[pct-l] Night hiking and rodents in food, p.s.

[Josh]

Mark,
And once the mountain lion pounces on U and its 1st attempt is foiled by the
pack, what is your defense in the pitch-black darkness of the mountains cuz
he's sure not gonna run-off just cuz UR not dead yet???  I mean, seriously,
if UR night-hiking, U prob have a minimalist pack, so 4 to 11oz would be a
tiny weight for the safety.  Maybe if UR hiking in a small group, something
like pepper spray or a gun would be unnecessary, but solo or hiking in a
pair, I'd recommend SOMETHING...a knife is almost ALWAYS a good thing to
carry with U anyways.

Mountain lions might be rare, but they are dangerous enough in the daytime
when a rock or stick or something could be easily located to fight one off
if it came to that, but in the darkness it's difficult enough to keep a
steady footing & stay on the path...but to fight-off a lion?  I think not.
Let's say one was hiking in bear country where bears might be in contact
with people from time to time so that they're not (as someone recently said)
a Scaredy-bear...''

All I'm saying is that I wouldn't go night-hiking without AT LEAST a
knife...but others might be more comfortable with a bottle of pepper-spray
or a gun.

Josh
 

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of mark v
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 11:13 PM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Night hiking and rodents in food, p.s.





One other thing.  I don't get the point of carrying a "weapon."  A mountain
lion will have you knocked down before you have a chance to use it.  And
other than a few very specific areas like Vancouver Island (not any PCT
places), it's rare almost to the point of never that a mountain lion
ambushes a backpacker.  We look too big and slow to be good prey.  Little
kids running, yes.  Trail runners with no packs, yes.  Cyclists, yes.  But
backpackers...well, someone will link us to an article i suppose where it's
happened, but i never have heard of it.  I've heard of plenty of stalkings,
but the mountain lion usually decides we're not tasty enough.  That, and if
a lion does ambush from above and behind (most common way), the pack is a
good first line of defense.


      
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