sobo

consider it done... cM-7Q9kpfGs

Blake, I appreciate your skepticism. Bears are the largest most people see in the wild, and the experience and bear size, like a fish tale, often grows over time. Elk are probably more dangerous than bears, particularly in rutting season, but they don't have a fearsome reputation for some reason. I have had many bear contacts as well, and will agree with Blake that almost all of them were not very large creatures. My contacts involve somewhat small creatures, around 150 to 200 pounds max, I would guess. The biggest one I ever saw was the one I wrote about in the Wallowas on the previous page. That encounter was very different from my usual contact. I was initially convinced it actually was a grizzly, because I could clearly see her "slant-snout" and shoulder hump. On our way out of town, we stopped by the County Courthouse to ask about the presence of such beasts in Wallowa County. The County Sheriff told us that they had all been hunted out about 10 years earlier (ca. 1980). We told him in detail what we had seen, and he began to sound convinced (or maybe was just humoring us city-slickers). He then led us down the hallway of the courthouse and pointed out the mounted critters (of which there were many) lining the hallways and in display cases of the courthouse. They had a really fucking huge grizzly (it was indeed a grizzly) stuffed and mounted in there, and more than one big-ass cougar, elk, etc. The sheriff told us that the grizzly had been shot only about 12 or so years earlier, and the county residents believed it was the last one. Our story gave him pause... If indeed it was a griz back then in 1990, it was a damn fer piece south of its range...

IIRC, I think that came from the same trip. Or at least from some Mt. Stuart trip. My memory fades with age...

Can I lift her skirt for ya?

Does a bear shit in the woods?

~1990: Big Momma bear (brown in color, but probably a Black Bear) and two cubs on the trail to the Matterhorn in the Wallowas, right before the split to head away from the creek and go uphill. Sighting was preceeded by a terrified deer charging toward us on the trail. Deer went right past us at quite a clip, close enough to touch. "Wow, that was really wierd. Wonder what caused that deer to be so upset?" Seconds later we found out why. I spy aforementioned ursine critters. I freeze in my tracks before they see me. My two companions, not looking up, crash into the back of me. I "shush" them and point about 50 yards uphill to bears. "Wow", me all mutter. One of the guys starts to go for his camera. "Shit, Rick, let's just look a little and get the fuck outta here. She's got CUBS, man!" We hastily cross the creek and head uphill for another 30 minutes or so. Phil never stops looking back over his shoulder the whole time. 1994 thru 1997: Idaho panhandle/Selkirks, during several trips to climb the sweet granite of Harrison Peak. They'd come through our camp every damned night, every trip, snuffling around the tent. There's a REASON there's a bearbox at the lake... Those ones mighta been grizzlies, being that far north, the remoteness of the area, and all. Same timeframe, in the South Fork Cleawater River drainage, ID: Almost ran over a bear on the last little stretch of road before you get to Lightning Dome. It was late on a Friday night on the drive in. He crashed down from the high side of the roadway cut, froze in the headlights in front of my rig, decided to head for the river on the other side of the road, changed his mind, then turned around and ran back up the high side of the road. Thank Dog you can only do about 45 mph on that skinny little road, or I'd have been hoofing it out to Grangeville. Saw a big-ass moose (couldn't fuggin' believe it) further up the road near Elk City around that time, too. Big mofo animals they is... ~2004-ish: Goat Rocks Wilderness. Surprised a small black bear looking for blueberries along the NF Tieton River trail to McCall Basin on my way back from a run up Old Snowy. I'd say we both were surprised. Many other bear stories from my time in VA and WV, but that's not the PNW...

I agree!

Right on! Post Falls is where I cracked my rib on a rock sticking out of a climb I doinked off of. Love that place. I see the Mounties are scheduled for a cleanup out there. Perhaps they can be convinced to remove those annoying rocks from the routes - I thought that was only at Dishman...

Spoken like a true VA Tech transplant. Hey, I turned Jake Gano on to you. He's moving to Anchorage soon. He's got a thread over in Climbing Partners. Mebbe you can hook up and help him become bitter as well. Cheers, Billy!

knuckle savers, dey iz... Dey werk wells for mountane rezqu, 2...

Ahhhhhhhhhh, restricted sites and proxy server warnings. Goddamn them fukkerz...

Make sure you git yerseff a pair 'o these, cuz if'n ya don't, ya'll wish ya had. They work wonders for kayaking and aid climbing as well...

hmmmmmm... Get a Mac...???

I thought the military was the only ones stupid enough to jump with T10s. I did a jump at 800 feet once. Just enough time for the canopy to deploy before slamming into the ground. rob, no one's ever accused me of being intelligent. Or even mildly sane, for that matter. I was handed a chute and told, "Here, you can jump with this." So I did. Many times.

Move your mouse (the one connected to your compooter) so that the arrow thingy is over the big triangle pointing to the right in the middle of the television picher toobz thingy. It'll then turn into a little hand with a pointy finger thingy. That's OK. Then click the left-hand-side mouse button (again, the one connected to yer compooter) real fast-like, twice.

You should hook up with billy finley. He posts here as wfinley. He's really, really, good people. Has a site called Peak-a-Week. He gets out all the goddamned time. Lucky bastard... So how am I s'posed to get you yer free brewski sampler now, huh?

If she climbed, he wouldn't need the photographer as a climbing partner! Good point... D'OH!

Au contraire'! I'm all over that. I mean, all over you! I love a sweaty napping partner. There's just something about all that glistening, sweaty skin. Makes me think of pr0n movies...

Sweet! Congrats, CP! Does she climb?

Pax? I am green with envy, I tell ya. GREEN!!!1 All's well that ends well.

All's well that ends well. :kisss:

Guess I'll have to be the wet blanket on this thread... This happened a lonnnnnnnnng time ago (in a galaxy far, far away...), like early 1990s. Ordered a couple replacement picks for my BD X-15s from MG. They showed up, but had the wrong bolt hole pattern. They were for an earlier version of the X-15 (mebbe the solid, red-shafted wonders?). I was very specific when I ordered that I had the newer, rubber-bonded shaft versions. I was assured that the picks I would be getting would fit just fine. Well, they didn't. I sent the picks back and requested a refund. Never heard from them. After numerous phone calls to no benefit, I finally got them on the phone and they out-and-out refused to refund my money. Said they never received the returned picks! Well, I know their address pretty damned well, so I'm reasonably sure that the fault did not lie with me in addressing the package. I even showed up in their store on at least two occasions after this, with my receipt in hand, to continue the dispute, to no avail. It wasn't until a few years later I learned I could have taken the dispute up with my credit card company and had them refuse payment. But whatever, I learned my lesson about MG. I'm glad the rest of you all got satisfaction, but I never did. As always, YMMV...

Hey Mel, do you ever get tired of pulling on the mule's halter? Seriously... anti-climbing, then he tries Smiff and likes it. Anti-dog, until you bring Chaos home. He loves her! Anti-Xfit, until he tries it. Oh, lemme guess? He changes his tune! He likes it! OMG! Luv ya, Kiddo!

Sooooooooooooo... how wuzzit? Eastern WA minds wanna know.

posted already. last week. still pretty cool vid.