[at-l] menstration & bears (was women's issues)

[foshione@dteenergy.com (Elizabeth A. Foshion)]

What's with the horse ban? I grew up in TX around horses and never heard of this before - pardon me if my pre-70's memories are showing, but sounds like a
way to keep women out of the stable (especially jockeys).

As to bears - I've never seen any reliable evidence that bears are particulary drawn to menstrating women. Now if you rub a Snickers bar all over
you...<grin>.  I think cleanliness counts though - wear tampons instead of pads; and use an odor-masker to pack the tampons out. I prefer ground coffee,
but some people swear by crushed aspirin.  My method involves double-ziploc with the coffee in the outer ziploc and the used tampons in the inner one.

If you don't want to deal with packing out tampons, consider the Keeper. It's a natural rubber cup shaped a lot like a tampon. Completely reusable, you
just remove and rinse regularly; then, steralize with boiling water and keep in a bag between uses. I don't have a URL handy, but a search will find it.
I've tried this item with great success, but you want to experiment at home first to get the knack down.

I've heard anecdotal reports of mountain lions going for the blood smell, but that's more a west coast problem and I think the same practices would
minimize your problems.

Squirrelgirl

Michelemckenney@aol.com wrote:

> planning on hiking AT 3mths this fall not entirly new to hiking but longest
> i've been on trail is 2 wks  question is there a saftey risk being on trail
> while menstrating? growing up in KY and absolutley forbidden to enter
> horse paddocks or barns at this time was just wandering.