High Sierra Topix

rlown wrote:

Talimon wrote:...I have never been asked by a ranger on the trail to show my canister (although I have been asked to show a permit a couple times).

I have. Glen Aulin. At the stone staircase down. The ranger tapped on the pack rather than making me stop and take the pack off. It was a Garcia at the time. I'd bust them all for not carrying a can.

I was also checked there. He wanted to see it. That was the only time I've been asked to show it. Usually they just ask if I have a canister and are content with my answer. I wouldn't risk lying to an LEO.

I carry one, because I have been asked. If there were no enforcement I'd leave it behind for the vast majority of trips.

What I fear most is not bears; it's that a ranger might ask me empty the contents of my pack and prove that all my food fits in the canister. It often doesn't!

Last summer Tuolumne, hanging out at the Store picnic tables, watching the PCT hikers coming through Nobo.
Amazed that 1/3 carry no bearcan - just stuff sacks...
Always wondered why none of the afore mentioned Yos. Rangers never bother to check here for compliance as during the high season, not too hard to see who uses a can... and Tuolumne is restocking central.
Shouldn't be too hard to make the occasional "Can check" or is it that these hikers are above the rules?

markskor wrote:...Amazed that 1/3 carry no bearcan - just stuff sacks...
Always wondered why none of the afore mentioned Yos. Rangers never bother to check here for compliance as during the high season, not too hard to see who uses a can... and Tuolumne is restocking central. ...

Similar situation with many (including fair numbers of climbers) who regularly leave their cars parked along SR120 then simply meander off a bit off roads stealth camping. Always a significant behavior one notices about the Cathedral Lakes trailhead summer evenings. Of course they do police people sleeping in cars along the highway, especially at trailheads. It would be easy to clamp down on parking along the highway or trailheads by simply issuing parking permits to be displayed on car dashes when backpacking permits are issued. Otherwise there is no reason vehicles ought be parked so. I never park roadside but will outside Tioga Pass at the 9k turn where it was traditionally acceptable before more recent Inyo NF policy.

On the other hand hard core mountain enthusiasts that includes many park employees themselves have been caught in between with awkward options so likely has influenced the level the park enforcers have chose to draw their lines at as long as complaints remain low and it doesn't get out of hand with RV's joining in. Same thing with the canisters. If thru hikers start slipping up the steel jaws will clamp down.

I've often used the Yosemite Valley Backpacking Trailhead parking lot to sleep in my car because Camp 4 is often full, much less the standard campgrounds, for years they've clamped down sleeping in cars in the larger lots which is good, and outside the park along the river the motels made sure years ago one could no longer park roadside. Otherwise one ends up driving 15 miles downstream to the BLM camps or out near the Mather Road that is even further.