[pct-l] Food in the Sierras

[Gary Schenk]

On 4/21/2011 9:01 PM, Jason Moores wrote:
>   The main thing is that it is not about protecting your food, it's about
> protecting the bear
>
> Let's be real, it's about both.
>
> It is perfectly legal to use the bear boxes in the restricted zones
>
> I find the main issue to be not whether it's legal to hike from box to box
> but the inconvenience that it causes. I like to be able to hike without
> fixed mileages for the day. When I'm done for the day I look for a flat
> place...and that's that. No need to push on for miles beyond what my body is
> comfortable with.
>
> Akin to this, I like to camp closer to my next pass than the boxes allow
> for, so that I don't spend my afternoons postholing to my waist. Most of the
> bear boxes are in the valleys between the passes, not near the pass. The
> same could be said for summiting Whitney. If you have to sleep near the box
> at Crabtree you increase the mileage and elevation gain to the summit,
> making for a long morning.
>

All good points. The answer is simply to carry a can. These aren't 
needless regulations. Those park bears are smart and educated, don't 
doubt it for a minute. Counterbalancing is ineffective in the national 
parks in the Sierra. No matter how perfect the hang, the bear will get 
the food.

I've seen it. A bear walked right by my can, we saw the prints, without 
even bothering to tip it over and snagged a perfectly counterbalanced 
bag. This was on the east side of Kearsarge Pass.

Truly it is about protecting the bear from your food. Nobody cares if a 
hiker is foolish enough to lose his sustenance far from the trailhead. 
But it may very well mean death for that bear, and not to mention the 
effect on others who will now be traveling through the Sierra with a 
bear conditioned to human food.

For the life of me, I don't understand the annual bear can avoidance 
threads.

Gary