[pct-l] Olympic Trip

[CMountainDave@aol.com (CMountainDave@aol.com)]

I'm off to the Olympics on a 12 day Bailey Range traverse. Going to be 
testing out my new Feathered Friends Hummingbird. Decided to go with the Zip 
wood burning stove this time -- we can heat water for showers without having 
to worry about a limited fuel supply. Going to argue that it's a STOVE, not a 
FIRE. And the sign said no fires - stoves only. They want us to volunteer to 
carry bear barrels, but I don't want to have bears hanging around my camp 
waiting for me to eat so they can mug me before I swallow - Hey -- that's the 
strategy I would use if I were a bear frustrated with that canister. Them 
humans got to take the food out of the thing sooner or later and when they do 
-- wham! After all, who the hell is gonna stop me from TRYING to take their 
lunch away. The dogs are all on leashes and the pencil pushing promulgators 
are miles down the trail
  Guess it's more fun to try to outwit the bear at the expense of the 
backpackers pack weight than it is to try making the bear stop trying to get 
our food, at the expense of the Park budget
 They always yammer on about keeping the ecosytem in the Park in its natural 
state. Well, bears approaching our camps in search of food ain't natural. 
It's a result of management failure - they ALLOWED the bears to lose their 
fear of man by concentrating on matching wits instead of using a deterrence 
strategy. And canisters are going to scare them?