[pct-l] Bear Experts Please Answer

[Adam Bradley]

 EL MONSTRO was raised in a bear den in Alaska back in
the early 70’s. After way too much misbehaving my
family had grown tired of my routine and dumped me in
front of a bear den wrapped in a basket in the
interior of Alaska. Of course it was grizzlies that
took me in and showed me their ways. As many of you
know these bears hibernate in the winter. EL MONSTRO
slowly came to understand that this hibernation is
important to the bears livelihood in summer. Will they
find a mate and reproduce? Will they kill a young
caribou? Will they maul a tourist? These are all
scenarios whose outcomes will improve based on how
well the bear has hibernated or not during the winter.
Bears during this time survive off the thick layer of
body fat that they have built up before winter. EL
MONSTRO has incorporated all of this into his training
regimen at the EL MONSTRO OFF ROAD RACING TEAMS
TRAINING BASE at the foot of the sierra. EL MONSTRO is
able to build up thick layers of body fat from TOFURKY
consumption, Miller High Life guzzled in quantity,
nacho platters, fish taco platters. Not much physical
activity of course as this would consume any fat
reserves that would have been built up during this
period of inactivity. So to summarize, EL MONSTRO
trains much like bears who are hibernating.

After credentials like that I would like to say that
the cheif culprit of the bear problem of the sierras
is due to poor management in the sierras.  It wasn't
until recently that the park service developed a
approach to human/bear interactions.  And the park
service isn't trying to hide this as it is all info on
their
website:http://www.nps.gov/archive/yose/nature/wlf_bears.htm

A comparison would be human/bear interactions in Big
Bend National Park.  At the turn of the century all
black bears had been exterminated by ranchers near the
Chisos Mts.  However in 1980 a sow and two cubs
crossed 80 miles of Chihuahaun desert from the
Fronteriza's in Cohuila across the Rio Grande and up
into the Chisos, thus establishing a new community of
black bears.  By now there is upwards of 30 bears
living in the Chisos year round.  There has never once
been a unfavorable human/bear interaction as the park
service there monitors it very tightly.  One must
reserve a campsite for overnight forays into the
Chisos and every site has a bear box.

On another note I think your comments about not
carrying a bear tube is dead on!  If a thru hiker
cannnot think for themselves by the time they get to
KM it is going to be a interesting ride the rest of
the way to manning.

EL MONSTRO 

--- stillroaming <pct at delnorteresort.com> wrote:

> No conjecture or opinion please! A response from
> someone who is truly 
> qualified would be *greatly* appreciated.
> 
> Why are bears/humans a problem in very specific
> parts of the Sierras and not 
> the Pacific Northwest?
> 
> I know you experts are lurking out there. Why is one
> such a problem and the 
> other is not? Is it an enlightened population?
> Genetically disimilar bears? 
> Food supplies? Policy? Media disparity? Equating
> bears to humans?
> 
> Here's a perfect opportunity to educate us all. I
> for one would love to 
> know.
> 
> Thanks!
> Scott Parks
> 
> ------------------------------------
> Trails : http://Postholer.Com
> Journals : http://Postholer.Com/journal 
> 
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