Please Help - Yosemite Wilderness Permit Questions....

[Sierra Maclure]

When I camp with clients I'm 110 % legal and I teach my clients the reason why the laws are there. I can't afford to be turned back with no permits or without bear cans. That's why I camp out at the office and carry cans. Park policy is just that and if one doesn't follow it they should be prepared to be dinged. Besides it's in the best interest of the bears. But I don't have to like it. I've never encountered a full food locker in Yo. And since I don't frequent those places that often, it certainly doesn't mean it doesn't happen. And the truth is that there are a lot of areas in Yosemite without camp bears. But I can understand why they have a blanket policy. The NPS is probably doing a 6 Sigma effort on preventing bear feeding.

I've found the JMT is another story. I encountered a full food locker just north of Forester Pass a few years ago. Then, too, the JMT is a highway with high calorie food running up and down it all summer long with bears to match.

There's also an unwritten policy about no flotation devices in Yosemite backcountry lakes. It's in the Superintendent's Compendium as stated to my husband by Laurel Boyers who just retired last year as Director of Yosemite Widerness. That includes your Thermarest or foam pad or the little Sevelor Trail Boat that my friend Stephen packs. She couldn't even explain why and said my husband could not have access to the compendium. That's another rule I don't like. In fact, I think it's absurd and deserves a little civil disobedience. Call me a renagade - I don't always follow the speed limit either.