[pct-l] Bear 'Can Usage

[Paul Mitchell]

This ended up being a long message, but there are some interesting/scary
bear stories half way down shared by a professional trail-guide I met in 03
that might be interesting.

> I have difficulty understanding how someone on this List - a List with
lots of new and inexperienced hikers -- can brag about, and tacitly
advocate, violating both the law and the morality of wilderness hiking in
regard to securing food against bears.

I didn't hear anyone bragging or advocating, I just heard people sharing
experiences.  Personally, I agree that we should use canisters where they're
required, through the high Sierras, and I intended to in 07 but for some
reason I don't recall I ended up not getting my can in the mail at Kennedy
Meadows and decided to hike on without it.  I would have slept much more
comfortably if I had had one.  As it was I ended up leaving Kennedy meadows
with a stupid 2.5lb hammer someone snuck into my pack, so hiked with the
equivalent of a can's worth of extra weight anyway.  :)

My perspective on the bear thing is this: it's a risk, but like many things
our perception of the level of risk may not be in line with the actual
likelihood of it happening. Example: we fear planes when cars are
exponentially more dangerous, or terrorism or sharks when more people die of
dog-bites.  We hear bear stories because they're rare, and it gives us the
impression it's a significant risk; that's the nature of news, hence our
often highly skewed perspective of what is or isn't high risk.  During my
times on the PCT I heard three stories of bears getting into other PCT hiker
packs: one was at Muir Ranch (in the Sierras where you're supposed to have a
can), one was at Little Jimmy camp (road access campground frequented by big
groups of boy-scouts), and one was at Saddle Junction over Idyllwild in
section B.  My point being that two of those three encounters were not in
the high-sierras, not where any PCT hiker would be carrying a can.  There
are other things we can do to reduce the chances of an encounter, first &
foremost being to not camp in high risk spots, prime examples would be any
kind of camp spot that car campers frequent.  

In 03 at Muir hut I spoke at length with a guy who has spent every summer in
the Sierras for the past twenty years.  He had first and second hand
stories, including these:

A) silent bears: not hearing a peep until his hung food bag hit the ground
B) silent smelly bears: waking up to their fruity stink without even hearing
them outside his tent
C) seeing four bears cooperate to get a bear bag out of a tree
D) a friend of his making dinner a Rae Lakes (near the bear box) - two bears
came in, walked right up and took his food bag, came back shortly after and
lightly mauled him, perhaps irritated that his hiking food was so bad?  He
was a doctor, stitched himself up and visited the nearby ranger station for
a lift out.
E) bear in Yosemite that was sneaking up behind day hikers (near Tuolumne
meadows) and ripping their packs off or open. Bear was eventually killed, of
course.
F) friend using his food bag for a pillow, waking up to it being pulled out
from under him
G) friend stowing his food bag by his feet in his sleeping bag thinking his
own stink would overpower any food smells, waking up to a bear pulling the
food bag out of the tent, sleeping bag and him with it.

Scary stories, but keep in mind this guy was a back-country guide and
rock-climbing instructor who had spent maybe as much as forty months in the
high sierras over his lifetime, and had friends who also spent significant
time out there, and even so they collectively only had a few bear stories,
and only one involving injury.  I know, it's a danger to the bears as well,
but my point is to try to put the risk in perspective: bear encounters are a
risk worth mitigating, but sometimes we talk about it as though it's an
almost inevitable eventuality.

One interesting thing this guy mentioned: bears tend to be more timid in the
spring and more aggressive towards winter when they're packing on the weight
and when they've had all summer to get acclimated to people.  Most of those
stories he told were late summer encounters.  When PCT hikers head through
the Sierras, it's very early in the season.  By late summer the JMT has had
hundreds or thousands of JMT hikers.  Again, it's just a factor to consider
when assessing the actual risk probability, and that guy's perspective after
a lifetime of experience was that bears are much active and bold that early
in the season.  He also seemed to be of the impression that bears will
aggressively go after any food that they perceive as unclaimed, but will be
less likely to pursue food that is in someone else's possession, which is
why some of his colleagues preferred to have their food with them in spite
of the risk.

One of the things I did to try to protect myself a bit from a worst-case
encounter in the Sierras was to store my garbage bag ten feet or so from my
tent with a big rock on it.  It smelled more than my food bag, what with it
containing open food packages/etc.  I figured if a bear did happen by (I
tried to pick camp spots that felt lower risk) that it would go for the
garbage bag first.  I wake up to the slightest unusual sound, so figured if
I heard something going for the bag I'd start throwing rocks and screaming
bloody murder.  I figured the important thing with a bear encounter was to
try to make sure that the bear left the encounter unfed and with a
heightened or at least continued fear of humans.  I encountered a bear near
Robin Bird Spring between 178 & Kennedy Meadows, spread my arms out &
starting screaming like a maniac and the thing instantly bolted, looking
confused and terrified.

So, anyway, definitely best to bring a canister through the Sierras &
wherever else it's advised/required, of course, but the reality is that many
hikers don't.  That's not advocacy, just sharing my experience.  Personally
my number one priority when I'm out there is to not camp in spots that I've
learned may be high risk, like day-camp areas near roads, car-camp areas
where silly city people frequent, etc.  Next time I try a thru-hike I'll
plan to hike the Sierras with a can, for the peace of mind.

- Potential178