Squareglobe
Um I detect a bear phobia here. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> I understand - trust me, the first bear I ran into while solo hiking alone in Yosemite scraed the bejeezus out of me. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />BUT the bears of today are not the dangerous bears of Daniel Boones era. I have spent extensive time in bear country, yes in National parks too, and I haven't ran into a bear yet that didn't run from ME, and this represens hundreds of days with maybe half a dozen back country encounters. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />They are not unlike scaredy cat dogs. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> Yes be careful in Grizzly country, but the odds of having a problem are less than the odds of dying in a car accident driving there. If you see a grizzly count yourself lucky. In fact if you see a bear or a lion, relish the moment. In those same hundreds of days of backpacking I have maybe had 8 to 10 seconds of seeing mtn lions, and that includes being attacked in the dark, which does happen, but the odds are so slim and you just yell and scream and get all hostile and they go away thinkin "thats why my momma told me to avoid them things".
Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />