High Sierra Topix

A mining claim only grants the claim holder exclusive right to extract minerals. He does not have the legal right to chase you off for fishing or hiking through.
Stop and pan for gold -- he has the right to be upset. All other uses by the public are legal.

But if he is the one brandishing a gun, a verbal argument is not wise.

A mining claim can be patented, which, in effect, makes it private land. In that case he can exclude you from entry or any use.

I only carried once in the back country and that was to appease my wife's fears. It was our first trip with the children when they were small. I hated having to baby sit a weapon 24/7.

I have met a few young guys in the back country who were open carrying. Personally, I think they do it just because they can. Last year at Dinky Lakes, Lisa and I were camped at the uppermost lake when two young men passed nearby. One was carrying open. We chatted awhile and I asked him what he was packing. He handed me his weapon. I cleared it, checked it out, then gave it back to him and handed him the mag. After they left, I told Lisa that I could not believe he handed a loaded gun to a stranger. The only gun related term I used was "packing". He had no clue whether I knew one end of the weapon from the other, but he was comfortable handing it to me in condition 3 without a word.

I have never had a reason to carry but have friends that have and have seen others openly carry. Reason my friends carried was because of perceived threats (illegal narcotic grows, bears, crazy people). If anything, it gave them piece of mind. The people I have seen openly carry are guys on horseback. Don't know if they were packers or not but I never thought of them carrying to protect themselves against people. Saw it more as protecting their horses from predators and/or a quick humane end to an animal (horse) that is suffering.

What are rules about carrying in Sierras? Both NPS land and other areas?

NPS carry is illegal. Other parts Sierra are legal, even when not hunting season, unless specific restrictions are put in place. Pretty soon, they will phase out lead bullets everywhere.

In those areas where it is not restricted, I believe it is for open carry unless you have a CCW.

sambieni wrote:What are rules about carrying in Sierras? Both NPS land and other areas?

National Parks, National Forests, and BLM land follow state and local laws.

Jim wrote:

The only gun related term I used was "packing". He had no clue whether I knew one end of the weapon from the other, but he was comfortable handing it to me in condition 3 without a word.

Seems like this "expert" guy thought he could tell that you were another gun guy, and I'll bet there are subtle cues (did you have a faded old NRA patch on your jacket Jim?) and so he tossed you the loaded gun. You must, in fact, know what you're doing if you know how to unload a gun so easily.

I still don't know if we should be more afraid of the "experts" or the "idiots." I was one of the latter on my first summer backpacking to Alaska, and I once managed to fire a load of double ought off around camp without intending to... but I missed my girlfriend by a mile! But on another very memorable occasion, a downright "expert" did the same thing with a pistol- right next to my head! [you gun guys don't want to hear the details of that story ... but I can't help myself, I'll just say this much: the incident began with my saying exactly this to the expert:

"So, just show me this Bill- how do you make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THE GUN IS UNLOADED?"

The one time I ran into guns in the Sierra was also disturbing. It was hunting season in Crown Basin- North Fork of the Kings country, and 2 friends and I walked up behind a fully camo' d up expert-looking hunter, and we were making a better than average amount of noise to let him know we were there, but when we got to about 20 feet from him, he whipped around and said something like: "Jesus-Holy-Christ!" He was clearly startled, and the disturbing thing is that the rifle came around with him! He turned out friendly, and was very nice about it all, but is that sort of thing common during hunting season? So, perhaps you and Russ, et. al. can tell us what we, or he did wrong.... and I still want to be know how to make absolutely certain a gun is not loaded.

This is how you know they are unloaded. On the 9mm or other semi-autos, you press the button, release the magazine and cycle the firearm in a safe direction with the safety on. On the 12 gauge, for an over-under, you crack it open and if shells are in it, they should pop out (don't aim the back-side of the firearm at yourself.) For a pump shotgun, you cycle the gun (safety on) and the shells eject.
Always assume a gun is loaded!

LOL, Harlen, are you stereotyping? I was never an NRA member, until this year. If I was, I wouldn’t advertise it. I don’t have any stickers of any kind on my truck either. I only have one tee shirt that has an advertisement on it. It’s for Hapkido. Subtle clues or not, it was a sloppy thing to do. The safe and prudent approach would have been to properly unload it, then hand it to me with the slide locked open.
Sounds like your “expert” was only an expert in his own mind. Or maybe in yours. I don’t know, but an unintended discharge (keep it clean) has me leaning away from “expert” and toward sloppy and dangerous.
I’m not a hunter, but sweeping anything you’re not willing to destroy is sloppy and dangerous as well. The things you have described violate the first three safety rules. Always assume a gun is loaded, don’t sweep things you are not willing to destroy (this includes the sky), and keep you finger off of the trigger until you are intending to shoot.
So for your question regarding how to make absolutely sure a weapon is not loaded? See the first rule. Always assume it is loaded until you have checked it yourself. If you don’t know how to unload a weapon, then keep your hands off of it.