While at the Portal, everything with a scent, will be in a locker. Are they big enough to fit my entire pack? I ask this because it may have some campfire aroma on it from previous trips.
Then on the trail, we are going to stay at Outpost Camp and use that as our base camp. I will have my canister with me. This also will have anything with a scent in it, even my deodorant and soap. What is the preferred placement of this? I always placed it 100 yards away from camp. Now I have read that I want to do this not only down wind, but up hill and diagonally away from camp? Also preferably in the shade not near a cliff. I have generally just left it out in the open near an easily recognizable landmark from afar. What do you guys do?
Any other tips on this?
Leave the pack open and unzipped. The bear will inspect it, find it empty, and leave. But it might fit in the locker -- they are big, but lots of people put lots of stuff in them. I've even seen hiking boots in one.
You do not need to go to great trouble placing your canister far away. I go about 10 feet. First, I don't think any bears have been seen at Outpost, but also, the bear might try to roll the canister, but if they have tried one before, they will most likely leave it alone (bears are smart). As I wrote above, bears (in California) will not bother people -- it is only the food they want.
I am curious: I wonder if ANY hiker on the JMT or in the Sierra anywhere has actually been successful using pepper spray on a bear. I think that is pretty unlikely.
And last, SierraNevada wrote:
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In Alaska they can positively ID Grizzly scat on the trail because it has those little (bear) bells buried in it. Yes, and it smells like pepper spray, too.
