All Discussions Tagged 'backpacking' - MyCorgi.com2024-03-28T23:38:55Zhttp://mycorgi.com/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=backpacking&feed=yes&xn_auth=noGwynnie, 4/8/2003 -- 4/1/2017 alpinist extraordinairetag:mycorgi.com,2017-04-09:1150197:Topic:19651832017-04-09T06:55:00.521ZJohn Wolffhttp://mycorgi.com/profile/JohnWolff92
<div><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036625813?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036625813?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> 23rd Most Influential Corgi of 2012 on Buzzfeed (they showed her photo on Mt. Hinman).</div>
<div>First ascent of Fortress Mt., 8750', by a Pembroke Welsh corgi without supplemental oxygen.</div>
<div>She once covered 24 miles (some of it off-trail) in 14 hours with 9000' of total gain.</div>
<div>Nearly 14 years of dedicated performance as Companion…</div>
<div><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036625813?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036625813?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-full" width="750"/></a>23rd Most Influential Corgi of 2012 on Buzzfeed (they showed her photo on Mt. Hinman).</div>
<div>First ascent of Fortress Mt., 8750', by a Pembroke Welsh corgi without supplemental oxygen.</div>
<div>She once covered 24 miles (some of it off-trail) in 14 hours with 9000' of total gain.</div>
<div>Nearly 14 years of dedicated performance as Companion Animal.</div>
<div>Pioneered the way for Al's even more remarkable mountaineering and backpacking feats.</div>
<div>Perhaps her greatest achievement was: all the children in the neighborhood loved to pet her and play with her, and everybody knew her name.<br/><br/></div>
<div>Like Lou Gehrig, another gifted athlete struck down by ALS, the human form of DM, she would have said, "I've had a bad break, but I still consider myself the luckiest dog on the face of the Earth."</div>
<p>We always stuck together, but this time I can't keep up with her, and she's gone on ahead. We'll catch up someday.</p>
<div><br/><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/casliborg/sets/72157682335418675" target="_blank">Gwynnhyfvar Haley Foxfield Excalibur 4/8/2003--4/1/2017.</a></div>
<p>There's a little arrow in a box at the upper right which toggles the slideshow.</p>
<p>Special thanks to Corgi Aid and Bobbie Mayer for providing her Eddie's Wheels turbocharged cart.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036627435?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036627435?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-full" width="750"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036627633?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036627633?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-full" width="750"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036628974?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036628974?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-full" width="750"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036629143?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036629143?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-full" width="750"/></a></p> Backpackers' bearproof food containers are not corgi-proof.tag:mycorgi.com,2015-04-01:1150197:Topic:19138122015-04-01T05:09:23.942ZJohn Wolffhttp://mycorgi.com/profile/JohnWolff92
<p>For years, wilderness backpackers have relied on rigid bear-proof containers to protect their food from bears and to prevent bears from becoming dangerously habituated to human food. They are typically too large and rounded for even a grizzly bear to get its teeth around, quite heavy (up to 2 lbs.), and can be expensive (one is made of carbon graphite, up to $300). I usually use a much lighter, cheaper Kevlar bear-proof bag called an Ursack that is becoming widely…</p>
<p>For years, wilderness backpackers have relied on rigid bear-proof containers to protect their food from bears and to prevent bears from becoming dangerously habituated to human food. They are typically too large and rounded for even a grizzly bear to get its teeth around, quite heavy (up to 2 lbs.), and can be expensive (one is made of carbon graphite, up to $300). I usually use a much lighter, cheaper Kevlar bear-proof bag called an Ursack that is becoming widely accepted.</p>
<p></p>
<p>They are not corgi-proof.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036620650?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036620650?profile=original" width="557"/></a>Pictured above: the Bear Vault, an industry standard well-tested on grizzly bears.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Ever since I started using bear-proof containers (Bear Vault, Bearikade) instead of hanging my food in trees at night, I noticed that I was running short. I was two whole days short on one 11-day trip, and really went hungry. At first I thought I’d simply forgotten to pack some of the food, but it happened a couple more times.</p>
<p>Finally, I put two and two together and realized that my dog was stealing my food at night! Neither the Bear Vault, the Bearikade, nor the Ursack are corgi-proof (I have not tested the Garcia yet). Both in the field and in my back yard, I’ve set up remote-controlled camera traps and caught the little thief red-pawed. I couldn’t believe it.</p>
<p>Without opposable thumbs, how could a corgi get into a bear can?</p>
<p>Turns out, it can’t. Not even a corgi can get into a bear can <i>without human assistance</i>. But human assistance is seldom far away. Sooner or later, the human is going to make the mistake of looking into the dog’s eyes, and the Corgi Mind Control Stare will take over. This was happening to me on solo trips at first, and I had no clue, but then one night with a partner, he noticed me getting up in the middle of the night. “I thought you were going out to pee or something,” he told me, “but you had this zombie-like slack-jawed look on your face – didn’t respond when I asked what the heck you were doing – you just sort of stumbled out of the tent in a deep trance, opened the bear can, and let Al steal half a day’s worth of food. Then you closed it up and sleepwalked back to the tent. If I didn’t know your dog so well, I never would’ve believed it.” I didn’t remember a thing.</p>
<p>Be advised.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036620934?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036620934?profile=original" width="557"/></a>Pictured above is the bear-proof kevlar Ursack, a favorite of ultralight backpackers at 0.48 lbs. It is no match for a corgi, either.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Note that my research casts no doubt whatsoever on the reliability of these fine devices against bears.</p> Bear safety, backpacking, dogstag:mycorgi.com,2011-09-25:1150197:Topic:13226342011-09-25T04:04:28.169ZJohn Wolffhttp://mycorgi.com/profile/JohnWolff92
<p>Someone asked me about tips re. bear safety in the backcountry. This is way too big a topic to cover here, but here are some general tips and references.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Bear Attacks, Their Causes and Avoidance</span>, Herrero, Lyond Press 1985 (excellent, recommended).</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Best Hikes with Dogs in Western Washington</span>, Nelson, The Mountaineers Books,2002.</p>
<p>Many books on wilderness travel will address…</p>
<p>Someone asked me about tips re. bear safety in the backcountry. This is way too big a topic to cover here, but here are some general tips and references.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Bear Attacks, Their Causes and Avoidance</span>, Herrero, Lyond Press 1985 (excellent, recommended).</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Best Hikes with Dogs in Western Washington</span>, Nelson, The Mountaineers Books,2002.</p>
<p>Many books on wilderness travel will address this issue, and if you do this sort of thing, you are responsible for your education.</p>
<p>Bears will defend their food and their young, so never get between a bear and its cubs or food (which is often an animal carcass, so avoid those). Bears don't like surprises, so make noise and don't surprise them. Travel in groups. I hike by myself , so I talk, sing (Al's ready to kill me), gong my ice ax on rocks, and I shout a lot after dark or before entering thick brush. In Alaska, people often toot boat horns; you won't see any grizzlies if you do that <not sure which I'd prefer>. (: You never want to annoy or threaten a bear. You're supposed to face down a cougar, making eye contact, but not a bear. Never run from a bear or cougar; this is hopeless, and invites pursuit. A bear will often bluff-charge, and will stop if you don't run.</p>
<p>Most times I've seen bears, I just see moving brush as the alarmed animal flees abruptly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nelson points out that whereas your dog might warn of a bear's presence, it could also annoy and provoke the bear if it is off-leash, and if the bear charges, the dog will retreat to a place of safety -- behind you -- with an annoyed bear right behind it. An argument for keeping your dog on-leash.</p>
<p>My dog is almost always off-leash on the trail, illegally. We're usually where we're unlikely to encounter people or rangers. I always have a quick-draw leach ready, attached to the pack and coiled with a rubber band. I always leash to dog at night. Coyotes, lynx, bobcats could take out a corgi justlikethat.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If your dog chases wildlife, you're obligated to keep it on-leash. Herding dogs might be prone to chasing, say, deer. Not a problem with Al, fortunately. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Herrero points out that most grizzly or black bear attacks come from bears who are habituated to humans and foraging for human food or garbage. There are important exceptions to this, but the basic rule is: Do not let bears get your food! When they do, it's a huge problem for everybody, especially the bear. A fed bear is a dead bear; someone will have to shoot it. If you find bear turds with plastic or other human food packaging in them, leave, right away, don't camp anywhere near there.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So if you're car-camping, ALL food gets shut-up in the car at night (Yosemite bears learned how to break in to cars). NO food or food garbage, wrappers, etc. goes in the tent, EVER, and even cooking pots and utensils must be treated as food (you can never wash-off food odors). An empty food bag smells just like a full food bag. Backpackers must hang their food (see photo). Few backpackers know how to do this effectively, and bears are extremely ingenious and motivated. The trend nowadays is towards bear-proof food cans, which I have not tried since they weight about 2 lbs. (prohibitive for me), but they have the advantage of reliability and convenience. They are required in some places. In high places, there are no trees. Sometimes, you can hang food off a cliff.</p>
<p>A good bear hang takes time and a lot of practice. I have 2 different-colored 100' lines in a small stuff sack with a tiny carabiner, which acts as a pulley. I fill the sack with stones, throw it high into a tree, retrieve the sack and anchor the line. Repeat at another tree 20-50' away (tree-climbing is often involved). Before you pull this line tight, you clip the carabiner near the middle of the line, with the midpoint of the 2nd line thru the biner. That high horizontal line is your "fixed rigging", like the mast of a ship. The line thru the biner is your movable "running gear"; you use it to hoist the food bag, which must be:</p>
<p>12' off the ground</p>
<p>10' from nearest tree trunk</p>
<p>5' below any branch a bear could climb.</p>
<p>Even so, it is vulnerable to a bear that can figure out the lines and break them.</p>
<p>The food bag should be crow-resistant and lined with a twist-tied tough plastic bag.</p>
<p>Few people are good at this. Some of my bear hangs would work. Some are imaginary security. The bear hang is the first thing I do in camp, before tent or anything else; I want to get it done before dark. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036610214?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3036610214?profile=original" width="612" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p>Backpackers in bear country religiously avoid smelly food, esp. meat and fish, and select foods with a nose to minimizing odors: like, take jerky, not sausage. My Wellness kibble smells like great bear-bait. I like the new freeze-dried raw meat dog foods ("Vital Essentials" is the current favorite; "Nature's Variety" is also good). I like freeze-dried or dehydrated foods that are just-add-boiling-water, so I don't have to hang my 1-qt. teakettle. You must hang all utensils that have had food it them.</p>
<p>I violate this rule often, with landsjaeger sausage and salami. I keep them wrapped in about 3 layers of good plastic bags. This won't seal-in the odors but it will help. Your ideal aspiration is a person with no food at all. </p>
<p>In grizzly country, you don't cook or eat near where you sleep; you want the "kitchen" and 100 yds downwind of the tent (so your tent is not between your food and a bear following its scent).. </p>
<p>Nowhere does any food, candy, food wrappers, dog food, or cooking utensils EVER go in a tent.</p>
<p>I often carry a can of bear mace (capsacin pepper spray) at my belt, probably a false security blanket.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are extremely rare but troubling instances where black bears or grizzlies (juvenile males, I think) will become predatory, and will attack not to protect their young or food, but to eat you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I've gotten sloppy with my bear-discipline, perhaps falsely reasoning (hoping? hope ain't a plan) that bears don't bother hanging out above 6000' at night, they go down low. But I did see some big bear turds in snow on the summit of Alaska Mt., 5500', with Gwynnie this July. They might've been there a long time, refrigerated by the snow.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the Boundary Waters Wilderness of northern Minnesota, where I grew up, we were camped on a very popular campsite on Lake Insula, last night of a 7-day canoe trip. A note at the camp warned of a problem bear. On high alert, my uncle had us pile all the food inside the packs (open, so the bear would not damage them), in a pile in the middle of a wide bare-bedrock apron, and we piled all empty cans, cook pots, etc. on top of the tarp, so the bear would make a lot of clatter, warning us.</p>
<p>My uncle slept with his old Army .45 automatic under his pillow (this powerful weapon good only for scaring a bear, unless you hit it in the brain).</p>
<p>Of course, I had to get up in the middle of the night to do my business. The latrine was a Forest Service lidded box at the end of a long trail. Sitting uneasily upon the seat of ease, I suddenly had the feeling that I was being watched -- really, just like in the movies. Clutching my light, I slowly turned around, pointed it behind me, and turned it on. Two large, bright shining yellow eyes were staring at me, 4 feet away.</p>
<p>A flying squirrel, possibly the only one I've ever seen.</p>
<p>Next morning, we awoke to find all the cans and pots neatly deposited on the one small available patch of grass. We'd heard nothing. The bear opened peanut butter jars and powdered milk envelopes, cleaned them out better than a dishwasher. Not a speck left. No damage. Nothing left for breakfast but a can of Spam and a can of bacon [NEVER bring bacon or fish camping]. Fortuitously, it was our last morning anyway.</p>
<p>This bear was probably shot by rangers, or perhaps removed to a remote area. Habituated bears can be dangerous.</p>