9th June 2013
Mile 702 to Mile 712 : Kennedy Meadows to Somewhere higher up than here
Mileage : 10
Today the Sierra Nevada begins. I have spent the better part of the day getting my kit in order in preparation for an evening departure. In the next 10 miles I'll be ascending 2000 feet, and the next morning, another 3000 almost, so inshallah for the next 200 miles hiking through the day will be a possibility which will be a real change for the better.
As we progress into the mountains, there will be a shift in the logistical challenge of carrying lots of water, to carrying lots of food, at least 7 days for this next stretch, and a bear canister for it all to go in. For those hikers that are arriving from abroad, and will need the bear canister for the month it will take to get through the mountains, a loaner program has been set up and once I picked mine up from Tom's I set about playing tetris will all my food in an attempt to get it all to fit. As the picture shows i was unsuccessful. Technically for the first 2 days or so a bear canister is not required so i can carry an eat 2 days worth of food and not need for it all to go in there. That being said it is high advised for all food to be secured either in a canister, or in a bear box located at a campsite. There is a trail myth this year about a girl who didn't have all her food in a canister and decided the best place to store the rest would be in a stuff sack she was using as a pillow, counting on the fact that a bear would not be so bold as to approach a human. A very unwise decision as it turned out. She awoke in the middle of the night to discover a bear gently pulling the stuff sack out from under her head with its teeth. Whether or not this particular tale is true does not change the fact the bears around here can be very aggressive when it comes to food and you always have to remember the odds are not in your favour should you decide to defend your food. Another tale i got first hand from elderly local at Kennedy Meadows General Store was that he once awoke to discover a bear rocking him gently back and forward in his sleeping bag in an attempt to roll him off his rucksack in which was stored all his food. He said that he decided to pretend to asleep and thus not surprise, and therefore potentially provoke, the bear and rolled off the rucksack and let the bear have the food. The morning light showed that the sleeping bag had mostly survived the bear rocking and was surprsingly, the rucksack though was not so fortunate and was shredded completely. All this goes to show that bears do not target humans, but the food that we carry, so I most certainly will not be sleeping with my food and will instead leave it well away from whereever i am sleeping.
The next updates will probably be in 7 days time, hope you all check back then!
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