Hey Roseymonster

“Do you still need a bear canister?
There is one on e-bay...
Garcia Bear Canister”

“it's up to $48.50 plus 7.95 S&H after only 3 bids....cheaper to get it from Whitney Portal Store.”

“any recent earthquakes?”

“Thanks for the heads up tho, WW! I DOOOO appreciate it!!

I'll get one one of these days. Prolly wait until next season since all them bearsies are heading in for the long sleep very soon...”

“When I posted the opening bid was one dollar...I thought you would go for that ;)”

“So are you back home from your South America trip?”

“I am indeed HPM! Been back about a month now and am actively job searching and mooching off of inlaws (even hooked us up with a computer, DSL conn. and our own phone line!).

Life's good and I'm heading up to the Sierra for the first time in a while to do some backpacking for a few days.

What is going on with you?”

“Huh, I must've missed the thread.
Welcome home.

Me? Well, I did a boundary waters canoe trip last month and retired/resigned as Scoutmaster of my Scout Troop. Other than that just work, playing with my daughter and Treebait and looking forward to our next trip.

Life is good, could be a bit better but still good.”

“That looks really sweet, HPM!

Hey, outta curiosity, how come you resigned/retired? Just burned out?”

“Pretty much it in a nutshell. It was like have a second full time job. Too many people wanting too much from too few. There was truly no rest for the weary.

My family supported me in it but they deserved more than what they were getting.

I love doing it and would love to keep doing it but not without a ton more logistical support. If there is a next time then I won't allow a kid to join unless a parent turns in a application to be a volunteer parent. Help or go somewhere else.

All in all it was worth every second.”

“How was your Banff trip? Did I miss the TR?”

“Hey Lilmtngirl! NO. I have not been on the site in a while and haven't posted a TR. Grad school is killing me.

Banff was good, but decided I like the Sierra more. Reasons:

1. Their trails are trashed. They are all horsepacking trails and are in serious need of maintenance. Horse crap everywhere, terrible erosion, etc. The ranger told us they bring through 25-mule mule trains, and it shows.

2. Their designated campgounds are trashed. High use areas like Fish Lakes should have more adequate campgrounds if you are required to camp at them. Overall, I found the locations to camp subpar, hillocky, wet, etc. Guess I am just spoiled by the Sierra, e.g. flat crushed granite with good drainage. Out best campsite experiences were off trail, in the middle of nowhere.

3. Banff is for tourists and tourists only. It's definitely NOT for catering to the backcountry backpacking set. It's for the casual, loaded dayhiker who wants to see the beautiful sites of CAN but not work for them. The majority of the people we met at the trail terminus, which is a really popular trail, were dayhikers staying at the posh Bow Lake Lodge. Day hikers always look and smell so clean after you come a week later out of the woods :) Banff was PRICEY! $13 hamburgers?

4. Canadian beer is lackluster. All boring, clear lagers. I thought they would be some good biter or something from the UK but it was all Molson or some other sort of clear beer. They could at least import some good brews from Northwest!

5. The backcountry rangers seem to look down on backpackers. They travel on horse all over the place and help contribute to trashing the trails. We were bushwacking, trying to find the trail and came across a ranger. He advised us to put on our water sandals and head straight up the glacial-fed river, even when we showed him a topo that indicated a trail about a 1/4 mile away. Well, glad we didn't take his advice as the trail was found with relative ease and hey, it was in good condition because the horses don't use it! However, he did let us use his axe to chop firewood, so I appreciated that.

That said, we really enjoyed the beautiful scenery, great mountainscapes, the sweeping valleys and glaciers. Those were phenom. the wildlife, while we saw tracks and scat, didn't really see much, even at a week in the backcountry.

I dunno. I think next time I'll just go straight to Alaska.”