[pct-l] Bear encounter before Kennedy Meadows

[Maxine Weyant]

I'm glad you clarified it was an Ursack Minor, which is mostly for rodent protection. I have a regular Ursack and was tempted to get the minor, but now I'll wait.  So sorry you went through that, but glad you were fairly close to KM. 

Not trying to blame the victim here by any means but, for learning purposes, I'm curious to know about all the factors at play in this circumstance.  I'm wondering if you used odor proof bags or if they were still intact by the time you got there?  And were the jars of Nutella and peanut butter and all your trash also in an odor proof bag?  

I tend to be a little OCD about bear hygiene, putting everything into odor proof bags inside one big odor proof bag.  And I'm careful to have no food residues on my hands when i close the bags.  The bags do spilt or wear out after awhile, and they're heavy.  I try to send a new one in my resupply now and then but they're expensive.  

I met a retired aerospace engineer from Irvine up in the Sierras who hikes up there every year (near Mather Pass.) One night 10+yrs ago a bear slashed through his tent.  He was in his sleeping bag but was able to raise his arm up to shield himself and the bear chomped on his arm, causing a lot of muscle and nerve damage.  He showed me his scars.  Strange, he still doesn't use a bear can.  While he does use an Ursack, he still sleeps with the food in his tent.  Go figure. 

Dys-feng shui-nal