[pct-l] Stealth camping

[m.karon at attbi.com (Marshall Karon)]

In the High Sierra where the bear are (but I never saw any on two different
trips - one in June-July and one in August):

The higher you are the less the chance of finding bears (or them finding
you). There are plenty of places above tree line to camp - soft? well, that
is a matter of opinion. Your pads will do just fine.

I have camped just off the trail with no problems. Just avoid those areas
with old ropes hanging from limbs, claw marks on trees, and organized sites
or close to them (I'm going to guess 1/8 to 1/4 mile away). I also avoided
camping near water  (don't know if that made a difference). Cook at noon,
definitely not at camp. Eat someplace different from where you sleep.

The idea in stealth camping is not to camp where others have before -
sometime rather difficult to do.  In some ways this is like trying to keep
the white elephants away - who really knows what works - and I'm not
experimenting.

Marshall Karon
Portland, OR
m.karon@attbi.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy Sexton" <pumpkin1@thegrid.net>
To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 7:21 AM
Subject: [pct-l] Stealth camping


Hi everyone,
We are planning to stealth camp on our hike from Tahoe to Mt. Whitney, but
having never done it, I have a question. How far off trail do we need to go
to avoid bears? Do we just need to be quite a ways from the nearest
established campsite and a little ways off trail? Any hints for locating a
good stealth site? There are three of us, with three tents, so we will need
to find fair sized sites. What about above tree-line--are there any soft,
comfortable places? Thanks for your help--I don't know how we would have
prepared for this hike without the list!
Nancy, for The Women who Run with the Chipmunks

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