getting a little tired of the crack/meth heads

[Zulu29]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I don't consider losers to be people, so I wasn't counting him.

It's to scare away bears. And it's fun. Both things can be true.

You do know that your method could lead to bears becoming desensitized to that noise right?

[2Stonedbirds]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I don't have to out-run the bear, I just have to out-run you.

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by Zulu29

You do know that your method could lead to bears becoming desensitized to that noise right?

Habituation, what's that?

Ignorance is the root of most fears.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Flacker

Habituation, what's that?

Ignorance is the root of most fears.

Habituation is a real problem all right. My kid works at Glacier Park Lodge on the way to Jasper (he does tours on the Glacier and the Skywalk). There's been a huge grizzly and two cubs who have just been hanging around - totally unconcerned about people and wanting the food that's readily available. They've been removed once and just came back. There's a big concern they will be put down because they are so close to the tourist area.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Habituation is a real problem all right. My kid works at Glacier Park Lodge on the way to Jasper (he does tours on the Glacier and the Skywalk). There's been a huge grizzly and two cubs who have just been hanging around - totally unconcerned about people and wanting the food that's readily available. They've been removed once and just came back. There's a big concern they will be put down because they are so close to the tourist area.

Sounds like people should have shot a bear banger at them.

*ducks bottles*

[fotze2]

So to summarize my thoughts on the past few pages:

• Hiking sucks. I totally agree with this, unless there is something at the end of it, like a waterfall into a pond you can swim in or something. A view that I was expecting just doesn't do it. I'd rather walk around an inner city neighborhood in a new city.
  
  Totally isolated hiking on new paths I can like.
  
  Maybe bear bangers might make a boring thing a little more fun but you might be putting people in harms way. You should go easy on that.
  
  Sounds like bikes are a problem more than bear bangers and maybe we should ban them from hiking trails, how do you like that bike lobby?
  
  Bear spray is insane, had someone blast some a few campsites over and we all got buckled, how do you not get some in your own face if there is any sort of wind.
  

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Habituation is a real problem all right. My kid works at Glacier Park Lodge on the way to Jasper (he does tours on the Glacier and the Skywalk). There's been a huge grizzly and two cubs who have just been hanging around - totally unconcerned about people and wanting the food that's readily available. They've been removed once and just came back. There's a big concern they will be put down because they are so close to the tourist area.

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Sounds like people should have shot a bear banger at them.

*ducks bottles*

You guys are not going to believe this. I honestly can't believe it came up.

I was on the way back from Jasper last Thursday and that grizzly and the two cubs were at the side of the highway at the top of that one mountain you have to go over (before the big S-turn at the bottom). There was this long line of traffic stopped staring at them. Because the traffic had stopped and the line was building up I was worried about getting rear-ended on the highway. I started honking my horn. Eventually people started moving, but it was a pretty sketchy situation.

The fricken thing of it was I had my backpacking pack in the cab of the truck with me with my bear banger loaded and clipped to my shoulder strap. I didn't think of using it, but all week I've been kicking myself for not firing it off. I feel like it would have been particularly beneficial to have used it in that scenario to scare the bears away and hopefully have them attribute cars/people with scary noises.

Texted my wife to send me a pic. I know she took a video, but I'm hoping we have a pic, too.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by fotze2

So to summarize my thoughts on the past few pages:

• Hiking sucks. I totally agree with this, unless there is something at the end of it, like a waterfall into a pond you can swim in or something. A view that I was expecting just doesn't do it. I'd rather walk around an inner city neighborhood in a new city.
  
  Totally isolated hiking on new paths I can like.
  
  Maybe bear bangers might make a boring thing a little more fun but you might be putting people in harms way. You should go easy on that.
  
  Sounds like bikes are a problem more than bear bangers and maybe we should ban them from hiking trails, how do you like that bike lobby?
  
  Bear spray is insane, had someone blast some a few campsites over and we all got buckled, how do you not get some in your own face if there is any sort of wind.
  

Hey that's fair. Some people appreciate the man-made and urban environments more than others. I used to be that, but less so these days.

I'll take birds chirping, running water and trees creaking over car horns, tires on pavement, mufflers on a ####box, indistinct people noise and meth heads screaming at the clouds every day of the week.

I'll never relate to people who are energized by the latter but that's fine.

IMO experiencing a scenic place in person is a completely different thing than seeing a couple photos and reading about it. I find I experience most places i go to in a totally different way than I was expecting from my research. That's the beauty of it. Finding out what these places are like from your own subjective POV. Once in a while it's a disappointment (brutal weather, bad terrain), but far more often it's something special that you'll remember.

I'll scantly remember the umpteenth time I walked down the same street to the same place with the same kind of people and conversations. It all just blurs together when you look back on it. That's why going out into the wilderness to a new place and the unknown and surprise you get to uncover in doing something novel will in most cases win out for me. It's also a great environment to bond with people where you can be yourselves with no social pressures of an urban environment and conquer a mountain or trail in the process.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by fotze2

So to summarize my thoughts on the past few pages:

Sounds like bikes are a problem more than bear bangers and maybe we should ban them from hiking trails, how do you like that bike lobby?
[/LIST]

It's been a fact of life most places for a very long time, so just fine I guess?

Bikes are the bottom of the mountain totem pole:



Hikers are always allowed on mountain bike trails (super annoying/mildly dangerous, but we all make due). Mountain bikes are often not allowed on hiking trails.

Lots and lots of areas have closed to mountain biking because of the bear issues, including all of Banff National Park I think.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

It's been a fact of life most places for a very long time, so just fine I guess?

Bikes are the bottom of the mountain totem pole:



Hikers are always allowed on mountain bike trails (super annoying/mildly dangerous, but we all make due). Mountain bikes are often not allowed on hiking trails.

Lots and lots of areas have closed to mountain biking because of the bear issues, including all of Banff National Park I think.

Good. Having bikes whizzing by a few inches from you while hiking in Banff National would ruin the experience.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Habituation is a real problem all right. My kid works at Glacier Park Lodge on the way to Jasper (he does tours on the Glacier and the Skywalk). There's been a huge grizzly and two cubs who have just been hanging around - totally unconcerned about people and wanting the food that's readily available. They've been removed once and just came back. There's a big concern they will be put down because they are so close to the tourist area.

Originally Posted by Sliver

You guys are not going to believe this. I honestly can't believe it came up.

I was on the way back from Jasper last Thursday and that grizzly and the two cubs were at the side of the highway at the top of that one mountain you have to go over (before the big S-turn at the bottom). There was this long line of traffic stopped staring at them. Because the traffic had stopped and the line was building up I was worried about getting rear-ended on the highway. I started honking my horn. Eventually people started moving, but it was a pretty sketchy situation.

The fricken thing of it was I had my backpacking pack in the cab of the truck with me with my bear banger loaded and clipped to my shoulder strap. I didn't think of using it, but all week I've been kicking myself for not firing it off. I feel like it would have been particularly beneficial to have used it in that scenario to scare the bears away and hopefully have them attribute cars/people with scary noises.

Texted my wife to send me a pic. I know she took a video, but I'm hoping we have a pic, too.

K, check it out. Weird this came up, eh?

[Brendone]

Sliver arriving at the trailhead

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

Good. Having bikes whizzing by a few inches from you while hiking in Banff National would ruin the experience.

Did you know that it's also possible to have dedicated mountain bike trails in other jurisdictions so this doesn't happen? You know, like how most people view bike lanes in the city as better than having bikes using vehicle lanes or sidewalks.

You know what isn't possible here? Keeping the damn hikers off the trails that the mountain bikers built lol.

I like both activities. I don't like them mixed.

[Locke]

You guys are just all doing it wrong.

Bear bells? Bear spray?

The whole point of Hiking is to challenge yourself! And what could be more challenging than 'Human on Bear' combat?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Sliver

You guys are not going to believe this. I honestly can't believe it came up.

I was on the way back from Jasper last Thursday and that grizzly and the two cubs were at the side of the highway at the top of that one mountain you have to go over (before the big S-turn at the bottom). There was this long line of traffic stopped staring at them. Because the traffic had stopped and the line was building up I was worried about getting rear-ended on the highway. I started honking my horn. Eventually people started moving, but it was a pretty sketchy situation.

The fricken thing of it was I had my backpacking pack in the cab of the truck with me with my bear banger loaded and clipped to my shoulder strap. I didn't think of using it, but all week I've been kicking myself for not firing it off. I feel like it would have been particularly beneficial to have used it in that scenario to scare the bears away and hopefully have them attribute cars/people with scary noises.

Texted my wife to send me a pic. I know she took a video, but I'm hoping we have a pic, too.

I have quite a few pics sent by my kid, including with some very stupid guests or other tourists. The good news is that bear was very unconcerned about the people despite there being cubs there.

There were parks people around ready to act almost constantly. They don't dress in really recognizable uniform sometimes, but they have a lot of anti-bear stuff on them.

One of the concerns was that the staff residence is a little walk from the hotel, across on the Glacier side of the highway. And the kids would walk back in the dark at the end of a shift. My kid has a car so he was ferrying people for a while.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Bears in alberta are the furthest thing from hostile. That's because they're used to people and have categorized them as irrelevant hind leg-walking noise makers.

Bears in remote parts of Alaska or the northern tip of Vancouver Island are the ones they make movies about. And even then, there's cases like that one Alaskan guy who infamously hangs out with like a dozen Grizzlies in his backyard and they come and go without issue.

He walks among them with no fear and they don't challenge him probably because of that.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

It's been a fact of life most places for a very long time, so just fine I guess?

Bikes are the bottom of the mountain totem pole:



Hikers are always allowed on mountain bike trails (super annoying/mildly dangerous, but we all make due). Mountain bikes are often not allowed on hiking trails.

Lots and lots of areas have closed to mountain biking because of the bear issues, including all of Banff National Park I think.

Which is total bull####, because horses are the worst thing on earth for trails. They can do their ranch walk about or whatever, but keep them off any trail any other user is on. They suck. #### horses.


A few months ago we were in Banff by the Cave and Basin trails, and some horse guide had one other person with her, and directly told us to move off the bridge so they could cross, because the horses need space or somesuch bull####. Sorry lady, we are here taking pictures and enjoying the babbling brook, there is room for people to walk by. If your horse needs more space, go find a horse only trail.



####ing horses man, is there anything they are good for in this day and age? Time to bulk process them at the glue factory and add them to the extinct list.

[Sliver]

The signs I ignore are the "no e-bike" signs. Go fk yourself. I'll ride my ebike where I please. I really like Cloudline Trail in Canmore. Probably a pretty easy one for some of you guys, but it's a good challenge for me, a relative noob. Apparently you aren't allowed ebikes on it or something, but I don't give a single crap about that. It's my bike. I'll ride it on bike trails. What's the problem?

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Which is total bull####, because horses are the worst thing on earth for trails. They can do their ranch walk about or whatever, but keep them off any trail any other user is on. They suck. #### horses.


A few months ago we were in Banff by the Cave and Basin trails, and some horse guide had one other person with her, and directly told us to move off the bridge so they could cross, because the horses need space or somesuch bull####. Sorry lady, we are here taking pictures and enjoying the babbling brook, there is room for people to walk by. If your horse needs more space, go find a horse only trail.



####ing horses man, is there anything they are good for in this day and age? Time to bulk process them at the glue factory and add them to the extinct list.

Let me correct you. There's nothing wrong with horses.

It's equestrian people.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Sliver

The signs I ignore are the "no e-bike" signs. Go fk yourself. I'll ride my ebike where I please. I really like Cloudline Trail in Canmore. Probably a pretty easy one for some of you guys, but it's a good challenge for me, a relative noob. Apparently you aren't allowed ebikes on it or something, but I don't give a single crap about that. It's my bike. I'll ride it on bike trails. What's the problem?

The trails are built and maintained mostly by volunteers, so if they don't want the extra wear and tear on the trials, well, I think that's a choice they should have. Unless you are volunteering for trail repair days? It opens the trails up to a lot more users which wears them quicker. You say yourself you couldn't do it without one. As someone who has done a lot fo trial building in my younger days, it's a ####load of work for even short sections of trail, and repairs aren't always simple.

I think we are in for a pretty big reckoning at some point with e-bikes basically becoming motor bikes. The Legacy trail has become a total farce but it will take some big accidents before anything is done. As it usually does.