[pct-l] bears & food

[edmond at mydogmeg.net (Edmond Meinfelder)]

At 11:54 AM 12/31/2003 -0600, Steve Jackson wrote:
>All this talk of bears has me a little scared.  I'm a big wimp when it
>comes to huge animals capable and willing to smash little humans under
>the right circumstances.  I've done some hiking in bear country and have
>never seen one.  How likely is it that one would encounter a bear on the
>PCT, any real statistics?

You likely see a black bear. But fearing an encounter with a black bear is 
like being afraid of falling. It's not the fall that'll get you, but the 
landing.

Stephen Herrero's book has some numbers. It's not unheard of to have a year 
go by with no black bear attacks. The same is not true of dog attacks or 
lightning strikes. Additionally, in the U.S. not an hour goes by without a 
fatal car accident.

At 08:27 PM 12/31/2003 -0800, John Randall wrote:
>You'll hike the entire PCT and not see one bear.  In
>fact, you won't see a trace of one bear.  Don't sweat
>it.

Before I left for my PCT hike in '02 an '01 hiker told me, "What would you 
say if I said 'I guarantee you'll see a brown bear on the trail in 
California?'" I said I thought he was confusing black bear with brown, but 
he was right, I saw a brown bear in California.

Tangent