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

["R.J. Baynum" <rjbaynum@nidlink.com>]

 hey, excuse me.... there some brown spot on your nose....
R.J.

ROYROBIN@aol.com wrote:
> 
> 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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* From the Pacific Crest Trail Email List |  http://www.backcountry.net   *

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