[pct-l] Bear Killed in Section D

[brick at fastpack.com (Brick Robbins)]

At 12:31 PM 9/10/03, Bighummel@aol.com wrote:
>Good points, particularly the one about whether it is the agency's fault 
>for not providing bear-proof trash cans.

If the trash cans are ready sources of food, then whether or not the 
thru-hiker carries a Garcia can becomes immaterial. The bears come to the 
campgrounds for the trash cans anyway.

>  I think that Tom's (and quickly becoming my own) bottom line is that 
> thru-hikers are looked up to by the weekend crowd and as such can make a 
> big difference in actual situations as well as in image by being extra 
> careful with their food.

I think both you and Tom over estimate the importance of the thru-hiker 
crowd. Most forest users don't even know there is a PCT, let alone whackos 
that hike the whole thing in a year. The ones who **ARE** aware of 
thru-hikers are not the ones who are causing the problems anyway, because 
they are the educated ones.

Worrying about thru-hikers causing behavioral changes in the bears is a bit 
like fighting thru-riders for the damage their horses do to the trail 
tread. There simply aren't enough thru riders to do measurable damage. The 
horse damage is caused  the pack outfits that use the same section of trail 
day after day.

The bear problems are caused by the weekenders in the Sierra, and by the 
day users in the Angeles. There are only a couple of hundred thru-hikers, 
and many of them don't make it to the Sierra, and those that do are too 
early for most of the bears. There are thousands of weekenders backpacking 
in prime season in the Sierra, and tens of thousands of day users in the 
Angeles.

By and large, thru hikers are some of the most savvy backpackers. This 
effort to "enforce" bear cans on them is a knee jerk reaction to what is 
really a non-problem. The effort would probably be better spent elsewhere. 
Just like the anti-horse people would be better off focusing on the 
commercial pack outfits that abuse the trails, rather than the occasional 
recreational long distance rider.

All IMHO of course. HYOH






--
Brick Robbins

The important things are always simple.
The simple things are always hard.