ship yours to) Kennedy Meadows
>>>
>>> Option 2:
>>> Re-supply at Horseshoe Meadow or in Lone Pine (and then back to the trail
>>> at
>>> HSM). Pick up your canister here at the start of the "canister-required"
>>> zone. You can avoid carrying the canister from Kennedy Meadows to here.
>>> Incidentally, there are lots of bear boxes at the HSM campground.
>>>
>>> Option 3:
>>> Camp every night at one of the bear boxes between Horseshoe Meadows and
>>> Bubbs Creek. Make the hike to Onion Valley in one day and re-suppply
>>> there
>>> or in Independence. Get your canister here. From here on, it's not
>>> possible
>>> to reach a bear box each night - just too many miles and very few boxes.
>>>
>>>
>>> Where to get rid of the @#$% thing?
>>>
>>> It's 54 miles from Tuolumne Meadows to the northern boundary of Yosemite
>>> NP,
>>> and the only bear box past TM is at Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp (and so
>>> not
>>> accessible to PCT hikers). Your first opportunity to ship it home or
>>> possibly turn in a rental is 11 miles west of Sonora Pass at Kennedy
>>> Meadow
>>> Resort (aka Kennedy Meadow North). Otherwise, you'll have to carry it all
>>> the way to Echo Lake Resort by South Lake Tahoe.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Pct-l mailing list
>>> Pct-l at backcountry.net
>>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Pct-l mailing list
>>> Pct-l at backcountry.net
>>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>> Pct-l mailing list
>> Pct-l at backcountry.net
>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>>
>>
>
>