Date:         Sun, 4 Oct 1998 23:29:19 -0700
Reply-To:     Malcolm Holser <mholser@ADOBE.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Malcolm Holser <mholser@ADOBE.COM>
Subject:      Re: Westy, Food, Bears
Comments: To: EMZ <vw4x4@FYI.NET>, Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
In-Reply-To:  <Pine.SOL.3.96.981004233055.21121A-100000@yoda>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>     Man what a life that must have been! Do you still do any kind
>of outdoor work ? Is this your purpose to a Vanagon?
>
Naw,I'm a computer geek these days.  I have lots of Vanagons -- I like 'em.

> In scouts they taught us to put food in a bear bag, in the trees!
>Has anyone thought of this?
>
Lots'o'stories.  Basically, you have to be _very_ clever hanging food from
trees to fool a Yosemite bear.  The park issues a pamphlet, and you must
faithfully
follow every word to be safe.  It is so bad that even many popular
backcountry
sites have boxes, and many backpackers carry bear "safes" -- basically a big
chunk of 8" PVC pipe with caps on the ends.  The old joke was that finding a
suitable tree was the real challenge of backpacking in Yosemite.  Yes, you can
hang food with some assurance, but locking it up OUT OF SIGHT in your car
might
be simpler.  Bear boxes are best.  Of course, the Ahwahnee serves good
chow, so
you should just plan on eating out in Yosemite (^;

While it is not a bus story, there's an old tale of a Yosemite bear that
specialized in VW's.  Long ago, every second car was a beetle, and most of
the backpacking population was college kids who owned one.  Along the Tioga
road, on any given weekend there were dozens of beetles parked while their
owners communed with ol' Mother N.

Now, old Beetles were pretty airtight (remember the Nat'l Lampoon ad?) and
a bear figured out an interesting side effect.  If you weigh five hundred
pounds, and you energetically hop up'n'down on the top on the top of one, the
doors will magically pop open!  Some fun!  Each itinerant hippy-walker had
wisely left a big stash of food 'cause they was going to be powerful hungry
when they got off the trail.  This clever bear appreciated every bit of it,
too!

I don't know that this is a true story, but folks that tell it swear it is.
Old VWs were spared the marmot-backpacker's-parking-nightmare, but got their
own nightmare.  Us Vanagoner's with waterboxers get both, I'd guess, bears and
marmots to spoil our commune...

Malcolm H.