[pct-l] Stealth camping - russian bear roulette

[scourtway at bpa-arch.com (Steve Courtway)]

it's easy to read ray's book, and get excited
about stealth camping, thinking it's THE solution.

brick writes he slept out of sight of the trail.
This worked for brick, because:

1) he was by himself, and depending on his state
of mind, hopefully wasn't talking to himself very much.
therefore, a black bear in the vicinity could not hear
brick.

2) probably smelled like a typical thru-hiker, and
was lucky the bears that did not see him due to his
out-of-sightedness did not smell him either.

the women who run with the squirrels are 3, and I don't
think they want to enforce a code of silence when camping.
Again, bears can HEAR and SMELL further than they can SEE.

Another thing to consider is there are many stretches of trail
where there just aren't any places to camp for miles, and then
the 1st and last one that shows up for awhile is well used.  
An attitude I have seen again and again is: "hey, we havn't 
seen a bear for days, we can just camp right here and not worry !!!!"
This is playing russian bear roulette.  Stealth campers should
AT LEAST have a bear line in their possession for these situations.

Another lister wrote that dealing with the bear issue is
an advanced issue, I agree so I think the best answer for
beginners to bear alley in the high sierra, folks who 
ask how soft it is sleeping high, is to just carry a can.  
this allows you to:

1) sleep wherever you want
2) finger your nose at marauding bears
3) have happy, friendly conversations with rangers
4) sleep well, and complete your hike

it's only 2 lbs. !! !! !! save the bears !!!!!!!