Big Bend July 18-21

[mule ears]

Sounds like a great fast trip.

we hung around all evening Barbecuing and drinking Coors...keeping an eye out for other Benders...but none showed

Did you have the official flag raised so they could fine you or just TWWG's rubber snake on the road marker?

Hiking up to the rim with a hangover, I'm gettin' too old for that 

[badknees]

 


Thanks

[russco]

Sounds like a great fast trip.

we hung around all evening Barbecuing and drinking Coors...keeping an eye out for other Benders...but none showed

Did you have the official flag raised so they could fine you or just TWWG's rubber snake on the road marker?

Hiking up to the rim with a hangover, I'm gettin' too old for that 

No flag...only as sleepy might say...tobies on the table!
and uh Yea me too! Ouch!

[stingrey]

Awesome post, and awesome pics! Thanks!

With regard to the bears, the story I heard was that some hikers left some fajita meat in one of the BC bear boxes, so the bears have been tearing stuff up ever since then...

At first I replied "If I'd smelled some fajita meat in someone's bear box, I might've taken a crack at their bear box, too, after a long hike"... But then the ranger added that they left it up there... To rot... And the smell got the bears to looking for easy sources of food in the manmade canisters/shelters. Someone's tent got torn up in BC not long ago as a result of their still present curiosity. :(

NE was said to be far from most malicious bear activity, though. NE was a nice spot, and I wish I'd seen the outcrop that you pointed out, Russco. Might've convinced the wife to stay another day. Only reason we headed out early after we got back down the trail was 'cause Mandy wasn't impressed at all with the rain that fell during most of the day/night before. Really cut into the sightseeing that I had planned for us... But we did get to see the Peregrines playing, and they were squawkin/screeching as they did so! That upper elevation is magical indeed!

Maybe next time we play around w/the idea of a Bender in the Bend, we can organize it to have us all on the rim at some point!

[badknees]

Most Excellent!

BK and LGK

[RichardM]

With regard to the bears, the story I heard was that some hikers left some fajita meat in one of the BC bear boxes, so the bears have been tearing stuff up ever since then...

At first I replied "If I'd smelled some fajita meat in someone's bear box, I might've taken a crack at their bear box, too, after a long hike"... But then the ranger added that they left it up there... To rot... And the smell got the bears to looking for easy sources of food in the manmade canisters/shelters. Someone's tent got torn up in BC not long ago as a result of their still present curiosity. :(

Well, crap!  That's the first step towards dead bears. Once they learn that stoopid humans can be counted on for food, they get labelled "nuisances" and eventually get killed once the stoopid humans become endangered. BIBE has been very proactive with the bear boxes after the lessons learned from Yosemite and Yellowstone. Since the bears returned to the park I've been dreading the day I'd hear of bears learning to raid tents. Bad news all around. Too bad we can't require an IQ and backcountry ethics tests before allowing idjits on the trail. What kind of moron leaves meat to rot in a bear box?

[bdhawk133]

With regard to the bears, the story I heard was that some hikers left some fajita meat in one of the BC bear boxes, so the bears have been tearing stuff up ever since then...

At first I replied "If I'd smelled some fajita meat in someone's bear box, I might've taken a crack at their bear box, too, after a long hike"... But then the ranger added that they left it up there... To rot... And the smell got the bears to looking for easy sources of food in the manmade canisters/shelters. Someone's tent got torn up in BC not long ago as a result of their still present curiosity. :(

Well, crap!  That's the first step towards dead bears. Once they learn that stoopid humans can be counted on for food, they get labelled "nuisances" and eventually get killed once the stoopid humans become endangered. BIBE has been very proactive with the bear boxes after the lessons learned from Yosemite and Yellowstone. Since the bears returned to the park I've been dreading the day I'd hear of bears learning to raid tents. Bad news all around. Too bad we can't require an IQ and backcountry ethics tests before allowing idjits on the trail. What kind of moron leaves meat to rot in a bear box?

Well said!

[russco]

Maybe next time we play around w/the idea of a Bender in the Bend, we can organize it to have us all on the rim at some point!

Definately!

Too bad we can't require an IQ and backcountry ethics tests before allowing idjits on the trail. What kind of moron leaves meat to rot in a bear box?

A lazy moron. Backcountry ethics test...great thought!

[badknees]

With regard to the bears, the story I heard was that some hikers left some fajita meat in one of the BC bear boxes, so the bears have been tearing stuff up ever since then...

At first I replied "If I'd smelled some fajita meat in someone's bear box, I might've taken a crack at their bear box, too, after a long hike"... But then the ranger added that they left it up there... To rot... And the smell got the bears to looking for easy sources of food in the manmade canisters/shelters. Someone's tent got torn up in BC not long ago as a result of their still present curiosity. :(

Well, crap!  That's the first step towards dead bears. Once they learn that stoopid humans can be counted on for food, they get labelled "nuisances" and eventually get killed once the stoopid humans become endangered. BIBE has been very proactive with the bear boxes after the lessons learned from Yosemite and Yellowstone. Since the bears returned to the park I've been dreading the day I'd hear of bears learning to raid tents. Bad news all around. Too bad we can't require an IQ and backcountry ethics tests before allowing idjits on the trail. What kind of moron leaves meat to rot in a bear box?

Well said!

Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that

[sleepy]

when Ay!Chi and I were tripping in BB a couple of weeks ago, we noticed someone left a full sack of trash in one of the bear boxes at SE 3.  Also, someone left 2 wine bottles at LW3, sadly empty.  We were able to bring the bottles down, but not the big ol' sack of trash.  Still, what a bunch of chumps.  We told a ranger at the Basin station and she said they would probably close SE3 until they could get someone up to clean the trash out. 

I'm with you, Richard, dreading the day when bears become a "nuisance" because of the carelessness of stoopid humans.

[homerboy2u]

Our footprint as humans is ineludible. no matter how much we try, how conservative we may be, how pro active we are......there will always be a seed of discord to tarnish an effort of friendly environment.

  And i don't say it , for any of the members of this webpage. I say it for all the numbnuts who you happened to cross paths amd see how they throw away trash, and stuff...and they go: Throw it away!!....away where,buddy?.

 

[tjavery]

The sad thing is that I think most people are not really stupid, they just act that way. People, although quite capable, don't seem think more than 5 minutes ahead in their lives to realize what effects their actions may have.

This will eventally lead to some silly restrictions/rules that will degrade the enjoyment of our visits to the park and backcountry. We'll have to put up with new b.s. rules because previous cognitively-challenged users of the park f*%&'ed up.

I'm going off track here, but this just reinforces my belief as a parent that the most important things we can teach our kids is to have respect and be responsible. My parents ALWAYS taught me to clean up properly after myself and they backed that up by acting that way themselves - always.

Thanks you guys for packing back some of the trash!

[Ay Chihuahua!]

when Ay!Chi and I were tripping in BB a couple of weeks ago, we noticed someone left a full sack of trash in one of the bear boxes at SE 3.  Also, someone left 2 wine bottles at LW3, sadly empty.  We were able to bring the bottles down, but not the big ol' sack of trash.  Still, what a bunch of chumps.  We told a ranger at the Basin station and she said they would probably close SE3 until they could get someone up to clean the trash out. 

Yes, the trash left behind was disheartening. 

Fajita meat!!??    That is beyond comprehension. 

One thing I thought about while Sleepy and I were up there was the closeness of the bear boxes to the tent pads.  Given Stringrey's revelation of bears at tents, it would seem the next logical step for NPS staff would be to reconfigure the camp sites and place bear boxes much further away from the pads.

[stingrey]

That's why I liked reading the sightings report every month over the course of the year. I believe last year in August, there was a camper awakened to a bear clawing the bear box in their BC campsite at about 12 am. Not saying that there will always be a bear in the BC area every August after the fact, but animals do follow patterns with seasonal changes... The more I know about where the sightings were during a certain timeframe, the better the odds of seeing something next time that season comes around!

Regardless of that tangent, like you all say, I'm not too keen on having the boxes right next door to me. On the other hand, bears are quite timid MOST of the time if they are just moseying along. They seem to want to avoid people... At least the bears in BBNP, anyhow... That's why I liked CG's air horn theory, and that's why I carried one. IF said animal came rustling around at night, a blast or two would hopefully have the bear call it quits for the night.

On the other hand, the most lightweight food I could find that was of some sustenance was those little packs of tuna... I'm almost CERTAIN that a bear on the prowl could pick up the scent and might be drawn to it if it were really tough times in the Chisos. To be honest though, in MOST cases you would think that more items/people would be damaged/hurt if bears were not so timid. Because they are, the main thing you have to keep in mind is that as noted throughout the park, you shouldn't leave your tent up and unattended at any time.

On the SE3 thing, glad I didn't register for that site this time around, but also sorry that I didn't since I would've likely taken the trash down after having a few less water bladders worth to carry on our way down. While the most to date that I'd seen up in the mountains was a granola bar wrapper, I've seen some strange things in the desert... Big human poops (on trails like Burro Spring Pour-Off) with panties included, cans, balloons from far away car sales promotions, and on and on. EVERYTHING we do, even here at home, contributes to the whole picture.

Man, I'm really going off track here. Sorry about that! Anyway, point is that as noted previously, hopefully the stupidity of some does not result in the harm of the people or animals in the park.

[russco]

  I've seen some strange things in the desert... Big human poops (on trails like Burro Spring Pour-Off) with panties included

If were gonna talk about pooties we should talk about guns too..so here goes: we should get out our AK47's and demand that there be no pooties on our trails...RAWRRR!!(sorry I couldn't resist nobody has talked about guns in a while!)OK with that said I certainly don't like the idea of the bears in the Chisos becoming a nuisance....and with that thought my mind begins to wonder to our upcoming trip to the Smoky Mountains in AUG. ...1500 bears in the park with many,many,many, many more idjit-numbnuts on the trails...Hmmmm?!.