Out & About: Veteran thru-hiker long on trail advice
OUTLEARN – Long- distance hikers can take the mystery out of planning a trek on, say, the Pacific Crest Trail by taking advantage of a special event on Saturday in Coeur d’Alene.
• Are you planning to hike hundreds of miles in one trip?
• Is your pack too dang heavy?
• Have questions about packing light food and cooking on trail, or how to resupply?
Several veterans of the 2,600-mile PCT as well as the Appalachian and Continental Divide Trails will be giving programs and answering questions at the first Inland NW Winter Ruck. The event will run 10 a.m.–5 p.m. at Lake City Community Church, 6000 N. Ramsey Rd. presented by American Long-Distance Hiking Association-West.
Phil Hough and Deb Hunsicker of Sandpoint, a couple whose relationship endured the Triple Crown of America’s distance trails – PCT, Appalachian and Continental Divide – are among the presenters.
Other topics to be covered include:
• Tips on hiking the Triple Crown trails;
• Trail-to-town etiquette;
• Safety and navigation.
“There will be opportunities for one-on-one and group Q&A,” said Hough.
“Rucks started about 20 years go,” he said, “mostly along the Appalachian Trail by former thru-hikers as a social release as well as a chance to share their knowledge and experience” with others who might follow their footsteps.
“My first advice is to talk to more than one person who’s done a long-distance trail,” Hough said.
“There are a variety of ways to do these trails, different ways to plan them. You can find a lot of information about long-distance hiking in books and on the Internet, but you’ll generate more enthusiasm if you talk to real people.”
A chili lunch and refreshments will be provided.
Cost: $10 donation.
First griz out of den
OUTGOING – The first confirmed grizzly bear out of its den in 2015 in Yellowstone was reported Monday feeding on a bison carcass, park officials said.
Unseasonably warm temperatures in the region have created a new normal: Snowmobilers are being warned to carry bear spray.
The first week of February is the earliest grizzlies have emerged in the park according to published research on bear denning in Yellowstone. Males generally are the first grizzlies to emerge, with 90 percent of males out of dens by the fourth week of April.
Earliest den emergence for females occurs during the third week of March through early May.
Females with cubs are usually among the last to leave their dens.