Grab your bear can or camp chair, kick your feet up and chew the fat about anything Sierra Nevada related that doesn't quite fit in any of the other forums. Within reason, (and the HST rules and guidelines) this is also an anything goes forum. Tell stories, discuss wilderness issues, music, or whatever else the High Sierra stirs up in your mind.
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK — California officials say a child camping in Yosemite National Park fell ill with plague and was sent to a hospital.
The state's Department of Public Health said Thursday that the family from Los Angeles County camped at Yosemite's Crane Flat Campground in mid-July and visited other places in the Stanislaus National Forest. No other family members became sick, and the child is recovering.
Plague is carried by rodents such as squirrels and spread when fleas carry the disease from a dead rodent to other animals or people.
Officials say it is not transmitted between humans, except in the rare cases. Plague can be fatal if left untreated.
Symptoms include fever, chills, nausea and swollen lymph nodes.
Since 1970, 42 people in California have contracted plague resulting in nine deaths.
I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.
Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member:http://reconn.org
Those rodents have carried Yesenia pestis since European explorers arrived in North America. Fortunately, modern strains are not as virulent as during the black death. Chipmunks are cute; people assume they are harmless and let their kids feed them. As in most things wild, it's best to just leave them alone. I know I'm preaching to the choir here. Sad that it takes events like this to get the message at least partially into the heads of the general population.
Not only is in not as virulent, but the plagues of antiquity assured through death that the humans that are left have some ability to create immunities. Just like the Spanish Flu at the turn of the 20th century. The epitome of Darwinism.
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.