[pct-l] New Yosemite Bear Can Requirement!!!

[kmurray at pol.net]

From: Rob Mason
Date: Mon, December 3, 2007 1:17 pm


Ken-

One other thing you might want to note to PCT hikers:  Yosemite National
Park has expanded its bear canister requirement area to include all of
the wilderness area within the park.  This means that the section of the
park north of Glen Aulin, which previously had only a few small
canister-required sections along the PCT, now is entirely a canister
requirement area (as is the section of the park south of Vogelsang,
which is not near the PCT).  For PCT hikers, this has one significant
implication:

Hikers who may have been considering mailing their canisters home at
Tuolumne Meadows will need to consider that there is now a canister
requirement zone close to 40 long north of Tuolumne Meadows, extending
the whole way to the northern boundary of the park.

Assuming most people won't be doing 40ish miles per day, the only legal
way to camp between Tuolumne Meadows and the northern Yosemite boundary
will be to have an approved bear canister.  Hopefully many hikers will
choose to carry a canister through the entire Sierra anyway, due to the
significant bear activity throughout the Sierra, especially in the Lake
Tahoe area. However, I know that some hikers will choose to carry their
canister only as far as required, so I think it would be helpful for
them to know the new Yosemite canister requirement areas.  Thanks.

Rob

Robert Mason
Wilderness Manager
High Sierra Ranger District, Sierra National Forest