Solo camping with mountain lions?

Fox don’t have 5 toes

 

I don't believe I wrote Fox. Bear prints are OK, when you spot Momma and cub prints, get the fawk out of there.

It's 5:01PM, time to a nice Voodoo Ranger Juicy Hazy Imperial Ale. [Everything about that name sounds like a beer I'd hate, but tried one and liked it].

 

They definitely don’t taste bad

 

I was in Ft Collins for a few days, had a lazy morning; my flight wasn't until 1:00 PM from Denver (about an hours drive)

Fat Tire was open at 9 AM, so I enjoyed a flight for "second breakfast." The place was dead, but brewmasters were there, and we started talking about favorite places. I lived in Germany and had about 600 breweries within a day's cycling distance (160 km, leave early, ride, drink beer and get dinner, sleep, ride home the next day). Well, in five years, I only made it to 300 breweries! I explained my preference for Port, Stouts, Ales, and the brewmaster started pulling out more samples to try. 2 Below was my favorite; it made it into production for a short time, but just good clean Ale.

Thankfully I made my flight, but oh boy, never repeated that!

 

I don’t usually like whacky beers, but try this one, ice cold, on a hot day this summer…

 

I never think about cougars when I’m hiking and hunting in the western U.S. You can spend 50 years doing that and never see a single one. They’re not going to come into camp because of you food. Bears are a different story-I follow the local rules on food storage. Moose another thing still, and I have been charged by them.

 

I prefer coors or free

 

You know where Coors bubbles come from..?

 

The bottom of the barrel?
No
No I don’t

 

Cougar piss

 

Good ol’ western Maryland coal smoke.

Fact.

 

Big Bend I was taken back to see Bear Lockers in dispersed camping areas. I was like, "why on earth do they have Bear Lockers out here?"
Bear's are back!

https://www.nps.gov/bibe/learn/nature/bears.htm

I do like Hilltop bags for their humor. Dyneema bags (damn, they are light!)

 

Damn good thing my Tacoma has a 6 foot bed, MeSo molle rack in the cab ceiling, quick-fists on the bed rail, and a flat platform behind the front seats! Prinsu Rack coming soon.

So much for ...the good ol' days of going out with only a field jacket & K-bar... "sigh"

 

The story goes, John Muir explored and laid out the path of the Pacific Crest Trail just carrying a wool blanket, knife, bottle of whisky and some hardtack in his pockets.

 

I often think about the ancestors and how they lived. Like whenever a thunderstorm or blizzard popped up they just pulled their hat low and kept on trucking.

 

I have seen old cabins/homes, at decent elevations.......the "walls" were insulated, maybe, with a layer or two of newspaper.

 

My neighbor passed a few years ago, a quite soft-spoken fellow.

He homesteaded a place in Alaska. Flew in, landed his Piper on a nice meadow, and spent the next 18(?) Months living off the land. He had the funniest story about building his cabin when a hungry bear came along.

Thankfully his kids and friends prodded him into writing down his story.

Breakaway

https://www.amazon.com/Breakaway-Walter-Yates/dp/0615438830

From his Obit:

Walter "Yukon" Yates, age 90, passed away March 2, 2015. Walter was born on October 19, 1924 as the third son of eight children to the late Andrew Jesse and Mae Elizabeth Yates. He spent his boyhood in the Ozark Mountains atop a mountain called Burny Mountain, now fittingly known as Yates Mountain - in northwest Arkansas's Madison County. He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers Bobby Gene, Chester, and Harris Yates; and sisters Dorothy Dunn and Catherine McMahan. Walter is survived by his wife of 37 years, Tracy Yates; his first wife and mother of his children, Edith Williams; his children, Sharolyn Yates of Houston, Susan McLaughlin and husband, Bob McLaughlin of Pflugerville, and Jay Yates and fiancé, Nancy Grob, of Rogue River, Oregon; and stepson, Greg Malone and wife, Lisa, of Round Rock, Texas; brothers Donald and wife, Lois Yates of Corpus Christi; sister, Georgeanne Jones of San Antonio; and,19 grand and great grandchildren.

Having lived a life inspired by Jack London, Walter often referred to himself as a modern-day Mr. London with a "master's degree in life." Growing up in the midst of the Great Depression, he found inspiration amidst his mountain adventures and explorations. Along with his older brothers, he provided sustenance for his family by hunting and fishing. As a wise and savvy six-year-old, Walter roamed the mountain and its valleys with a single shot .22 caliber rifle, often alone for miles in the wilderness, building fires and roasting his catch on sticks.

Being an avid reader, Walter discovered London and found himself influenced by his tales of sourdough prospecting in Alaska - and vowed to live a life of similar nature, as an outdoorsman, adventurer, and inspiration to all who met him. He mastered such living. His motto was "you gotta wanna do it." He thought if someone really wanted to achieve something they could, they could-by truly putting their mind to it. He put his mind to the skies, the forest, the mountains, gold pans, vast and wild terrain seen by few, and eventually to paper.

At the young age of 10, Walter worked as a Western Union delivery boy when his family relocated to Corpus Christi. He spent his nights wading around the bay with a lantern gigging for flounder. At 17, he dropped out of school to join the Marine Corps on November 29, 1941 - just a week before Pearl Harbor. One month later, he was aboard the U.S. Lurline, en route to the South Pacific. He finished his boot camp training on the island of Samoa, and special trained for jungle combat before landing on the island of Guadalcanal. Walter had his 18th birthday on the Island. Not long after, he was severely wounded by a mortar shell. Two of his buddies were killed, and Walter was sent to New Zealand to recuperate. He later returned to the States and spent nearly a year in a naval hospital in Corpus Christi, and was discharged as entirely disabled in June 1945. Because he regretted his young decision to leave school, Walter took his discharge as an opportunity to further his education, earning his aforementioned "degree in life."

Walter never allowed his disability to interfere with living, something he strived to achieve with a meticulous dedication to life. For a while, he operated a flooring business, later delved into real estate, and eventually became a land developer which he did for the remainder of his life. Walter's most-loved accomplishment was the design of Breakaway Park-a fly-in subdivision with a runway literally in the homeowners' backyards, many of whom are pilots. Flying was, perhaps, his biggest passion after all. Walter loved to fly - and did so all over the world. He spent an entire year exploring Alaskan ghost towns and abandoned gold mines in his helicopter. In fact, he nearly lost his life when he had a tail rotor failure and crashed in a remote area of British Columbia, surviving for 14 days in the snow with a broken back and only cranberries as nourishment before finally being rescued. His survival tactics acquired in his childhood saved his life. In more than 50 years of flying, that near fatal crash was his only brush with death.

Walter enjoyed doing many things. He had a natural talent for building things including handcrafting things, several aircraft, two helicopters, a two-seater airplane, and restoring old cars. His most recent project was rebuilding an MG sports car. He had the good fortune of having two of his best friends, Mark Lazar and Leroy Blair, help him with many of his projects. The projects were also labors of love for them.

Walter recently published a book called Breakaway-about his life, journeys, and adventures. Because of his authorship, he was often asked to speak at meetings including those held by the Outdoor Writers Association and The Woods and Waters Club. Walter was admired by many, and inspired all who knew his stories. Breakaway Park hosts events throughout the year, and as a prosperous and well-established neighborhood today, the admiration its residents have for the man and mind behind the pilot's dream can be heard in every, "How are you doing, Mr. Yates?"
At a picnic in Breakaway Park, it was Mr. Yates who said: "Look around. Do you see all these happy people? All of this happened because one person had a dream." And that's how Walter lived - making dreams come true - both his and those around him.

 

I’m sure you heard lots of stories Tom, that’s one impressive neighbor you had!

 

Maybe this is the way to stop a mountain lion too.

P.S. The comments on this video are awesome.

 

Caught out in the elements during a wild storm would be one hell of an experience.