Bear Down Wildcats

A thread for trips, tips/suggestions, or helpful outdoor tricks. A place to share good memories or plan upcoming trips.

With all the people who like to hike and fish and travel here, I'm surprised we don't have a thread on this.

Anyways, heading up to the Marble Mountain Wilderness near Yreka this evening after work, gonna live off the grid for about 4 days on an epic 40+ mile backpacking fishing trip in one of the largest untouched virgin forests and highest density of bears in the lower 48.

Really excited but a bit nervous, have my bear spray and my buddy will be packing a .38; hope we can see a few but don't spook mama with cubs. He's bring his dog which could either be a good thing or a bad thing if it brings something back to camp.

I not sure how I feel about backpacking with a gun. He's a sportsman and responsible, but for me it's something outside my comfort zone and I feel the risk of something accidental happening greater than the potential benefit. But I do trust the guy, one of my best buddies from Med school. Apperently this is a huge debate in the backpacking/hiking community on weather to pack or not.

Hoping to catch some good pan sized mountain trout and bag some peaks.

Aaaaah. The good old days!

CalStateTempe wrote:A thread for trips, tips/suggestions, or helpful outdoor tricks. A place to share good memories or plan upcoming trips.

With all the people who like to hike and fish and travel here, I'm surprised we don't have a thread on this.

Anyways, heading up to the Marble Mountain Wilderness near Yreka this evening after work, gonna live off the grid for about 4 days on an epic 40+ mile backpacking fishing trip in one of the largest untouched virgin forests and highest density of bears in the lower 48.

Really excited but a bit nervous, have my bear spray and my buddy will be packing a .38; hope we can see a few but don't spook mama with cubs. He's bring his dog which could either be a good thing or a bad thing if it brings something back to camp.

I not sure how I feel about backpacking with a gun. He's a sportsman and responsible, but for me it's something outside my comfort zone and I feel the risk of something accidental happening greater than the potential benefit. But I do trust the guy, one of my best buddies from Med school. Apperently this is a huge debate in the backpacking/hiking community on weather to pack or not.

Hoping to catch some good pan sized mountain trout and bag some peaks.

I used to spend a few days to a week in the Jed Smith Wilderness south of GTNP. I did it as a hunting and backpacking trip. I had bear spray and my big game rifle (.300 win mag) and I never had any issues with having my playing piece around when camping. I would keep the action open in camp to limit chances of an accident.

I would think that understanding bears and their actions is better than a small caliber like a .38. I've thought about a 10mm for bear protection, but have never needed it.

Anybody roll with a hammock instead of tent? I'm thinking about switching it up on my next Alaska trip this fall. Gold mining and fishing near Juneau, FYI.

Put a .357 mag in the chamber which might help just in case. Bring back Bigfoot and retire

.38 will fit in a .357.
.357 will not fit in a .38.
Hit a bear with a .38 and you will just make it angry.

whats the thread count on the linens up there??

KaibabKat wrote:.38 will fit in a .357.
.357 will not fit in a .38.
Hit a bear with a .38 and you will just make it angry.

I'd probably go 44 magnum for a revolver, 10mm or up for a semi auto. But in panic situations would recommend a revolver.

Might as well just throw the 38 at the bear like in the movies.

Also note in CA you cannot conceal and carry without a permit, which is hard to get in coastal areas. Much easier to obtain in valley, mountain and desert counties, but permits do not transfer across county lines.

Also...

I always carried a bear tag just in case. Shooting a bear in self defense can land you in hot water.

Great tips guys, thanks. Truth be told I've thought of taking gun safety classes for taking a revolver with me backcountry, especially as I am now venturing into more remote territory. I don't know what changed for me, but having two little girls at home may have something to do with it. Also, not really that worried about bears, more worried about crossing paths with the remote wilderness psychopath or someone who wants to do harm. (That being said those cases are rare but more likely to occur in big sur, Santa Cruz, and sonoma coast which are just remote enough but with good access to well traveled roads. Less likely on the PCT or remote parts of the sierras)

Good points merkin. We learned that national forest law trumps ca state law, you can have LOC when traveling on the trail and LOC and or LCC at your primative camp which is defined as a 150 radius from your tent. We reviewed the rules and regs last night.

Man capturing Bigfoot would be the answer to life's money problems!

Will post pics when I get back.

I'm sure the Klamath motor lodge has the finest in north state.

Taking my sisters family out for a hike this weekend in either Sabino Canyon or Tanque Verde Falls. Probably TV now that the water levels have gone down since they rescued those 17 people Sunday/Monday



Everything is so lush right now

Going for a hike somewhere around Lake Coeur D'Alene this weekend

Here's a tip. When camping, always take care to ensure that you will have a comfortable bed. If your bed is bad, nothing else is fun.

Sidewinder wrote:Going for a hike somewhere around Lake Coeur D'Alene this weekend

So much neat country all around you. My old stomping ground. I'm jealous.

Mt Whitney summit attempt this weekend boys!

14.5K feet elevation. highest point in the lower 48. Hope I don't get Altitude Sickness.

Good luck buddy, Don't forget your Sherpa.

I remember being up at like 11.5 or 12k feet in Breckenridge like 10 years ago and struggling to breathe. Without oxygen I don't think I'd dare to higher.

Thanks guys, feeling good, been out each of the last three saturdays to about 10K in the sierras to pre-acclimatize. Gonna camp at 10 and 12, before the summit attempt on Monday.

Never been higher that 12 before, at those same places in Colorado, other then mild shortness of breath, didn't have too much trouble.

Will post pics with my Lucky UofA red cap.

I've hiked five fourteeners in Colorado, all after I was 50 years old. I don't think there's any risk of "altitude sickness" at all - OTOH, over-exertion could be a distinct possibility....

The only time I ever experienced shortness-of-breath that I attributed to altitude was on top of Pike's Peak, after driving to the top. This was two days before I was to hike Mount Elbert (14,440 ft, the highest peak in the Rockies), and that freaked me out a bit. (I later attributed that to the quick ascent, via auto) However, on the hike to Mount Elbert, I had no problem. My son was with me, and he summited twice, because he didn't like my slow pace....

Hey dudes, back from the grid wanted to share some pics from my successful summit of Mt Whitney (14495ft) this past monday.

Entering the Whitney Zone! Bear Down!


Night 1: Outpost Camp 10300ft


Day 2: above outpost camp/Bighorn Park at Mirror lake, 11.5K ft


Day 2: Trailside Meadows, one of my favorite spots on the 22mile RT hike


Day 2: entering Trail Camp, high base camp for Monday's summit attempt


Day 2: View from TrailCamp, 12200ft. There she is,Mt Whitney, far right peaking out from the clouds.



Day 3: Summit Day!

Good job CST. My sister had to get air evac'd off that mountain when she had a seizure and threw out her back at the base camp.

Nice hat man.

Great photos!

Nice! The wife and I are talking about doing the John Muir trail. Just starting to look into it.

Looks cold. And very hard.

So no place I would want to be.

Well done CST!

Is that some sort of Forest Service cabin?

damn, someone died

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/201 ... v=top-news" target="_blank

riveting

Stellar Jeep overlanding trip across the Magruder Corridor in Northern Idaho July 4-7, 2018. Elk City, Idaho to Darby, Montana. Spent much of the last couple of months working on Jeep upgrades, modifications and regular maintenance. Did a lot of it myself and some of it with help from friends. Jeep ran tip top the entire trip. I have the smallest Jeep in the crew, but it's every bit as capable as the others and I had plenty of gas to finish the trip. In fact, I had 10 gallons surplus to share on the final day. It was also challenging to scale my camp kit back down to the back of a two-door Wrangler after a couple decades of family camping in a full size crew cab pick up. It was like getting back to my backpacking roots, but with a Jeep which is kick ass!


My TJ, Rusty Cage, a JK and our friends from the OC in their loaded Range Rover.


Green Mountain fire lookout.


The crew. Not pictured is the Ford F250 with the cab-over camper (guy has a sweet CJ, but it was the only way he could get his wife to come).


Green Mountain fire lookout.


Just below the top of the Burnt Knob fire lookout. We cleared 3 or 4 trees to get up here. Chainsaw crapped out here so just up around the corner they're winching the last big tree off the trail. This was the highlight of the run. Steep, rocky and somewhat treacherous and exposed. 4-low, 2nd gear and Rusty Cage just crept on up. Absolutely loved this.


Top of Burnt Knob fire lookout.


View from Burnt Knob.


View from Burnt Knob. Our fearless leader on the rock outcropping. That chick is a badass.


Rusty Cage at the top of Burnt Knob.


View from Burnt Knob.


Burnt Knob fire lookout.


Poet Creek campground. Pesky camp deer harassed us all night.


Rusty Cage camp at Poet Creek.


Dry Saddle overlook.


View across valley descending from Dry Saddle. Sketchy multi-tasking with the camera here!


Descending from Dry Creek Saddle. Also a favorite part of the trail for me. View is incredible.


Bottom of the valley after descending from Dry Saddle. Back up we go from here . . .


Observation Point. There's an outhouse up here and this is your view. Good spot to clear your thoughts as it were.


View from Observation Point.


Paradise Campground and Ranger Station. Selway River, Idaho. Still 65 miles to Darby, Montana from here, but essentially the end of the principal Magruder Corridor trail.


Rusty Cage on the Selway River, Idaho. Everyone else in their automatic air-conditioned JKUs pulled up a lot closer to the edge, but I wouldn't do it for fear of lurching forward with my manual transmission. I roared back off that rock in reverse after the photos!

Great trip. Great group of people with whom I was only acquainted prior to the trip. Can't wait to get back out there - probably next weekend.

Looks like some terrible fires there recently

ASUHATER! wrote:Looks like some terrible fires there recently

It's pretty much par for the course in these forests up here. It's also a two-pronged combination of both fire and beetle kill. Hard to avoid as it's a fact of nature. I think this area burned several years ago. Within those older burn areas though, you see tons of new growth in the understory and new trees which is really cool. There was plenty of lush green forest too, but it's not as interesting. I think the burn areas have a cool atmosphere. I hardly go anywhere in the Jeep or on my mountain bike where you don't go through some areas like that. Fire season hasn't really started here yet, but it'll be one day soon that I walk out my door in the morning and smell smoke . . .

Great pics man. Looks like a lot of fun.

Thank you for sharing those photos. They bring back a lot of memories. Spent a summer working out of Elk City/Orogrande. Beautiful country. Another year was among the first to make the Darby run after the road opened up for the summer (in a F150 with a Jayco pop-up). Great fly fishing on the Selway - really did not know that it was C&R and the cutthroats tasted wonderful. May have caught some from that very rock. Are there still a lot of mountain goats around there?

KaibabKat wrote:Thank you for sharing those photos. They bring back a lot of memories. Spent a summer working out of Elk City/Orogrande. Beautiful country. Another year was among the first to make the Darby run after the road opened up for the summer (in a F150 with a Jayco pop-up). Great fly fishing on the Selway - really did not know that it was C&R and the cutthroats tasted wonderful. May have caught some from that very rock. Are there still a lot of mountain goats around there?

It is great country. It's been two weeks today since we left and I can't stop thinking about it. Didn't see any goats although they're still known to be out there. Would've loved to seen some. What I will do different next time is focus the campsites on fishing. I fished a little, but not enough. That's awesome you spent a summer up there Kaibab. As I recall, you know Idaho well.

Spent a year in Pocatello and my better half is from SE Idaho. Still try to visit family about once a year. Spent another summer working south of the Salmon around Yellow Pine, Stibnite & Cinnabar (have caught trout and panned mercury from the same hole downstream of the latter) - only way to communicate with the outside world was a radio phone at a ranch a few miles down Johnson Creek from YP. My wife and I are also "Honorary" residents of Dixie, ID - quite an honor if you appreciate the history of that town.

You have a beautiful state BD89. Idaho is a beautiful state and the people are so friendly. We have stayed in McCall in the past. This year our daughter got married in Sun Valley so we spent 3 weeks around the state. After the wedding, we spent 3 days in Horseshoe Bend white water rafting. Here are a few pics

North Fork Payette river





Here is the camping setup







We also hiked to the top of Mt Baldy in Ketchum. We saw sheep and deer but didn't get any pics as they were very quick to slip into the brush

84Cat wrote:You have a beautiful state BD89. Idaho is a beautiful state and the people are so friendly. We have stayed in McCall in the past. This year our daughter got married in Sun Valley so we spent 3 weeks around the state. After the wedding, we spent 3 days in Horseshoe Bend white water rafting. Here are a few pics

North Fork Payette river





Here is the camping setup







We also hiked to the top of Mt Baldy in Ketchum. We saw sheep and deer but didn't get any pics as they were very quick to slip into the brush

Fantastic 84Cat. I'm headed to McCall tomorrow afternoon for a weekend of mountain biking, boating and general lakeside leisure at a friend's place right on Payette Lake. Ketchum and the Wood River Valley is one of my very favorite areas. How wonderful that your daughter was married there. Congratulations! I've been to a few weddings there myself and they never disappoint.

I like your camp set up. How do you like the roof top tent? I'm still in a ground tent, but definitely obsessing over the overlanding set up for my rig. I don't have a hard top for the Jeep and I prefer to run it without the soft top and doors so that makes a RTT a bit of a puzzle for me, but I'm very intrigued by them and some of the advantages. Probably a ways off. Keeping my eyes open for a hard top and then we'll see where it goes . . .

That is not my setup but my Son-in-law and friend both have a rooftop tent. They love them but they do have some drawbacks. Both have cushy queen size mattresses in them so they are very comfortable and no worry about bugs or animals. The biggest drawback is setting up and taking it down. Both of them will set them up if they are staying for at least 2 nights. If they stay somewhere for 1 night just sleep in the vehicle or a tent.

I have seen jeeps and pickups use the RFF's with a frame to hold the tent up. Something like this:



We are looking at getting a Sprinter van or 5th wheel. The tent seem like a lot more work than we want. They are a lot cheaper though.

84Cat wrote:That is not my setup but my Son-in-law and friend both have a rooftop tent. They love them but they do have some drawbacks. Both have cushy queen size mattresses in them so they are very comfortable and no worry about bugs or animals. The biggest drawback is setting up and taking it down. Both of them will set them up if they are staying for at least 2 nights. If they stay somewhere for 1 night just sleep in the vehicle or a tent.

I have seen jeeps and pickups use the RFF's with a frame to hold the tent up. Something like this:



We are looking at getting a Sprinter van or 5th wheel. The tent seem like a lot more work than we want. They are a lot cheaper though.

Damn you 84Cat! I did not need to see this. Hadn't come across this yet. Must investigate . . .

Jeeps are a disease . . .

Got to the house we are renting in Winter Park, Colorado and this guy was chilling across the street.

Don't fuck with that big dude Chicat! Moose are surly as fuck. Kick ass though.

We never got within 30 feet of that big fucker. Holy shit was he magnificent.

Just got back from a family reunion outside Ashland. The Klamathon Fire started a week before and got within 5 miles of the property. Burned 36K acres before they got it under control. It was 103 degrees when we turned onto Hwy 66 and barely cooled off up at 4,500 feet.







Also spent 4 days in the Bay Area and went out to Half Moon Bay and Muir Woods

Congrats Colin O’Brady!!! First person to traverse Antarctica under solely human power pulling a 375lb sled!

53 days alone with no support! All documented on his IG!!

Bad ass!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/spor ... brady.html" target="_blank

CalStateTempe wrote:Congrats Colin O’Brady!!! First person to traverse Antarctica under solely human power pulling a 375lb sled!

53 days alone with no support! All documented on his IG!!

Bad ass!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/spor ... brady.html" target="_blank

Insane. Wonder if he even remembers what it's like to be warm

CalStateTempe wrote:Congrats Colin O’Brady!!! First person to traverse Antarctica under solely human power pulling a 375lb sled!

53 days alone with no support! All documented on his IG!!

Bad ass!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/spor ... brady.html" target="_blank

If this guy calls and asked if you want to go for a hike tell him to fuck off.

azgreg wrote:

CalStateTempe wrote:Congrats Colin O’Brady!!! First person to traverse Antarctica under solely human power pulling a 375lb sled!

53 days alone with no support! All documented on his IG!!

Bad ass!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/spor ... brady.html" target="_blank

If this guy calls and asked if you want to go for a hike tell him to fuck off.

Lmao!

I've listened to Colin on a couple of podcasts and he is a complete bad ass. Congrats indeed!

BearDown89 wrote:

KaibabKat wrote:Thank you for sharing those photos. They bring back a lot of memories. Spent a summer working out of Elk City/Orogrande. Beautiful country. Another year was among the first to make the Darby run after the road opened up for the summer (in a F150 with a Jayco pop-up). Great fly fishing on the Selway - really did not know that it was C&R and the cutthroats tasted wonderful. May have caught some from that very rock. Are there still a lot of mountain goats around there?

It is great country. It's been two weeks today since we left and I can't stop thinking about it. Didn't see any goats although they're still known to be out there. Would've loved to seen some. What I will do different next time is focus the campsites on fishing. I fished a little, but not enough. That's awesome you spent a summer up there Kaibab. As I recall, you know Idaho well.

BD89: Just found this thread. I saw Boise in your handle but still didn't make the connection. My 40 years of woodswork were mostly in Idaho from the Boise to the Panhandle. The stretch from the South Fork of the Boise up through the Payette and Nez to the Selway will always be my heart's core. Elk City in the mid 70's was wild: Highway 14 just recently been paved and The Boarhogger was, well, let's just say it was something out of a David Lynch movie. (People think the Dirty Shame in the Yaak was wild. Oh well, what do they know.) I grew up in the Lolo and had a buds in Sula and Elk City and more time than I can count we went out Magruder just to get out of town and stay out of trouble. Many busted u-joints; many cut sidewalls; lotsa bad Burgie beer. Thanks man!