[pct-l] Stealth camping

[ROYROBIN at aol.com (ROYROBIN@xxxxxxx)]

Hi Nancy!  No guarantees, but....

Bears are efficient food gatherers.  They return to where they have found 
food before.  Stealth camping relies on this habit.  Camp far from water (where 
others will have camped because of the convenience) and far from where you 
cooked your dinner.  If you have met these two minimum requirements you should be 
bear-free even camping immediately adjacent to the trail.  You may want to get 
a few yards away from the trail for privacy reasons and to avoid impacting 
other hikers' experience.  

Stealth camping has another benefit, particularly for thruhikers.  You stop 
near water and cook while it's daylight, then hike on for two or three miles to 
your spot for the night.  These are two or three easy, rested miles and 
really add to your total mileage for the day with seemingly little added effort.  

If you meet a bear while stealth camping, you're really having bad luck.  I 
have never - not once - seen a bear while stealth camping, even in a National 
Park.  Nevertheless, I hang my food if possible.  

Above treeline, you can usually find a sheltered spot - some with small trees 
or brush - to camp.  If you're not carrying a bear canister, you might 
consider an Ursack.  I use one to store my food.  Have never used a canister while 
thruhiking, but will carry one on the JMT this summer.  An Ursack isn't 
completely bearproof, but it will keep the marmots and other rodents at bay.  If a 
bear does come around, it should give you time to convince it to leave before it 
gets your groceries.  As I said, I've never actually had to test this plan.

Hope this helps.  Good lusk to you!  TrailDad            
_____

In a message dated 6/18/03 7:19:31 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
pumpkin1@thegrid.net writes:

> 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
> 
>