[pct-l] BEAR AVOIDANCE - - - BEAR REPELLENT

[Jereen Anderson]

From: MendoRider/ Ed Anderson
With all this discussion relating to BEARS I finally decided to chime in. First a little background. I started backpacking in the Sierra in the early 1950's and did the JMT in the late 50's. During the 50's and 60's I covered about 2500 miles on backpacking/fishing/climbing trips. It is significent that bears were not a problem in the high country, where I spent most ofmy time. I never even saw a bear except at lower elevations at trail heads or at car-accessible campgrounds. I did'nt see many people either. I recall, in 1958, on a forth-of-july weekend, crossing ffom Whitney Portal to Mineral King via the Kern and Rattlesnake Creek and not seeing one person. I did see American Red Wolves juth south of Kern Hot Spring. I was to learn that three pairs had been introduced to help control rodent populations.
By the 1970' and 1980's there were more backpackers and packers - more people- and bears became a problem. Even at high country camps we sometimes were visited and sometimes lost food. You can't really hang your food from tree limbs when you are near or above timberline. There  were no bear canisters. I remember having to keep food under water, weighted and in a waterproof bag on the end of a cord and tossed into a lake or into a still pool. It worked. 
25 years ago Jereen and I discovered horses. We did a lot of endurance riding and eventually taking saddlebagging trips into wilderness areas for up to 5 days, since that was the limit of what we could carry on just one horse. 
About 19 years ago we found out about Bear Charms from friends who had spent a lot of time in the Yukon and Alaska on canoeing trips. They told us about their trips and about what they had learned about how to discourage bears. This from others who lived and traveled in the North. They used mothballs in cotton tobacco sacks, referred to as "bear Charms". We have used them since then on all of our saddlebagging trips onto wilderness areas of California and Oregon. Bears never bother us. 
What follows is what I did to keep bears out of my camps during my 2008 solo thru-ride on the PCT. Please note that I did'nt go through the Sierra with my horse because of the deep snow. I mostly lived on the trail for nearly 4 months. I did not go into towns for 0 days as most of the hikers did. I drove ahead and cached my supplies instead.
It's my in-camp approach that might interest some of the hikers. I usually camped alone since my horses needs were different (grass, water, trees to highline) from the hikers needs in a camp. I never slept with food in my tent. Primos food included COB with molasses---lots of scent. I prepacked all horse food in sealed Food Saver bags, which are air-tight. My food was stored in double ZipLock bags.At night, all of these in a large OpSak, which lets out no smells. I would make a pile, usually on top of a large rock or log, of my saddle, saddle pad, pack bags and my OpSak, containing my food. This pile would be covered by a tarp.Now we come to the Bear Charms. I carried 24 of these (2or 3 mothballs inside each cotton tobacco sack) These were stored while travelling in a double ZipLock bag inside a small OpSak. This weighs 6 or 7 ounces. I would surround my saddle/food pile and my tent with the Bear Charms, using about half at each location. If there
 would have been any lingering food smells they were masked by the moth ball smell. Moth balls apparently don"t smell anything like food to the bears. They have a great sense of smell and don't check out my camps.This approach has so far worked for me.