Food Caches in Sequoia Kings
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 10:27 pm
Phil R: well, not an unreasonable idea, but I don't really see it working. Two reasons:
The first is the whole idea is not to clog up the boxes for any length of time. Keep the food moving through the boxes with only the campers who are there. Most folks (something around 90%+ -- which is pretty darned amazing) carry canisters. But for the first day or two, they can't get all their food in the canisters, thus the boxes. In August especially, those boxes fill up many nights. If caches are there taking up space for a week or a month, that means no one else can use them.
Then, second, the whole dynamic of "college students" being available for scut work has changed. There's just not that many around who can afford low wages (thus the number of college students applying even for ranger/fee collector jobs etc has dropped); and, there are only a trickle who are even interested. As an example, only one or two a season (at most) ask how they can get a job as a ranger. 20 years ago, I'd get dozens of questions like that a week.
Finally, it's not really the tax dollar thing, it's the actual weight. Some aging & gimped up ranger just has to hump the stuff out or back to the station on his back. Try coming up the Vidette switchbacks with a cache you found at Center Basin box -- another 20 lbs to your pack?!? Sure. Totally not fun.
It's lonely on the frontier... .
On the bright side, if you can find a ranger early season, it's likely s/he'd say it was OK to leave a cache at the station or something. But it's got to be a personal agreement and a solemn vow to pick the thing up; take out the garbage; take out the bucket.
Other good cache spots are General Delivery to a Post Office; the Muir Trail Ranch (something like $30 for a box now, I think). And Edison Lake (forgot their name... -- also a small charge).
Freestone: thanks. Yep, it's all about the bears
Take care,
g.
The first is the whole idea is not to clog up the boxes for any length of time. Keep the food moving through the boxes with only the campers who are there. Most folks (something around 90%+ -- which is pretty darned amazing) carry canisters. But for the first day or two, they can't get all their food in the canisters, thus the boxes. In August especially, those boxes fill up many nights. If caches are there taking up space for a week or a month, that means no one else can use them.
Then, second, the whole dynamic of "college students" being available for scut work has changed. There's just not that many around who can afford low wages (thus the number of college students applying even for ranger/fee collector jobs etc has dropped); and, there are only a trickle who are even interested. As an example, only one or two a season (at most) ask how they can get a job as a ranger. 20 years ago, I'd get dozens of questions like that a week.
Finally, it's not really the tax dollar thing, it's the actual weight. Some aging & gimped up ranger just has to hump the stuff out or back to the station on his back. Try coming up the Vidette switchbacks with a cache you found at Center Basin box -- another 20 lbs to your pack?!? Sure. Totally not fun.
It's lonely on the frontier... .
On the bright side, if you can find a ranger early season, it's likely s/he'd say it was OK to leave a cache at the station or something. But it's got to be a personal agreement and a solemn vow to pick the thing up; take out the garbage; take out the bucket.
Other good cache spots are General Delivery to a Post Office; the Muir Trail Ranch (something like $30 for a box now, I think). And Edison Lake (forgot their name... -- also a small charge).
Freestone: thanks. Yep, it's all about the bears
Take care,
g.