"The Grey Havens" Pacific Northwest Coast

Day hikes on the coast in Oregon and Washington

After hiking the Kalmiopsis in OR, i spent a day at Cape Arago/Sunset Bay State Pak near Charleston before travelling north to Cape Perpetua State Park where i spent the night.

About a week later, after the 1st leg of the Olympic trip, i had the chance to day hike the Pacific coast of the Olympic Peninsula before Rit arrived later that night for the 2nd leg of the trip

in Olympic.

Cape Arago/Sunset Bay, OR:

Cape Perpetua, OR

Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park, WA

"The Shadow of the Past"--Olympic NP, part I

Eight days in 3 ecosystems on the Olympic Peninsula; This is the 1st leg of the trip, solo on the alpine High Divide.

The lowdown: Olympic NP is located west of Seattle, WA, on the Olympic Peninsula. Here, coastal subduction and volcanic activity have rasied glacier capped mountains that stop the moist pacific air in its tracks. This creates, at low elevation, a rare temperate rainforest. The result is a hiker's paradise; lush valleys, home to ancient, moss draped conifers that tower over a sea of green. Hike far enough up one of these valleys and you can follow the glacial rivers to their sources, high up in an alpine paradise. Treeline is about 6000,' and plenty of the peaks rise well above, over alpine lakes, nestled into glacial carved bowls and cirques.

dates: June 25-28

mileage, elevation

+/-, pinnacle: 25, +/-8,850', 5,580' Bogachiel Peak

Conditions: The Olympic peninsula experienced an incredibly snowy winter, with 220% of normal snowfall. Needless to say, there was plenty left when i got out of the valleys, up to 15' above 2,000', compacted well and easy to travel on; just soft enough to kick steps into, which turned out to be very good news...

Weather: The first 2 days were misty and cloudy, in the 50s, followed by 2 days of sunshine and 60's. Nights around 30.

Highlights: Incredible alpine scenery, having the place to myself (save 2 rangers i spent night 2 with,) and seeing glaciers for the first time. (above is Olympus Glacier, capping Mt Olympus)

Also, the beauty of contrast that exists as the forest transitions from a lush, temperate rainforest to the snow and glacier capped mountains.

Challenges: A secondary case of poison sumac, in addition to the what i got at the end of Oregon. It must have been oil on some of my gear, though i thought i had washed it all. So that was pretty itchy, on top of what i already had. And some sensitive areas that had been spared no longer were...

But a more serious challenge was posed by the exposed ridgelines. On account of the deep snow, ridgeline trails (the vast majority of my travel on day 3) were just exposed slopes, running out thousands of feet. Dangerous, but not insurmountable, provided one has an ice axe and the knowledge to use it well...

The Hike: This 4 day hike followed the Sol Duc river through a lush, old growth valley, for the 1st day and half, including a nice, snow-free campsite (Upper Sol Duc,) on the 1st night. On the 2nd day, I passed 2 rangers having lunch and saying farewells to their girlfriends before heading off on a 7 day backcountry skiing trip. Soon after passing them, the intermittent snow cover got heavy, obscuring the trail. Having had recent experience in conditions like this, I managed ok. But finding and blazing trail is exhausting physically and mentally, so i had a nice long lunch in

the late afternoon, at which point the rangers caught up with me (which i was kind of hoping for...)

They were a little surprised when i got into my itinerary in detail, as they didn't expect to find anyone else travelling the Divide on those days. They invited me to come with them at least as far as the Divide and spend the night. Of course, i was glad for the experienced company and to have somone else to break trail for a while. I spent the night with them at a site known as Bruce's Roost. The views over the Hoh valley across to Mt Olympus were incredible; to see the green lush forest give way to glacier capped mountains is really something else.

On the morning of the 3rd day we parted company and i set off west along the High Divide. My route for the day was a traverse along the Divide, overlooking the Seven Lakes Basin, to Bogachiel Peak, then continuing on the Divide before dropping down (north) into Deer Lake Valley, were i was to spend the night. And this is where things got a little interesting...

Due to the high snowfall (of course) what would have been a ridgeline trail was now an unstable

cornice that ran the length of the Divide. So rather than travel along the cornice, i choose to traverse along the length of the Divide. Of course, that meant that i'd be totally exposed on the slope, with nothing between me and the treeline about a thousand feet below. An ice axe would've been nice here but...

Mine had been stolen in NM, so when I called the Rangers at Olympic the day before i arrived for my pre-hike checklist i confirmed that there was a sports shop in town that carried them, so the next day I headed onto the peninsula. Upon getting into town i learned that said store, the only one for 3 hrs in any direction, had sold out--the extra snowy winter, i guess. So i decided to go it with my hiking poles to use to self arrest should i tumble down an exposed slope.

What this meant for the day's travel--rather than walk along the ridge, facing my direction of travel with the axe in the uphill hand, i was forced to take the more conservative approach of facing the slope and traversing crab-like. In this fashion, travelling from right to left, i would kick a step into the snow with my left foot, move the left hand pole over, kick in with the right foot, move the right pole and repeat. and repeat. and repeat. Although a much slower method of travel, this technique allowed me to keep 3 points in contact with the slope at all times and put me a good position to self arrest with my poles. Which is a good thing, as i did slip (more than once) but was able to dig in with poles and knees before gravity got a hold of me.

There was one unforseen consequence of all this though:

As you can see here, the snow clings to the toe. For some reason, these otherwise outstanding boots don't have a rubber toe guard. This is essential in the soft, wet snow of spring, as it clings to the toe from kicking steps and no

amount of water-proofing can prevent seepage.

So, I actually got a mild case of frostbite to go along with the poison sumac. Nothing serious at all, but though i beleived it was possible that i'd be afflicted by either or both of these, i never imagined that it would be at the same time!

But it was truly great to cross these incredibly steep, exposed slopes safely. I can't descirbe how it is at once exilirating, and yet intensely focusing, slowing everything down.

So after it all i was feeling pretty good about overcoming the lack of an ice axe and pumped on the adrenaline of being on exposed ridges for the better part of the day. I finished my traverse,

crossed the divide to the north where i was greeted with a beautiful, snow covered slope running out about 1000' to the valley where i was spending the night. Naturally, i took advantage of this gentle slope on a nice glissade down towards Deer Lake. As the incline lessened, i chose to follow a brook towards the lake rather than try to find the trail. I was rewarded with a gorgeous backcountry waterfall, off trail and therefore off most maps.

When i got to beautiful Deer Lake shortly thereafter, i found the platform used by the NPS to set up a seasonal Ranger Station unoccupied!!! So after a day of tough travel i had the luxury of a campsite on a raised platform, out of the snow!!

After a leisurely breakfast the next morning i hiked out to the car and set off for the beach to hop in the Pacific before meeting Rit for the 2nd leg of the hike in Olympic.

"Fire and Water" Kalmiopsis Wilderness and Oregon Caves

Eight incredible days in Oregon; a 6 day excursion in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, a trip to the Oregon Caves and 2 days on the coast, including a night camping near the beach.

I had originally planned to spend 3 days in the Kalmiopsis and 4 days in the Sky Lakes Wilderness, until a ranger told me that (b/c of snow, of course) i wouldn't be able to get to within 20 miles of the Sky Lakes TH. No big deal; as the highest elevation in the Kalmiopsis is "only" about 6,000', snow wouldn't be an issue there, so i decided to make that a 5 day trip and visit the Oregon Caves National Monument.

Kalmiopsis Wilderness

the lowdown: the Kalmiopsis is a unique botanical and geological area, about 20 miles inland in Oregon, just north of the California border. Due to the uncommon nature of coastal subduction here, the mountain and soil are highly mineralized, and will not support the vegetation native to surrounding areas. But there are over 30 species of plant and flower that have adapted to this environment and exist only in this wilderness. The high mineral content of the soil also attracted mining operations (mostly for chromium) until it was designated a wilderness about 50 yrs ago. The wilderness contains the headwaters of the Illinois and Chetco Rivers,

which have carved incredibly scenic valleys into the serpentine rock.A large fire burned much of the wilderness and the surrounding areas in 2002; though the forest in recovery was a beautiful sight to behold (phoenix from the ashes and all,) the aftermath of the fire (deadfall and landslides) made for difficult travel on trails that barely qualified as such.

dates: June 17-22
mileage, elevation +/-, pinnacle: 35 miles (mostly off trail,) +/- 10,800

conditions: i didn't expect well maintained trails, and i wasn't disappointed. The deadfall and

slides from the fire made travel difficult even when following trail. Much of the hike was of

f trail, along the Chetco River, where i alternated between walking in the river and along the banks.

weather: simply gorgeous, high 80's in the day, 50's at night, and only the slightest trace of rain for 15 minutes one night.
highlights: the beauty of the river, the remoteness, the trout, the flowers, and surviving the drive in on the mining road.
challenges: not so much the difficulty of the travel over fire damage, but what it did to my legs. and the raging case of poison sumac, but even that is confined to my legs and arms, so it could've been much worse.

the hike: The Sourdough trailhead is located just west of Chetco Pass, on the eastern edge on the Wilderness. And just getting there was half the fun. The approach over the final few miles consists of repeated switchbacks up the eastern face of the mountain on an old dirt mining road, gaining 3000'. A road which is now seriously degraded due to the erosion resulting from the 2002 fire. I'm not kidding when i say that my Rescue Beacon was powered on and clipped to my

belt on this drive. I could never have done it without 4 wheel drive and likely couldn't have done it in anything larger than the Jeep Liberty I was driving. I averaged a little better than hiking speed until the "road" became impassable, a little after reaching an

d crossing Chetco Pass. There was no evidence of anyone having been here all season, and i bedded down near the car for the night before heading down into the valley the next day.

Much of this eastern part of the Wilderness burned in the 2002 fire. The landscape of limbless, scorched trees standing dead amidst charcoal logs on the ground is at first impression, bleak.

But time spent hiking in a recovering area can be an incredible experience; to see the profusion of wildflowers and saplings taking root in soil enriched by charcoal, in the sun

unobstructed by tree limbs, the absence of which also reveal previously hidden vistas.

Hiking in a recovering area can also messy, exhausting work. Erosion may wash out sections of trail, and standing trees burned and killed but not consumed in the fire eventually fall, creating obstructions. And by definition, a wilderness area is going to be significantly less maintained than a

national park. So i knew i was in for a tough go of it, at least until I got out of the fire damaged

areas, a little further west and down into the river valley.

To accomplish this i took a route west down into the valley, then up a few hundred feet after crossing the river to follow a ridge west before descending again to the Chetco River. It was a bit tougher than i had expected, but i would've suffered twice as bad gladly had i known how

beautiful, gorgeous and pristine the Chetco River is. It is also teeming with trout! I settled in for the night along the river at Taggarts Bar, to cross in the am.

The next day i continued west along the steep banks of the Chetco and when those banks became too steep i was happy to hike in the river, stopping often to fish, with much success. I spent the night riverside and continued west as far as Chetco Bar the next day where i turned around. I gradually made my way back towards Taggarts Bar, where i spent the night.

After spending a good part of the next morning building a minnow/crayfish trap and catching plenty of the latter and none of the former, i decided against a backcoutry Cajun feast, released my captives and hiked back towards the trailhead, which i made a dark.

I waited for daylight to drive out on the mining road, a doubly wise decision in hindsight, as I blew out a tire on the way out. Fortunately, I was in a Jeep, with a full sized spare so i had my Christmas Story/OH Fudge! moment and went on my way, to a large pancake breakfast before heading over to the Oregon Caves National Monument.

Oregon Caves National

the lowdown: a system of marble caves on the western side of the Cascades. A fun day hike, way bigger than the ice cave in New Mexico.

"Over Hill and Under Hill" Canyonlands NP

Back on trail!! and what a trail! A 5 day hike up, over and under the otherworldly rock formations and canyons in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

While sleeping on snow in Colorado and New Mexico, I often went to sleep fantasizing about the desert...
What a great way to get back on track after the "incident;" great weather, conditions, and incredible company.

the lowdown: Canyonlands NP is located upriver from the Grand Canyon, and as both are part of the Colorado Plateau, the rock is very similar. That is, primarily sandstone and limestone, the former appearing in various shades of red depending on iron content. The white limestone (i think it may technically be a shale) is harder, and erodes less easily. The resulting formations are spectacular. The major difference is scale; the canyons here are only a few hundred feet deep, but as a result, the rock formations (arches, needles, etc) are much more accessible.
dates: June 9-13
mileage, elevation +/- pinnacle: 55 miles, +/- 10,500'; 5,800'--Druid Arch
conditions: travel was mostly through, up and over, canyons and along "slickrock," the smooth rock that makes up most of the rock formations and canyon walls. Trails were well marked (by rock cairn and sign) and well maintained. Water was scarce but available on days 1-3, but days 4&5 were dry, and i had to plan accordingly (carry heavy water.)
weather: low 90s & sunny during day, no lower than 60's @ night, with clear skies. No precipitation (surprise.)
highlights: incredible scenery, great company, easy conditions, and sitting outside the tent at night to admire the sky (and bs with the guys i met.)
lowlights: really, just erasing my pics from Rocky Mtn NP and New Mexico while playing with my camera one night. So that's what "format memory card" does to 1.6 GB of pics and video!!

the hike: I had planned on getting here on the 10th, but as i was eager to get back on trail, i checked into arriving early with a ranger on the phone, and found that i could start a day early. All i needed to do was get to the backcountry office by 3, which i did, with only a few minutes to spare...After a gorgeous hike over slickrock and up and down canyons i got to camp at Salt Creek right at dusk. Salt Creek stays wet through the year, and is an area of archaeological significance, and i passed petroglyphs on the canyon walls that date to well before 1000 BCE. I had a great night in the warm desert air looking at the most amazing sky. The next day found me exploring nearby Horse Creek Canyon on and out and back hike (to the same campsite that night.) The canyon was a totally dry wash that probably only runs a few times a year. The formations were beautiful, and the hike was a good way to gauge what my water needs would be for the week, knowing that i had a good water source very near camp to rehydrate that night. But even better than the water was the company that showed up that night and camped not far from me--3 guys from the Bureau of Land Management on their 1st night of a trip into the backcountry. They worked with the University; one specialized in water quality, and the other 2 worked with insects. They were great company that night for quite a few hours. I set out down Salt Creek Canyon, as I'd heard it was beautiful. After about 3 miles, i retraced my steps to the campsite and continued on westward, out of Salt Creek Canyon. Descending into Salt Creek Canyon, I followed the (intermittent) creek a few miles into camp, Lost Creek 2, an incredibly beautiful campsite. Where i erased the memory card, holding all the pics from Chicago, Rocky Mtn NP, New Mexico, Mesa Verde... Basically, everything from the going away part to that moment. No big, i guess, b/c i'll never forget those places, but i do like to share.So, with lots of memory space to spare, i headed out the next day toward Chesler Park and the eponymous Needles formations. I planned a side trip down and out a canyon and up into a formation known as Druid Arch. I also expected to find water at the trail junction, but not again for the next 3 days or so as i headed west through Devil's Pocket towards to confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. I carry a "dromedary" for times like this in the desert, a 3 gal water bladder, which can be stretched to 2.5-3 days worth if you're careful, but it is also 18lbs when full. So if there's going to be an extended "dry" stretch like this in my route, i try to plan these days for the end, so food weight is down.At Druid Arch, I met 2 incredibly cool guys, from Brooklyn, natch. They were celebrating Ed's doctorate in neurobiology before starting his residency (the man can de-brain a mouse in less than 30 seconds, i hear.) His companion, John, had just finished shooting a movie in Buenos Aires, and could beat-box like i've never heard. Turns out that they were at a site less than a half mile from me that night, so we hiked out, filled up our water and headed to Chesler Park, which was a winter pasture for herders, and there is a ton of cowboy graffiti from the 1850's on to the mid 20th century on the rocks. We all hung out after dinner that night, and they were excited by the route i had planned for the next day: through the Joint trail, which narrows to less than 2' across between rock formations for a half mile, then onto the confluence. It was going to be a long day for me, and if they wanted to join it would be a really long day for them, as they planned on hiking 4 miles further that night, to get back to their car to keep on schedule. Despite all that, they were at my site the next am, ready to go, and we set off to explore the Joint trail and rivers. The former was incredible; we were forced to remove our packs to shimmy and slide through these cracks in the rocks, emerging at one point into a cavern where someone(s) had created a work of art using rocks. We continued on to the overlook of the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers, which is in a 1,500' deep canyon and is quite impressive. At this point, we were all pretty thirsty, having burned off a lot of water in a very exposed hike through Cyclone Canyon, where the sun was just merciless. With 6 miles to go to my camp for that night, this wasn't too much of a problem for me, knowing that i had at least 2 gal of water stashed there from when we had passed it earlier. By the time we did get back to camp, we were all pretty de-hydrated, having already hiked 14 miles. The only water we'd seen in over a day was a puddle, about 3 gallons, and full of tadpoles and algae, and it was tough not to want to try to filter that (it would've been potable, but tasted like tadpole piss and algae.)Rather than skimp on the water that i wanted to share with the guys, i decided that we should drink up, and i'd hike out with them. They could then drive me to my car, and we could all go to Moab that night. So we did, and finished with 18 miles and 3000' up and down under our belts. Needless to say, once we got to Moab, we ate very well that night, and all crashed in the same Days Inn. In fact, I'm pretty sure we got the last 2 rooms in town, as we had tried about 10 other places first with no luck. It was an incredible trip; great company, scenery and weather. Very low stress and high reward.

"At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" well, a Holiday Inn Express, but...

Cleaning up the bear mess, reflections on the burglary, and getting back on the road/trail...

You've got your known knowns; these are challenges that you are certain to face and can prepare for. Then you've got your known unknowns; these are challenges that you may face, but you're not sure how, or in what form. Then you've got your unknown unknowns; these are the toughest challenges, the ones that come out of left field.

After taking care of the essential repairs that Friday in Albuquerque, i had time to truck over to the local walmart to replenish some essentials. And while walmart certainly is a good place to get a bunch of stuff all at once, trying to find a wearable pear of jeans there is enough to send me back to the wilderness...

But first i had to get my car, gear and the remaining food "de-beared." This process entailed emptying the car and cleaning it as best as i could, bringing the gear and food inside my room to be cleaned in the tub, and tipping the maid well.

As you might imagine, this took the better part of saturday, but i still had time to get down to the historic city center, where they were holding a local festival. A lot of fun, including a mariachi band on the gazebo. I also had an incredible dinner on a small, private patio with a waterfall behind me, where they allowed me to sit and write until the end of the night, keeping my coffee mug fresh.

So with the bliss that accompanies a belly full of chile rellenos and good coffee, i was able to put the whole experience in perspective:

In planning the trip, i knew that while on trail, i was certain to encounter some of the aforementioned "unknown unknowns." I resolved that i would be objective, and not resent the obstacle, creating an adversarial (counter productive) frame of thinking. This attitude had served me well in Rocky Mtn NP, as i enjoyed myself immensely in the face of some serious slop on the ground there.

I realized that since the day earlier i had looked at the whole break-in thing through the same prism. I believe that one can't resent the turn of circumstance itself, even if it was an evil act that created it. Since i wasn't looking at the break-in as a "bad" or "unfortunate" thing, i was able to treat it like any other obstacle

So it is really our response to circumstance, not the circumstance itself, that determines if it will be "bad/unfortunate" or "good/lucky." For example, i mentioned earlier that i had lost my compass while in the Cruces Basin, while navigating off trail. I reminded myself at the time that this was going to be what i made of it; a chance to test either my navigating skills or my rescue beacon...

Since i was moving much slower w/o the compass, i had to spend the night of the 5th in the woods, instead of making it back to the car. However, had i made it to the car as planned, one of 2 things would've happened. Either i would've returned to the car to discover the car burglarized and not enough day left to do anything about it, or worse, run into the bear in the act. I may even have decided to sleep next to the car, and been in camp there when the bear arrived...

If i had cursed the lost compass from the beginning, i would look back and say "blessing in disguise," and have felt silly for getting angry earlier. But by keeping neutral about the situation from the get go, no disguise, and no wasted emotion.

And the final lesson i'll take from the experience concerns my somewhat lax "bear practices." I've never really feared black (as opposed to grizzly) bears; almost all of my hiking has been in black bear territory, and the most that i'll do is hang my food bag, and not even that all the time. And i'm also guilty of frequently keeping snacks in my tent at night. I fell into the trap of thinking that the black's reputation as a shy animal (as opposed to the grizzly) and small size (again, relative to the grizzly, not me-more importantly) made them a species to be taken lightly. Nevermore, I say!!! After seeing the size of the tracks, rips in the car, and general destruction that bear caused, i am a convert!

So on Sunday, i set off from Albuquerque, headed back towards the "4 Corners" area. Along the way, i stopped at a volcano cone/ice caves park in NM, and hiked a few miles. It was billed as "Fire and Ice," which was a little misleading. The fire was 10,000 yrs extinct, and the ice caves were incorrectly pluralized, as it was just one 200ft square pool. But it was great to get my boots dusty again, and even though it was oversold a bit, it was worth the stop to see the lava flows.

That night i got into a hotel in cortez, co, and set out the next day to see Mesa Verde NP. This is the home of the cliff dwellings, inhabited first by the Ancestral Puebloans (1000BCE-1000CE,) then later by the Anasazi. The settlement was nestled into the valleys and cliffs of 9,000' mesas. I hiked a few miles there also, enjoyed the archaeology immensely, and set out for Canyonlands after lunch to see if i could start my hike a day early.

"Many Meetings" To all the fantastic people in New Mexico!

I owe thanks to so many people in the state of New Mexico who went out of their way to help me in the aftermath of the burglary. Which just really does illustrate the point about the one bad apple in the bushel...
The 1st people i owe gratitude to are the staff at the Carson NF Ranger District office. In addition to letting this trail filthy guy take over a corner of their office to make phone calls they assisted with getting state police and other numbers and allowed me to empty the bear ravaged car in their parking lot to inventory before the police arrived.
Which brings me to Officer Daniel Cordova of the NM State Police. Nicest guy, got me through the whole process in no time. Not to mention a great source of info on the area and "driving times..."
This info soon came in very handy; my dad (another life saver in this experience) had been working the phones and web for me, finding a glass shop that would fix the car that day. There was one, but it was in Albuquerque, and making it there before closing was going to be tough. So, using the trooper's advice on traffic and speed limit areas, i made a cannonball run down Interstate 25, from Taos to Albuquerque, making the 142 mile drive in under 2 hrs. Quick note--my route followed the Camino Real, the historic route b/w Santa Fe and Mexico City, when that was all Spanish territory.
Which got me to the Speedy glass shop shortly before closing. The technician, Nick, got right to fixing the glass, and loaned me the use of the vacuum cleaner to start some of the heavy cleaning of bear mess.
But i really owe a ton of thanks to Priscilla at Speedy, who located and gave me directions to the local shopping, including the Verizon store--
Where Romelia had me set up with a new phone, making phone calls, in about 15 minutes. When she heard my story, she told her manager, and they were able to put together a bundle of chargers and accessories for me, and got me a rebate, which considerably softened the financial blow of losing my phone.
I owe a great debt of gratitude to all of these wonderful folks; their collective efforts really contributed to my checking into a hotel in Albuquerque that night in a great state of mind and ready to get on with the process of restocking and cleaning up. Clearly, despite the break-in and theft, New Mexico was a great experience. And while I'll devote a separate post to reflecting on the entire situation (and describing the cleaning,) I do want to say here that i firmly believe that keeping a positive state of mind that day and not holding a grudge from the get go really helped. You do get back what you put out there in life, and while i'm sure that i could've justified (to myself) a bit of spite and anger, getting into a snit and staying there all day, i doubt people would've extended themselves as much to someone like that. Which in turn would've made the experience even worse, in a self perpetuating loop... well, more on that later anyway.
Thanks again New Mexico!!

"A Thief in the Night!" a tale of multi-species burglary...

"If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans"--Delilah

As I was finishing my hike in the Cruces Basin, walking the final quarter mile to the car, i was planning on getting to my next hike by 4pm, with plenty of time for a restaurant lunch, thinking maybe tacos, beans and rice...
Quick disclosure--when I'm at the very end of a hike, but just before my car actually comes into view, i often experience a moment of panic when i'm sure that it won't be there. Then, in a few seconds, i catch a reflection of glass or glint of metal through the trees and the car itself comes into view. Every time.
Of course, this hike was no different: as soon as i though to myself that i should've seen the car by now, and was beginning to worry, there it was.
But very quickly, i realized that, this time, something was different. And how...
i'd have to say the 1st clue that trouble was afoot was the mess of food wrappers, trail mix crumbs and shredded plastic strewn about the car. The 2nd hint was the smashed driver's side window and open lift gate.
I had seen fresh bear tracks a few hundred yards back, so before getting any closer i made sure that the bear had eaten his full and left the area. I moved in for a closer inspection, and looking past the food mess in the car, realized that my ice tools were missing.
I was momentarily perplexed as to why a bear might need crampons, an ice ax and snow shoes (it was a hard winter and a late spring, but still...) I soon realized that i had been burglarized not once, but twice!
Based on the fact that there were fresh bear, but no human, tracks in the snow that had fallen late night on the 4th, into the morning of the 5th, here's what i surmise happened:
The car was broken into by (barely) humans on the night of the 4th. The thieves left the lift gate open, allowing access to the bear, probably on the night of the 5th. A bear, by the way, who was probably just out of hibernation and delighted at the motherlode of goodies he'd just sniffed out. Remember that i'm carrying (or was, anyway) about 60 days of food...
How can i possibly describe the scene? Well, thank God for small miracles; due to his size (i'm guessing 8-9') the bear wasn't able to reach 2/3 of the food. But, oh, what he could reach, he demolished!
It would've been nice if all got his paws on were dry goods, like pasta or rice; this was absolutely not the case. In fact, what was in his reach was the stickiest, messiest foodstuffs that i had; pb & j, honey, olive oil, powered milk, cheese and sports drink.
I can't begin to describe what an unholy, sticky mess of food and bear drool covered the car and everything in it. A battalion of 3yr olds couldn't have done worse... Not to mention that it all smelled, strongly, of sour milk and cheese, with a citrus note from the powdered sports drink.
Another box of food that the bear was able reach contained my energy gels and cliff bars. Now i favor the caffeinated versions of both these items, and i estimate that the bear consumed at least 2,000 mgs of caffeine--the equivalent of about 200 Venti Americano coffees from Starbucks, with the extra shot of espresso in each... Now even if i'm close in my estimate of a 450-500 lb animal, that's still a damn lot of caffeine.
So a word to the wise; if you're planning a trip into the Cruces Basin in the near future, beware of encountering a hyped-up, jittery, sleep-deprived bear. One whose digestive system is probably proving, over and over, the old adage--a bear does shit in the woods, and i'm guessing you don't want to be anywhere near this one for the foreseeable future. As 2 thumbs noted, the bear will be lucky if he's able to hibernate next fall...
Now, this is all I have to say on the matter for now, but let me assure any concerned parties that all has worked out very much in my favor since. Thanks to the help of a number of people, i was pretty much good to go within 12hrs of finding the car violated. In fact, the help i got from these folks was so extraordinary, that i'd like to devote an entire post to them and their heroic deeds, and why this situation, which had bad news written all over it has turned out so very positive.