Re: [pct-l] Stealthily as I go...

[JWilsonVW <JWilsonVW@aol.com>]

Bears and Rangers, a rarity indeed.
Going Northbound on the PCT put us into the High Sierras before the common
weekender realized it was summer out there, for it wasn't according to some
with all that snow around us. Not only were there no backpackers besides
thruhikers, there were little to no bears and no rangers. The first bear I
encountered was high-tailing it down the trail just south of Sierra City, and
just after I exclaimed, "geez, I walked the entire length of the Sierras and
didn't see one bear!" (insert foot in mouth). Eric the Ox and I had just
passed Boiling Lake in Lassen Park when we heard a crack to our right. We
stopped and expected to see the usual deer bounding away, but no, this was an
enourmous Golden Bear(yeah, I know they're extinct but this was a seriously
golden black bear!) It was only 20 feet away and muching away at little
critters in a fallen tree. It was sure fun seeing Eric spooked. Bob and I
heard a bear come at us in the night just above Castle Crags, and saw a cute
little bear up a hillside near Mt. Adams. Oh, I never bear-bagged my food but
did put it in the bear boxes in Tuolumne Meadows campground. At the bottom of
Lyell(sp?) Canyon in Yosemite I had the option to sleep in an official
campground, where a few weekenders were, there was a bear wire. Considering my
options of having to hang my food and dealing with a bear with some weekenders
in the middle of the night I decided to push on a little further and slept
amongst some pines, away from the buggy meadows, with my leftover food as a
pillow. A chilly, starry night with no bears and a small snowstorm in the
morning. ahh.
as for ranger rick, not a single one until the west side of Mt. Hood above
Zigzag canyon. Then one more, just after him. The next one was on the east
edge of Rainier, who was quite rude. We were heading uphill, he was coming
down. He didn't stop to let us by or even said hello. My only guess was that
he was after some people with dogs, who knows.
+or-5 counting folks, good luck out there!
Jeremy Wilson
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