[pct-l] Mendorider's note

[Tom Bache]

This is a great note packed with interesting observations!  Gems like this
keep me scanning the pct-l note packets that come to my computer several
times a day.

BTW.  Ed is being very modest with his "we did a lot of endurance riding."
If you look up his record on the AERC website, you will see that he is one
of the best endurance racers in the west.  He has won 30 races at distances
between 50 and 100 miles.  As an older guy taking up backpacking and
endurance racing, I'm especially inspired by the fact that he won a 100 mile
race at age 70 and did his PCT trek last summer at age 72. In case you are
wondering, this is a sport anyone can do, but the top ranks are dominated by
youngish women (low body weight is a major advantage).

Ed, maybe I shouldn't be revealing your age since they won't guess anything
close to it when they meet you.  Or maybe they will if they remember your
anecdote about your solo trek from Whitney Portal to Mineral King in 1958!!

This note is not exactly on topic for PCT-L, but we should all remember that
the PCT was created for hikers AND equestrians.  I do both, and I enjoy
meeting horses when I'm hiking.

Tom Bache
San Diego
>> 
>> 
>> Jereen Anderson wrote:
>>> From: MendoRider/ Ed Anderson
>>> With all this discussion relating to BEARS I finally decided to chime in.
>> First a little background. I started backpacking in the Sierra in the early
>> 1950's and did the JMT in the late 50's. During the 50's and 60's I covered
>> about 2500 miles on backpacking/fishing/climbing trips. It is significent
>> that bears were not a problem in the high country, where I spent most ofmy
>> time. I never even saw a bear except at lower elevations at trail heads or
>> at car-accessible campgrounds. I did'nt see many people either. I recall, in
>> 1958, on a forth-of-july weekend, crossing ffom Whitney Portal to Mineral
>> King via the Kern and Rattlesnake Creek and not seeing one person. I did see
>> American Red Wolves juth south of Kern Hot Spring. I was to learn that three
>> pairs had been introduced to help control rodent populations.
>>> By the 1970' and 1980's there were more backpackers and packers - more
>> people- and bears became a problem. Even at high country camps we sometimes
>> were visited and sometimes lost food. You can't really hang your food from
>> tree limbs when you are near or above timberline. There  were no bear
>> canisters. I remember having to keep food under water, weighted and in a
>> waterproof bag on the end of a cord and tossed into a lake or into a still
>> pool. It worked.
>>> 25 years ago Jereen and I discovered horses. We did a lot of endurance
>> riding and eventually taking saddlebagging trips into wilderness areas for
>> up to 5 days, since that was the limit of what we could carry on just one
>> horse.
>>> About 19 years ago we found out about Bear Charms from friends who had
>> spent a lot of time in the Yukon and Alaska on canoeing trips. They told us
>> about their trips and about what they had learned about how to discourage
>> bears. This from others who lived and traveled in the North. They used
>> mothballs in cotton tobacco sacks, referred to as "bear Charms". We have
>> used them since then on all of our saddlebagging trips onto wilderness areas
>> of California and Oregon. Bears never bother us.
>>> What follows is what I did to keep bears out of my camps during my 2008
>> solo thru-ride on the PCT. Please note that I did'nt go through the Sierra
>> with my horse because of the deep snow. I mostly lived on the trail for
>> nearly 4 months. I did not go into towns for 0 days as most of the hikers
>> did. I drove ahead and cached my supplies instead.
>>> It's my in-camp approach that might interest some of the hikers. I
>> usually camped alone since my horses needs were different (grass, water,
>> trees to highline) from the hikers needs in a camp. I never slept with food
>> in my tent. Primos food included COB with molasses---lots of scent. I
>> prepacked all horse food in sealed Food Saver bags, which are air-tight. My
>> food was stored in double ZipLock bags.At night, all of these in a large
>> OpSak, which lets out no smells. I would make a pile, usually on top of a
>> large rock or log, of my saddle, saddle pad, pack bags and my OpSak,
>> containing my food. This pile would be covered by a tarp.Now we come to the
>> Bear Charms. I carried 24 of these (2or 3 mothballs inside each cotton
>> tobacco sack) These were stored while travelling in a double ZipLock bag
>> inside a small OpSak. This weighs 6 or 7 ounces. I would surround my
>> saddle/food pile and my tent with the Bear Charms, using about half at each
>> location. If there
>>>  would have been any lingering food smells they were masked by the moth
>> ball smell. Moth balls apparently don"t smell anything like food to the
>> bears. They have a great sense of smell and don't check out my camps.This
>> approach has so far worked for me.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 10
> Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:22:48 -0800
> From: "Stephen" <reddirt2 at earthlink.net>
> Subject: [pct-l] Bear avoidance...
> To: "PCT-1" <Pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Message-ID: <000e01c97d6e$78ffbbb0$14898304 at Stephen>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> Hahaha hahahahahahaha !
> So you met Indiana Jones?
> 
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> End of Pct-l Digest, Vol 13, Issue 86
> *************************************