Finding Wilderness

Pepper spray is an excellent bear deterrent but it has it’s weaknesses:

• You have at most six seconds of spray
• You can never be 100% sure that you have pressure in your can (if you test it, you lose one or two of those precious few seconds).
• It’s questionable in the wind
• It’s problematic and probably not effective from inside of a tent.

Large bore handguns are a great back-up to pepper spray and great from inside a tent but firearms have their downsides as well.  They’re

• heavy
• expensive
• Not legal in many areas
• kill or gravely injure the bear unnecessarily

I am experimenting with a third option – the handheld marine flare.  The version made by Ikaros is ideal.   Unlike a typical road flare, it is ignited by simply pulling a string.  With a properly designed holster, this can be operated with one hand.  As far as I know the marine flare is untested on bears, but it is a good bet that the brightness, sound, and the heat would be an effective, last stand deterrent against an aggressive bear.

Ikaros Marine Flare as a bear deterrent

Advantages of marine flares:

• light weight
• can be ignited with one hand
• can be used in close quarters
• burns for 60 seconds
• relatively inexpensive (usually less than $20 at marine supply stores).

Disadvantages of marine flares:

• forest fire risk
• hazardous materials risk
• risk of suffocation and burns in tents

Video demonstrating the ignition of an Ikaros marine flare:

The mailbox on the summit of Mailbox Peak -- April 10, 2010

Mailbox Peak, a 40 minute drive from Seattle, is a great early season training hike when the snow on other peaks is still too soft or dangerous.  On the weekend of April 10th, 2010 a few friends and I had our sights set on Snoqualmie and Guye Peaks, also good training climbs.  But high avalanche conditions due to recent heavy rains (snow in the the mountains) made us lower our objectives first to Granite Mountain, then Bandera Mountain, and finally Mailbox Peak.

Good thing we did.  Hikers were caught in two separate avalanches on Snoqualmie Pass that weekend, one on Granite Mountain where we would have been but for heeding the advisory on the Northwest Weather and Avalanche  Center’s very informative website.

The Mailbox Peak hike is 4000 steep vertical feet, about six miles roundtrip.  The hike is all in the trees except for the last 700 feet, which is up a rocky ridge to the summit.  About two feet of snow actually made that part of the hike easier this time of year.

To get to the trail head from Seattle, drive east on I-90 to exit 34 (Edgewick Road). Turn left (north) onto 468th Street and follow it to the junction with the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Road (Forest Road 56). Turn right and continue up the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Road to the end of the pavement (about 3 miles from the I-90 exit). Turn right onto a gated road and park, being sure not to block the gate. Or better, park on north side of road.  Map with driving directions.

The hike begins by following the gated road for a couple of yards.  There is a big sign on the left side of the road where the trail starts up the ridge.  This time of year there was a well-beaten path in the snow after about 1500 feet of climbing.  But on the way up King County Search and Rescue volunteer warned us that, when the snow is gone at least, it is easy to lose the trail coming back down, and there have been several search and rescue operations to find people who missed the trail on the way down.  The tendency seems to follow gullies off to the right of the trail, rather than staying on the ridge, which is what the the trail generally follows.

Heading up the last 700 feet after leaving the trees.

Mailbox Peak Summit - Mt. Rainier in Background

Heading down the ridge from the summit.

I got a flat this morning on a vaunted Specialized Armadillo tire.  It was a typical winter flat – a large piece of glass stuck to the tire that gradually worked its way in.  Still no flats this winter on the much cheaper Michelin Erilium 2 on the front wheel.  I’ve been comparing the Armadillos against the Eriliums this winter.  The Armadillos are tougher, but the well-kept secret of the Erilium is the microbead tread on the surface of the tire that hits the road.  This seems to prevent the glass from sticking, which is the key, especially on wet roads.  I wonder if Michelin even knows this.  This is my third season with the Michelin Eriliums.  I hope they keep making them.  I hope the other tire companies start considering the surface of the tire with this function in mind.  The flat sticky tire that is perfect for racing in the summer is the worst thing for commuting in the winter.

There was a a previous cougar attack in British Columbia on December 31st, this one in Danskin. Two cougars attacked two young children playing outside while there mother was cleaning a church. The mother rushed out, saw that one of the cougars had the head of her seven-year-old boy in its mouth. She hit it on the head with a rag and it ran away. Her five-year-old daughter said that there was also another cougar. The family appears lucky. Attacking cougars are usually more persistent than this.

A golden retriever defended an 11-year-old boy when he was attacked by a cougar in his backyard in Boston Bar, British Columbia. The dog rushed to intervene as the cougar was going for the boy. While the cougar turned its attack on the dog, the boy ran into the house and the family called 911. The dog undoubtedly saved the boy from serious injury, if not his life. What is amazing to me is that the police were able to arrive soon enough to shoot the cougar and save the dog. (Arrived within one minute according to the CTV News report.)

Kids and adults try biathlon for the first time

This year the US Biathlon Team is celebrating a historic first — Tim Burke, from Paul Smiths, NY, will start the new year wearing the Yellow Bib as the World Cup leader. Never before has an American led the overall World Cup.

This is an accomplishment given that biathlon is much less popular here as it is in Europe and Canada. Biathlon is said to be the most popular winter spectator sport in Europe. Large crowds assemble there to watch their favorite athletes speed around the ski course on fast skate skis, interrupted by tense shooting bouts that frequently cause the lead to change several times during the race.

Though participant numbers here are small compared to other sports, there are actually two active biathlon clubs in Washington. The Methow Valley Nordic Team has a biathlon group that caters to youth, but has adult racers as well. A few of the teenagers in the club are nationally ranked. Last weekend (see picture) my kids and I participated in a biathlon in Methow Valley and we had a blast. (No, not literally. The .22 target rounds barely make a popping noise.)

The other local club is the Washington Biathlon Association, based in Seattle. Each year they host six winter races at Stevens Pass and four summer races (run/shoot and mountain bike/shoot) here in Seattle.

They WBA welcomes new participants and is hosting a beginner’s training clinic on January 9th at the Stevens Pass Nordic Center. For more information contact WBA President Bob Vallor, whose contact information is in the linked flyer.

There are a few cases where people have successfully fought off an attacking mountain lion with a pocket knife.  The victims usually end up on the ground with animal, and the cats are relentless until killed or severely injured.  I just came across this attack from 2007 in California.  A 65 year-old women used a ballpoint pen to fight back against a mountain lion that was attacking her 70-year old husband.  Here is the pertinent part of the story as reported by Paul Bright of Associated Content.

Jim Hamm of Fortuna, CA, and his wife, Nell, were enjoying a hike at the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park near the California north coast when a female mountain lion suddenly pounced on him. His wife, walking ahead of him was unaware of the attack at first until she heard him call for help. Nell Hamm quickly attacked the lion with whatever she could get her hands on as Jim’s head was in the lion’s mouth.

Nell first grabbed a branch and began to beat the mountain lion, but it wouldn’t let Jim go. Jim told her, “I’ve got a pen in my pocket and get the pen and jab him in the eye,’” she said. “So I got the pen and tried to put it in his eye, but it didn’t want to go in as easy as I thought it would.” When the pen failed to work, Nell picked up the log and began to beat the lion again. The mountain lion released its grip, stared at Nell, and slowly walked away as she screamed at it.

A few interesting reports about mountain lions this week:

As reported by KUSA TV, in Colorado, a 12 year old snapped two photos of a mountain lion with his cell phone camera from his car in a suburban neighborhood near Denver.

A female mountain lion was killed in Iowa County.  One of the residents had been saying for years that he had seen a mountain lion, but no one believed him.

But the top story is this man, who defended himself last July (2009) with a chainsaw when a mountain lion rushed at him while he was sawing wood near Grand Teton National Park. His young child had been with him just a few minutes before the attack.

This is cross posted from News Channel 9 in Chattanooga, Tennessee:

Susan Cenkus of Clyde, Ohio, survivor of the April 2006 bear attack at the Cherokee National Forest in Polk County, will share her personal story of how she risked her own life to save those of her children on the Animal Planet’s I’m Alive, Friday, December 4 at 9 p.m.

Susan Cenkus and her son, Luke, and daughter, Elora, were hiking near the Chilhowee Campground near Benton Falls when they were attacked by a black bear. Cenkus’s six-year-old daughter Elora Petrosek was killed in the attack and Susan and Luke were flown by LIFE FORCE to Erlanger in critical condition. Both Susan and Luke continued to receive treatment for several weeks at Erlanger.

Susan has returned several times to the Chattanooga area over the past three years to thank all the many first responders and medical personnel that she credits for saving hers and Luke’s life.

Susan’s story will air Friday, December 4 at 9 and 11 p.m. on Animal Planet.

This looks like it will be an interesting program.  I am looking forward to Susan’s insights.

Winchester Wasteway is a great single or multi-day float in a wildlife-rich high desert environment. Located in Western Washington near Moses lake, it flows through sand dunes to Potholes Reservoir. Here is a map of the location. The shuttle is about 13 miles whether you do the close takeout or the full trip. If you do the full trip there is a waterfall at the place where the canal flows into the reservoir that must be portaged, then a three-mile paddle to the takeout at Potholes Reservoir State Park.

The area is called the Potholes because of the many ponds and small lakes that are scattered throughout the sand dunes. A couple of small lakes are crossed when floating the canal, and campsites can be located near other larger lakes within portage distance. It makes for an even more varied trip.

The canal picks up speed after the alternate early takeout at the end of Road C SE. It takes on more of the character of a mountain stream, and there are rocks to dodge.