More Flies?

Bites galore. Horse fly bites to be specific.

Can we be finished with the fly stories already? Just a word about small gnatty black flies. They are fragile and have little chance to survive once touched. They are on a mission when they fly into your eyes, nose and ears. They don't have a clue what happens to a human when any of these orifices are invaded; a state of panic and reactive pandemonium. There is no chance that fly will live. 

     Our first night out of Sierra City, bitten but alive, we camped near a stream. FC now brings food into the tent. TC puts it in a Navy Seal tested odor proof bag (odor proof to rodents not bears) and leaves it in her pack. She used to hang it and has not told FC why she changed her pattern. FC usually double bags her food but this night did not. They woke up a number times hearing some animal and thought it was outside the tent. Next morning they awoke to a hole in the tent, a hole in the thin nylon food  bag and a hole in FC's nut bag. Something ate a lot of plastic right next to FC's butt. Maybe she rolled over and messed everything up and the rodent was unwilling to to start again. She was probably lying on the hole or the rodent.Their tent is looking more patched everyday. Fortunately they have ordered a new tent for the Pacific Northwest; a tent that will stand up to downpours.

Keeping food safe from rodents is one thing (navy seal proof bags will work) but keeping it safe from bears is another matter; only bear cannisters work) but they weigh a ton (2 pounds) and take up a lot of space in your pack. We got rid of the cannisters at Echo Lake. That is as far as they were "legally" required. There are still bears everywhere we go so it's a bit of a risk to not have protected food. TC and FC are obviously risk takers. Most bears in the wild will run from people, all except the "problem" bears which don't. Maybe FC and TC are a bit cavalier about their food because they haven't yet seen a bear  ( in 1,335 miles) or much bear scat. Other people have seen bears and had some encounters (poles dragged away, which could have been deer going for salt) but not them. FC has a bizarre, some might say airy fairy simple child like trust in the way of the universe (she is constantly changing it and playing around with it) which basically states, "What's for you won't go by you". She grew up with her mother telling her this in a thick Scottish accent her whole life. FC's interprets this to mean that life is out of her CONTROL, events will happen whether she wishes them to or not but if the universe is GOOD (friendly) then it's all for her not at her or against her, hence the bear issue. Some people are meant to have bear encounters and some are not. Just 2 nights ago while eating dinner In the dust with ants crawling over us and gnats flying into our eyes we were conversing with Mr. President (trail name) about animal encounters on the PCT. He told us about a woman who had a mountain lion circling her tent most of the night. She took a video of this (you can view this, google it). She stayed in her tent made noise, sang but the lion did not leave. After many hours she lost her nerves, all of them, and pressed the emergency button on her Spot device. A helicopter showed up the next morning (they don't fly at night) along with a  couple of rangers on foot. FC commented on the uselessness of them showing up  the next day. The mountain lion, that same night, eventually left the damsel alone. Cats are curious. Maybe he or she was entertained by the "noise" or the general hysteria of the woman. According to FC's life view this woman needed this encounter with the lion. She continued to walk the trail. Others might have bailed. 

    We left this area and walked through dying, quiet, grey forests. A lot of trees up here have a pretty lime green moss covering their bark which I presume is the culprit. It has reached epidemic portions. This is also a logging and mining area. We heard and saw logging trucks through-out the day as well as evidence of clear cutting everywhere. Three years ago we passed through this area while hunting season was going on. Of course we were unaware of this until we heard shots around us. It was frightening because as has been mentioned before people with guns are not to be trusted. We were told by some of these people that we should be wearing orange colored garments. Aren't you supposed to have an animal sited in your rifle before shooting? Do I look like anything like a deer. Do hunters have to see orange not to shoot something? You can understand why we were a tad jumpy. I sang loudly and made strange sounds. This was to scare the deer away and piss the gunmen off.

      We camped by a road and were awakened by logging tricks thundering by at 5:00 am. The rest of the day was similar until we got nearer to Bucks Recreational Area. The forests began to live and breath again.

Fire tower on top of Butte.