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

[ROYROBIN@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/27/99 8:49:14 AM PST, reynolds@ilan.com writes:

<< re: Many thruhikers will do without [bear canisters]

My actual statement was, "Many will choose to do without, and instead, 
welcome and use the bear boxes."  
 
 << I agree. Many thruhikers will not take a bear canister. What this means 
to me is
 they only care about "their hike."  They do not care about other hikers, 
bears,
 the wilderness or anything else but what "they, themselves, are doing." Now
 thruhikers will argue that, after spending all winter getting their pack 
weight
 down it is "athama" to carry an extra 2 pounds 3 ounces. They will also tell 
you
 how much they have "sacraficed" to make this hike. All true but so what?
 Training bears to predate [kill and eat] humans risks my family's health and
 the bear's life [ultimately to the elimination of all bears].

I agree completely with your concerns about the consequences of training the 
bears.  
My point is that bear boxes are a sensible solution which would make the 
decision to carry the canister moot, if the boxes were only deployed at 
intervals along major routes.  Human beings suffer from "human nature".  
Solutions which take this sad fact into consideration will be more 
successful.     
 
 << I would like to say that there are bear boxs all through the Sierra. In 
my less
 than humble opinion there ought to be. Ten years ago it was obvious that
 counterblancing wouldn't work but the NPS and USFS simply ignored the 
evidence.
 Now you simply can't get from Kennedy Meadows to Highway 108 without "risk".
  
Again, we're in total agreement.  Put them out there.  Maintain them.  Put up 
signs (discreet ones) telling people where they are located.  Attach a list 
of locations to issued hiking permits.  For Park or Forest administrators who 
have any interest in carrying out their charge to protect the wildlife, this 
should be a no-brainer.  
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