[pct-l] Fwd: JMT Bear Vault Failure? Forester pass area..

[losthiker at sisqtel.net (Deems)]

Yes, I met this big bad bear informally this past week, 8-26, at the highest
treed campsite at 11,280ft on the north side of Forester Pass. The campsite
is the old trail crew's campsite and the last one on the long climb up Bubbs
near the great refreshing creek. I camped there with two other people who
had BearVault cans, and I had a Bearikade. The big bad bear focused on the
Bearvaults, and gave my Bearikade a few futile tries. He showed at 9:30pm
and again at 11:30 pm. The pair with the BVs had to chase him off their cans
twice, tossing rocks and obscenities. After he left our camp, he went about
600 ft higher and bothered another pair of hikers on the ridgeline in the
night. This bear has also attacked a hiker, with injuries, and ruined his
trip. Attached is a link to the official response from the Tyndall Creek
ranger, and this note was found the next day at Tyndall Creek after the
nightly visit. There was no note on the north side of Forester pass to warn
me of the scheduled nightly entertainment. There was also a pair of
stuffsacks shredded to bits in the nearby tree. Believe it or not, I slept
thru it all rather peacefully, even tho my Bearikade was only 10 ft away
from my tarptent. None of the bear cans failed with this visit, however the
park has posted that BearVaults are not effective or legal in the Forester
pass area.. until this bear is removed. Bad bears are not relocated in
Seki..I had a great hike with some excitement..
http://users.sisqtel.net/losthiker/images/bigbadbearonforesterpass.jpg
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Has anyone heard about this. I was just about to invest in the new
smaller Bear Vault for week-end'ers.

Bill in Sacramento

--- In johnmuirtrail at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <ibsavnu at y...> wrote:

Just a quick note to let you all know that a bear south of Whitney has
figured out how to open a Bear Vault bear canister.  What the rangers
at Lone Pine figure is it watched someone open one and just kind of
muscles it past the locking tabs.  It (the bear) has already broken
into 3 or 4 of them.  If the bear can't open it they said it just jumps
on it till it breaks open.  Still no issues with the Garcia bear
canister.

Steve
JMT '04
--- End forwarded message ---