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-- Eugene L., Webmaster, First Class, Aug. 2013
In the summer of 2013, the troop spent six days and hiked fifty miles across the High Sierra, from Kearsarge Pass, over Forester Pass, the tallest point of the Pacific Crest Trail, to Shepherd Pass.
Bear Bags
After the troop crossed Kearsarge Pass, we finally descended to our campsite next to a large lake. But the campsite is located in bear county, so after dinner, we put all the food which couldn’t fit into the bear canisters into four bear bags. The Scouts chose a tree limb which is tall enough so the bear could not reach it. A rock was tied to one end of the rope and thrown over the limb. Two bear bags replaced the rock and were lifted to an appropriate height. The other two bear bags were tied to the other side of the rope and were pushed up so that all four bear bags were balancing each other. The bear bags hung at least twelve feet off the ground and six feet away from the trunk. We were told these were Troop 622's first bear bags in the High Sierra backpacking.
Mr. A shared with us that he learns a new way of attaching the bear bags to a tree every time when he hiked on the Sierra. He once tied both bags from the trees’ limbs before so that the trees were suspending the bags in between their limbs. However, feeling that this was not very sufficient, Mr. A decided to sleep next to the bear bags. In the middle of the night, Mr. A heard a scratching noise indicating the approach of a bear. Mr. A quickly got up and started yelling for help from the other scouts. However, only one scout heard him, and when he heard what Mr. A was yelling about, he thought that there was no point in him getting up! So Mr. A started growling at the bear, and the bear growled back. After several rounds, Mr. A finally got the bear to leave.
Marmot
Though most of us don't really know what marmot is except that some down sleeping bags are made by the Marmot Company. However, our first contact occurred with marmots while having lunch after climbing over Forester Pass. Marmots are small brown furry animals that look like gophers. We were all excited, trying to get pictures of them. Mr. A explained that the Marmot sleeping bag company was named after the marmot, because of its warm fur.
Lucy's Foot Pass
We climbed up the south side of Lucy’s Foot Pass, starting from a lake. Once we reached the top, we realized the north side of Lucy's Foot Pass is incredibly steep. Lucy’s Foot Pass was rated a Class III, which meant that if you fell, you would get serious injuries or even die. So the whole troop was scared to go down, except for Mr. A, who went a few hundred feet down, before asking us what we wanted to do.
After having lunch, Mr. A shared a story of how surveyors had climbed the area and had seen Mt. Whitney. In the end, we chose to go down the south side of Lucy's Foot Pass, and headed to South American Lake. Golden Trout We spent one night at the lake next to South American Lake, where golden trout could be seen swimming through the clear lake water. Two adult leaders had carried two different types of fishing rods. Fly fishing uses a pseudo mosquito attached as a lure to trick the golden trout to eat it. In order to mimic a flying mosquito, the lure had to jump frequently out of the water. The traditional fishing was attaching a small fish to the rod to lure the fish. The lures had to be pulled in rapidly to mimic a fish. Because the trout were territorial, the golden trout would chase and eat the lure. Scouts applied these two methods and caught several golden trout, but the fish were too small, so the scouts freed them.
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