[pct-l] Super secret Switchback tricks

[chelin at teleport.com (Sharon & Chuck Chelin)]

Good afternoon, Mara,

SOBO in 15 days!  I am just green with envy.  That should get you to my
stomping grounds on the Oregon side of the Columbia somewhere around the end
of June.

Marking your campsite is a good way to attract coyotes.  They will come in
close to see who is new in the territory and counter-mark the same spot.
Every time I think about that social protocol I am reminded of one of my
favorite movies:  Never Cry Wolf.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086005/  It'
s a wonderful film by a Canadian author, and shot in northern Canada.  A
researcher is dropped off in the wilderness to live among, and study, arctic
wolves.  He moves to a campsite on their turf so he has to claim his little
chunk of ground in the most customary way.

By the way, the scene of him backpacking to his new camp is hilarious, and
today every time I see newbee, Hapless Hiker, with a huge pack and junk
hanging out all over, I have to laugh out loud.  Also, if you are
hitchhiking to or from the PCT, and a character wants to pick you up that
looks like the bush pilot, Rosie, from the movie, either run like hell or
give the seatbelt an extra tug or two.

I had an interesting experience about 20 years ago in Arizona's Mazatzal
Wilderness.  I camped one might curled up under a pine tree, and in the
middle of the still, dark night I was awakened by a grinding or growling
sound.  I had never heard such a sound before, and I laid there for 10 or 15
minutes trying to guess what sort of a critter it was.  It just did not
equate to any animal I could imagine.  Finally, as quietly as I could, I sat
up and beamed a flashlight in the direction of the sound.  About 30 yards
off I saw a mule deer buck picking up mouth-fulls of dirt and small rocks
and chewing them for a while before spitting them out.  He paid no attention
to me and went about his business.  In the morning I found a spot about a
foot in diameter that was pawed and "chewed", and it was the exact same spot
where I had taken a squirt the evening before.  He was just after salt, and
I had provided a dose of it for him.

A similar thing happened later at a car-camping site between Oregon's Hells
Canyon and the Eagle Cap Wilderness.  This time it was a doe, and it came
into camp in broad daylight for the same kind of salt.  I can't remember if
it was a mule deer of a whitetail, they both live there.

The Pacific NW has had a pretty good dose of rain the last week or so, but
the snow level has been fairly high, around 5-7000 feet on Mt. Hood.  Its
not much help.  We only have about 30% of the snowpack we should have.

Enjoy the trip.  It should be a great year for SOBO.

Steel-Eye


"Snow is not neutral."
- Soviet Union Frunze Military Academy Maxim


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mara Jeffress" <mara@jeffress.net>
To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 12:42 PM
Subject: [pct-l] Super secret Switchback tricks


I think the urine also keeps off coyotes
 since all dog species use the same marking technique.

Cheers,
Mara

SOBO in 15 days!