[pct-l] PCT bear attacks...........

[Eric Lee]

Bill wrote:

>

> I dunno, some of these sound pretty serious:
> 
> http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/issues/bear/bear_incidents.html
> 


I restricted myself to fatalities in my research because the numbers are more straightforward and reliable.  Injuries tend to be under-reported while fatalities generally are not.

 

Obviously the numbers for all injuries are higher than for fatalities, but that's true for all activities.  If you want to compare relative risk, I would speculate that the numbers probably work out roughly the same if you compare only fatalities or both injuries and fatalities.  You're still *hundreds of times* more likely to have something bad happen to you involving lightning than something involving a black bear.

 

Obviously I don't want a bear chewing on me.  The risk of that isn't zero, so every time I go out on the trail I accept some risk.  But the burden of defending myself against that risk (i.e. the weight and hassle of carrying a gun or pepper spray ready to hand) is so high relative to the risk itself that it's ridiculous to bother with it.  There are many, many other scenarios that are more likely to kill or injure me.

 

If I'm going to carry gear for "what if" scenarios, there are other kinds of gear that give me a lot more safety per ounce.  I bet a bicycling helmet would be a great investment, risk-wise.  How many people have died due to head trauma while hiking?  A hell of a lot more than 11 in 103 years, I assure you.  Funny thing, though - I haven't seen any PCT hikers wearing helmets lately.

 

Eric
 		 	   		  
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