Re: [pct-l] bear canisters + bear story.

[Mark Damish <mdamish@bbn.com>]

> If you are traveling in this area you must pay attention to proper food storage.
>  Food hangs DO NOT WORK.

Last year, while hiking between Yos valley and Red's meadow, I met
a large bear.  I had camped well away from other hikers, and had my
food stored in one of the 'new' Aluminum bear canisters.  I found
what I thought was a 'good hanging' tree, and hung a bag containing
sunscreen, Ammonium Lactate (spelling) lotion, and a bunch of non
smelly items.

I crashed at sunset, and about an hour later I awoke to 'big noise' 
in the campsite.  A large bear was trying hard to stand on his back
paws and reach the bag... ...No luck, too high.  He then climbed up 
the tree to about the level of the bag and tried reaching out, but the
bag was too far out for it.  He then went up to the branch where it
was suspended from, and it looked like he was trying to break off
the branch.  No luck, as the branch was too thick.  Next he tried
to go out onto the branch, but he hesitated, as I think that the
branch wouldn't support him perhaps.
  While this was going on, I was banging furiously on my pot, trying
to scare the bear away, while looking out for any 'baby bears'.
Except for some stares, illuminated yellow eyes in my flashlight, the
bear ignored me.  At one point on the ground, he did take a couple
of steps towards me (20-25 paces away), and I took a couple back.
  Back to the tree.  The bear climbed the tree above the branch
where the food was counterbalanced, and for a minute I thought
that I was going to witness a 'kamakazi dive'.  Instead, the bear
position himself such that his front paws were on the branch, while
the rear was on the tree, just above the crotch of the branch.
He then started applying his weight on the branch/tree, and
the suspended bag and counterbalance slowly started a pendulum
motion.  He kept this up until the bags started swinging a bit
more, and then climbed halfway down the tree, and grabbed the
bag, and brought it to the ground.  One quick bite, and he
bit through the bag, a spare water bag folded in quarters, and
into the deet and ammonium lactate lotion.  With a quick snort,
he started to leave as if in disgust, but came back and sniffed
the bag and then went for the aluminum food container.
  He lifted the food container lengthwise between it's paws,
while stand on it's hinds, and I noted that his paws were
not parallel, which helped size the distance between his
shoulders at quite a bit larger than 18 inches.  After
holding it for a bit he left.
  I went over to examine the bag, but he returned, and I
slowly backed up.  One last sniff, and he left, and I
realized that how comical it must have looked if anybody
was watching... ...Standing totally naked, except for boots,
banging a pot to scare the bear, but too apprehensive to hurl
a rock for about 40 minutes.  I realized I was getting cold,
and headed back to my tent to attempt sleep.

The next day there was a deer in the site, who didn't seem
to mind me, and was often eating only 15-20 paces away.  I
didn't know if deer were just used to people, or in the
wild never learned to be afraid of them, but it felt
very serene after serealistic night before.

Two day's later I was required to show a permit to a ranger,
and while digging out my hiking papers, I told the ranger
the story.  She told me, in no uncertain terms, that I should
have chased the deer away.  The rest of the hike went well,
with spectacular views, and the only other bears that I saw
on the trip, were at the Tuolomene Meadows tent site, where
almost everything was stored in bear boxes.

All in all, I was glad that I had read what I could about bears,
which made 'my' decision to carry a 2.5 lb bear canister a
must for the trip.

Your know your living when...
...Mark


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