Re: [pct-l] preparing for disaster

[Birgitte Jensen <bjensen4@juno.com>]

On Wed, 10 Mar 1999 14:24:27 -0800 reynolds@ilan.com writes:
> take rattlesnakes. I have seen exactly one (1) in 15 years in the
>Sierra but I started hiking with my three (3) year old son and was 
>unwilling to just sit there and watch him die

My humble opinion is that one would be ill-advised to take a toddler
along on one's '99 thruhike, for a number of reasons. Does anyone want to
have a thread on Hiking With Children? I have a _lot_ to say on the
subject <g>, like be especially mindful of small kids in snake/cougar
country and don't take them places that have multiday sub-zero
whiteouts...

> In bad weather I STOP, HOLE UP and WAIT. I never walk out. This means I
carry >a 4 season tent but not heavyweight rain gear.

    I have to insist that a 4-season (winter mountaineering) tent is not
basic Sierra spring shelter, especially in a dryish year. And please,
please never try to save weight by eschewing  raingear! (Not ever Jardine
would suggest such a thing, yipes. Am no ultraliter, but I think his book
has some good tips on hiking in inclement weather.) It needn't be a
bulky/pricey GoreTex rainsuit, but raingear of some kind  (at least the
garbage bag variety) is truly one of the 10 essentials, especially in
springtime. One does not want find oneself in the position of needing to
"hole up" to keep dry, and one wants to stay as dry as possible always.
Not all weather is bad weather, and not all backcountry walking in
less-than-perfect conditions needs to be the "walking out" kind.

> At a minimum one deeds to prepare for:
>3-Infection {Mine is PEN VK}
>4-Bear steals food {Mine is a fishing pole}
>5-Disabling Injury {Mine is never hike alone}

   There's alot in the news lately about the indiscriminate use of
antibiotics; you might want to talk this over with a physician before
dosing yourself in the field - especially when hiking shortish stretches
of trail between towns that have medical facilities.

    You've reminded me of the bear-story I told you last year, Tom! 
    I camped late in the one-tent-only site along Shepard Pass, and some
fishermen and sons arrived later and had to camp in the brush. In the
middle of the night, I was awakened by the ground shaking and noises and
peered blearily outside my tent to find myself looking up into a black
bear's bottom! The fishermen had played-by-the-book and hung their food
from a limb "at a distance from the tents" for safety, but the tree was
right beside _my_tent. I like to think they had become disoriented in the
darkness, and didn't chose that particular tree deliberately out of
peevishness that I had the only level site. <VBG>
     You seem to have also remembered their secret to what looked to be
the best bear-hang I've ever seen: tall, gangly son stood on huge Dad's
shoulders and cast the bear bags over the limb with one of the rods.
(They showed me next morning, when I asked them how they managed to get
the bags up and out so high.) Backpack food was scarce along the trail
that night, I guess, so bears tried their best for a long time, but they
never could reach those wonderfully-hung stuff sacks. I never got much
sleep, either....
     I like a sling-shot for solo travel. Oops:  Hiking Alone (5) is a
flame-thread, so I shan't touch it. 

                           bj

     The guy from the other list finally sent me permission to post his
joke. It's long, so I'm posting it separately from this message - hope
you laugh as hard as I did.....







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