As spring approaches I turn my attention to what this year’s adventure will be. This has been the winter of the blog and Netflix DVD’s. I’m thinking about this summer being yet another PCT thru-hike. When I start thinking about being back on that trail my body starts humming and vibrating. A part of me thinks that that would be the best thing to do this summer. Another part of me remembers how hard it is: the heat, the pain, the stinking horses and their obnoxious riders, the cold and the rain, bear worries, etc. How can something so hard be so alluring? I think it must be something in a person’s intrinsic programing that makes some people want to start roaming as spring nears where as others start thinking about planting a garden.
Some people plant, some people gather.
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Did you see much sign of Mountain Lions on your PCT hike? I have read several accounts of hikers awakening to find that their tent is surrounded by lion tracks, and in one account, o a hiker sleeping ‘cowboy-style’ who found his sleeping bag circled by lion footprints. I wonder if bear-spray works on lions?
I thru-hiked it in 2001 and the only carnivores I saw was a mother bear and her cub. One night, though, I had to keep scaring away something big from around my tent, it crashed around a lot and it keep coming back so I think it was a bear. The very next night I was sleeping in my tent with the mosquito net door open when something big stuck it’s head in my tent; I was turned on my side away from the door and when I quickly turned over it ran away and I couldn’t see what it was.
I hiked 500 mile of the PCT last summer and once I did think I saw cat prints on the trail, but I wasn’t sure. I took out my umbrella and waved it around as I walked.
The stuff I have read about them says you should try and look big and fight them off if attacked. Supposedly mountain lions fear any chance of injury so if you fight back they will retreat.
I also read about a country that was having problems with cat attacks so when the people went out into the jungle, they wore a mask on the back of their heads because a cat likes to sneak up on you and attack from behind. A person could paint eyes on the back of their hats or packs so that the cougar always thinks you’re looking at it.
Are you going to be on the trail this year?