The Hiking / Backpacking Thread

[Fuzz]

Maybe it wasn't really indefatigable, and just needed a break?

[Harju]

Originally Posted by Slava

I was up there a lot of years ago now, but I don't remember it being that sketchy or dangerous? Maybe I'm not remembering that adequately though, or because it's been a while I don't remember that danger element as clearly?

I recall the only dangerous part being on the ridge traverse from the south to the north peak. There is a section of exposure. A person fell to their death several years ago at that point but I do not think they closed the trail at the time.

[djsFlames]

I've wanted to hike to Hidden / Aster lakes and Fossil Falls (considered the most impressive in the Kananaskis), but the bear territory thing keeps me from attempting it.

Need a decent sized hiking group that is up for those full day, 15-25km hikes.

[Corral]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

I've wanted to hike to Hidden / Aster lakes and Fossil Falls (considered the most impressive in the Kananaskis), but the bear territory thing keeps me from attempting it.

Need a decent sized hiking group that is up for those full day, 15-25km hikes.

You do realize that the fact it is bear territory is part of what makes hiking there special?

I feel bad for people that didn’t experience the backcountry before the age of social media. Way too much ‘advice’ out there now.

Just go frickin do it! Take an air horn and dont leave your common sense in the car.

[Deegee]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

I've wanted to hike to Hidden / Aster lakes and Fossil Falls (considered the most impressive in the Kananaskis), but the bear territory thing keeps me from attempting it.

Need a decent sized hiking group that is up for those full day, 15-25km hikes.

Feel free to message me anytime for company. If I'm not already doing one with my wife I'm in.

Aster Lakes might be a bit above my skill level right now, but like the idea of doing some longer ones because my wife doesn't like much more than 10 KM.

[Wormius]

Yep. Keep the bear spray easily accessible. No animal will keep charging. They won’t be able to see.

[OMG!WTF!]

Yep. Keep the bear spray easily accessible. No animal will keep charging. They won’t be able to see.

Bear spray is good. But that's not true. Lots of bears have attacked after a full dose of bear spray. You can shoot a bear in the face with a shot gun and still get attacked...or a musket (see The Revenant).



Bears terrify me but only because I hike with a dog. If it was just me I wouldn't care at all. Just keep your eyes open and spray handy and you won't get in any trouble. While I'm not the guy to give advice on animal oneship these days, it doesn't hurt to have a kind, calm, non combative aura about you in general.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

Bear spray is good. But that's not true. Lots of bears have attacked after a full dose of bear spray. You can shoot a bear in the face with a shot gun and still get attacked...or a musket (see The Revenant).



Bears terrify me but only because I hike with a dog. If it was just me I wouldn't care at all. Just keep your eyes open and spray handy and you won't get in any trouble. While I'm not the guy to give advice on animal oneship these days, it doesn't hurt to have a kind, calm, non combative aura about you in general.

Is there any studies on effectiveness of bear spray? Anecdotally, I don’t think I have read about any attacks where bear spray was deployed and the bear attacked.

I prefer to still hike with at least one other person. I feel some comfort in knowing that if anything happened somebody could get help. My biggest paranoia is losing my car keys on the trail.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Corral

You do realize that the fact it is bear territory is part of what makes hiking there special?

I feel bad for people that didn’t experience the backcountry before the age of social media. Way too much ‘advice’ out there now.

Just go frickin do it! Take an air horn and dont leave your common sense in the car.

Yep, I have the horns/sprays/bells/knives. But I like your attitude!

I've done a lot of ambitious hikes so far this summer on my own / with a partner. Definitely not one to back down from enticing adventure. I even made the trek to and explored around Lake O'Hara by foot which still feels like a dream.

But I was at the lakes yesterday and they've roped off a lot of places around the area. They dont even want people biking around there right now. That tells you there's a pretty real concern. As someone who's had encounters before, I'll be happy to enjoy watching some bears in their natural environment with a small group for that particular hike I think (unless warnings subside).

[Deegee]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Is there any studies on effectiveness of bear spray? Anecdotally, I don’t think I have read about any attacks where bear spray was deployed and the bear attacked.

I prefer to still hike with at least one other person. I feel some comfort in knowing that if anything happened somebody could get help. My biggest paranoia is losing my car keys on the trail.

I locked our car keys in our trunk of our Mazda 3 at the Ribbon Falls trail head after our hike, with our backpacks of food in the car of course. Luckily we had friends with us and we hung out in their vehicle while we waited for assistance. Unfortunately the Mazda 3 once unlocked has the alarm go off, which stops the trunk from opening and the latch to flip down the back seats is in the trunk itself. That was nice to learn 1.5 hours after AMA showed up. Luckily there is service there so we were able to youtube how to hit the latch from the backseat.

Hiking solo is a great and terrifying experience all at the same time if the trail isn't busy at all.

[OMG!WTF!]

Is there any studies on effectiveness of bear spray? Anecdotally, I don’t think I have read about any attacks where bear spray was deployed and the bear attacked.

I prefer to still hike with at least one other person. I feel some comfort in knowing that if anything happened somebody could get help. My biggest paranoia is losing my car keys on the trail.

I don't think there is much in the way of actual research, Anecdotal evidence at best. It would be hard to determine if a bear would have actually followed through with an attack if the bear spray hadn't been used. Bears aren't super aggressive towards people and often just bluff charge or huff and puff to get their point across. We've had several of these already this year in Kananaskis but no attacks. A guy in Montana named Todd Orr was attacked and filmed himself all mangled afterwards. He says that he gave the bear a really good full on spray but she just blasted through it.



The number one thing you can do to ease your mind in the mountains is get a Spot or InReach gps tracker and emergency device. You can set it to contact a person if your car breaks down or you lose your keys. I used it once cause a porcupine ate my tires and my contact person showed up and gave me a ride home. The message is I need your help but not emergency help. It's funny, the one time I could have used it for actual emergency help I completely panicked and forgot I had it. But I think they are being used an awful lot this year. Like over a hundred rescues since June.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Is there any studies on effectiveness of bear spray? Anecdotally, I don’t think I have read about any attacks where bear spray was deployed and the bear attacked.

I prefer to still hike with at least one other person. I feel some comfort in knowing that if anything happened somebody could get help. My biggest paranoia is losing my car keys on the trail.

Stephan Herraro at the U of A is there world leading expert as has published a few papers on its effectiveness

https://www.ualberta.ca/biological-s...epperspray.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publica...pray_in_Alaska
https://above.nasa.gov/safety/docume...vs_bullets.pdf

Groups are still the best as no injuries have occurred when hiking in a tight group of 4

And things other then bears are more likely to kill you. Getting lost on a day hike and dying from hypothermia is probably the greatest risk while dying so make sure to carry at least a down jacket and a rain jacket just in case.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

I don't think there is much in the way of actual research, Anecdotal evidence at best. It would be hard to determine if a bear would have actually followed through with an attack if the bear spray hadn't been used. Bears aren't super aggressive towards people and often just bluff charge or huff and puff to get their point across. We've had several of these already this year in Kananaskis but no attacks. A guy in Montana named Todd Orr was attacked and filmed himself all mangled afterwards. He says that he gave the bear a really good full on spray but she just blasted through it.



The number one thing you can do to ease your mind in the mountains is get a Spot or InReach gps tracker and emergency device. You can set it to contact a person if your car breaks down or you lose your keys. I used it once cause a porcupine ate my tires and my contact person showed up and gave me a ride home. The message is I need your help but not emergency help. It's funny, the one time I could have used it for actual emergency help I completely panicked and forgot I had it. But I think they are being used an awful lot this year. Like over a hundred rescues since June.

I think Spots and InReaxh are going to have a negative affect overall on outdoor safety. I think it will lead to more inexperienced people doing longer and more committing trips because they can “ get help” if they need it. It will also lead to emergency services being tied up in rescuing people who are uncomfortable but not in a life threatening situation.

I’m interested to see studies on it as it becomes more popular. I think the most important thing to make yourself feel comfortable is plan ahead. If I sprain my ankle and can’t walk this is what I will do.

[OMG!WTF!]

I think Kananaskis SAR was getting busy during a couple of the weekends this summer but not sure if they were overwhelmed. I suspect that over all if you have the sense to get yourself a Spot gps device you will also have a lot more common sense than the average Joe. I know that this summer a lot of people were using their Spot to help other people who were injured. It's one thing to push boundaries because you have a Spot and another to wander around unprepared expecting a ride home. But it would be interesting to see what the result of even more gps use would be.

[Wormius]

I have been hearing a lot of helicopters out in the mountains recently, but couldn’t see if it was rescue or some site-seeing tour.

I think we will try Chester or Headwall Lakes this weekend. Both look fun enough to keep the kids entertained.

[Deegee]

Didn't make it to Galatea Lakes. Stopped at Lillian. Feet starting to hurt and I try to respect my abilities. As I get stronger I will be back.

All Fails with a whopper. Said 14.5 K to Lillian Lake. It was actually 18 and change.

Still a great day out there.

[JJolg]

Bears will act aggressive for different reasons, these will determine the effectiveness of the spray. Having been bluffed many times by sow's with cubs has actually put me at ease having witness how they react in person.

Few years ago i got a elk down which attracted a bear that was so aggressive it followed me over a 1km before turning and going back to claim the elk, i used my spray and a few rifle shots in the ground to try to move him off and he didnt even flinch.

If the bear is older or injured its after you for the easy meal and this is the bear where the spray may stun but chances are he or she will circle back.

A healthy bear wants very little to do with humans and will use the bluff charge or huffing to signal this, my best advice is have the spray more accessible than your cell phone is daily to you because they move faster in short distance than you can image and know how to use the spray. Spray it off to test it, watch a video to understand the angle you should spray and most important you need to play the wind otherwise you just sprayed
yourself. (if you have tested it/sprayed it off get a new can the following season)

[blender]

I have had a number of very close and terrifying encounters with grizzlies in the bush. In a couple cases we were definitely not following proper protocol and still were not attacked; off leash dog charged sub-adult cubs and momma went nuts, not making enough noise through thick brush, etc.
Only once did we get stalked by a territorial male grizzly to the point where we were running for our lives and we ended up shooting it. Very sad for sure. Moral of the story is that it is a rare bear that wants to attack a human.

[Wormius]

We went to Chester Lake and Elephant Rocks. Kids absolutely loved Elephant Rocks. Great day, except for the drive. I forgot how damn jarring that road is. Is it rippled like that on purpose or by the way the grader works or do the ripples form naturally? I wish they could smooth it out. After finished tried to go to 514 Poutine (formerly La Belle Patate) and they are closed indefinitely too bad their website and Google aren’t updated with this info.

[djsFlames]

Yeah, Smith-Dorrien trail is pretty crap to drive on. I don't like the ride south from canmore cause of the uneven road and tend to avoid it.

If there's one road that's begging to be paved its that one, from the bottom of grassi to the connector with hwy 40. Would do wonders to have easy/painless access to the trailheads along there.