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Captain...or Skully
climber
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Jul 19, 2013 - 01:08pm PT
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It's better in September, Mouse.
Remember the flux of the seasons, man.
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MisterE
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 19, 2013 - 03:37pm PT
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Glad to hear you're coming, Skully - see you there. Erik
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maldaly
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Jul 19, 2013 - 03:53pm PT
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Sadly, I don't think Karen and I will be there this year. We are working in Alaska for the summer at the Big Ku Lodge as managers and cooks. This is a remote, off-the-grid lodge in a native inholding in Katmai National Park. Everything at this lodge has been flown in by a float plane. We're located on a bluff at the outlet of Kukaklik Lake, about 60 river miles upstream from King Salmon. Brokedownclimber, you'd be right at home here. We look out on many many square miles of tundra and lakes with the snow covered Katmai mountain in the distance. It's not unlike what the Winds look like from Riverton. The biggest difference between here and Wyoming is that, here, it's 55º and mostly cloudy and rainy all of the time and, instead of antelope, we see bears. Lots of them. People come to Katmai to watch bears and we see many of them in camp every day.
Unlike the Yosemite bears, the grizzlies around here are mostly scared of people. We, no sh#t, shoo them from camp when they wander through. As long as we don't get between them and their salmon, they don't care about us. Yesterday there was a big mama sow with her two cubs rooting around in the burn pit and when I shooed her away, she wandered off about 20', watched me for a few minutes then came back to the pit with her cubs while I was yelling and bangig pots. She ignored me and that bad news for the bear. Next time she comes back I have to shoot her. I've got a loaded .357, sitting on my kitchen counter: the first two slugs are #6 bird shot. The next three are hollow-points.
Wouldn't it be badass to shoot a bear? I'll post a full TR after the action happens.
Karen and I will be celebrating 30 years of marriage in Yosemite at the end of October. We won a gift certificate to the Wawona Lodge at last year's raffle so we'll definitely be there on the 28th, our actual anniversary. We plan to spend a week or ten days in the Valley around that time so I hope to see some of you. As usual, I'll be cooking good food. This time I'll bring my paella pan which will feed 12-15 people, sooooo.
Take care and climb safe.
Mal and Karen
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labrat
Trad climber
Auburn, CA
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Jul 19, 2013 - 04:51pm PT
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I think I would use a rifle with a bunch more power and accuracy if I had to take down that bear.
Any chance you could get a hold of a bunch of flash bangs first? 12 gauge with bird shot would give you a bit more range.....
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maldaly
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Jul 19, 2013 - 06:35pm PT
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I've got bear spray for the long range stuff; the .357 is for getting up close and personal.
We live on the edge up here.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Jul 19, 2013 - 07:04pm PT
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Sadly, I don't think Karen and I will be there this year. We are working in Alaska for the summer at the Big Ku Lodge as managers and cooks. This is a remote, off-the-grid lodge in a native inholding in Katmai National Park. Everything at this lodge has been flown in by a float plane. We're located on a bluff at the outlet of Kukaklik Lake, about 60 river miles upstream from King Salmon....
Pfft.
You call that an excuse?
Weak sauce.
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GhoulweJ
Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
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Jul 19, 2013 - 07:33pm PT
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Mal,
.357, seriously????
Try .375 bolt action rifle.
.357 can go.... "Bad" with a big bear.
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maldaly
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Jul 19, 2013 - 10:12pm PT
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You guys...
I don't want to kill the bear. I want to teach it to stay away from this camp. There's a shitton of salmon swimming up the river about 50' away and they don't need to be picking through a burn pile to chew the labels off of partially burned cans. BTW, the prior manager left a ton of partially burned stuff out there. I've been out there every day re-burning old stuff and pouring used oil into the burn area to get it incinerator hot. In another day or two there will be nothing left for the bears to be attracted to. We will keep a spotlessly clean camp and lodge that we're proud of: one that bears don't care about.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 19, 2013 - 10:16pm PT
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great to hear about your adventures Mal & Karen... looking forward to catching up with you again... I'll make a point about October and maybe we can actually climb something together!
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MisterE
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 20, 2013 - 12:04am PT
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Mal, you guys got a great gig up there! Glad to see it working out into a regular deal.
Miss you guys though.
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maldaly
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Jul 21, 2013 - 12:47pm PT
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<bump>
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10b4me
Ice climber
Middle-of-Nowhere, Arizona
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Jul 21, 2013 - 12:55pm PT
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I hope you don't have to shoot the bear, Mal.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Jul 21, 2013 - 02:43pm PT
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Hey Mal, you've got a real plum posting up there! Will miss you at FL. Sounds like you're doing your own facelift. What was in the idiot guy's mind to not fully burn the trash?
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maldaly
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Jul 21, 2013 - 03:22pm PT
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HighTraverse,
The reason Karen and I are the managers now is that the previous ones were truly idiots. Lots of issues, the burn pile being one of the minor ones. Happy to say that mama and cubs have not been back since I shooed them away a few days ago. Other bears have been around but none have been digging in pit. They wander through camp, we yell at them and they run.
They're not like Yosemite bears, that's for sure.
Mal
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Barbarian
climber
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Jul 29, 2013 - 07:39pm PT
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Sending a big THANK YOU to Ken who puts so many hours into this each year.
Also many thanks to Sharon who has been wrangling all the campsite reservations this year. Hers is a thankless task that sometimes gets lost in shuffle, but is much appreciated.
Less than two months to go...I better start practicing my microtrash litter stick technique!
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Roots
Mountain climber
SoCal
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Jul 30, 2013 - 02:01pm PT
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Stoked!
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Plaidman
Trad climber
South Slope of Mt. Tabor, Portland, Oregon, USA
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Jul 30, 2013 - 04:52pm PT
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Pinky the Camping Ranger in Camp 4 taught me to appreciate picking up micro trash.
So psyched to get there.
Plaid
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Jul 30, 2013 - 07:19pm PT
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really enjoyed picking up trash last year. Allowed me to hike around some places i hadn't been before and felt good giving a little back to a place that means ..so much to me. Got to meet a personal hero, Mark Wellman and his buds camped next to me. He kept me from running over my camp chair. very cool.
Would love to hang out with any of you folks at Yellow pines. Got an e-mail back offering to place me near some folks if I know who. I have met some of you and lots I havn't met. I'm glad to put up for some great fixin's and beer or whatever refreshments are your preference. Any takers? If so I'll mention you when I ask otherwise I'll just ask for Yellow pines and hope to see yas around.
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jstan
climber
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Jul 30, 2013 - 09:02pm PT
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Talking nanotrash here.
I took a staple from a normal desk stapler, cut off the bent ends, and easily picked it up from a flat surface with orangutongs. Smaller than a small sewing needle.
Ken's autograph has worn off my grabbers. Will need a refresh this year.
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Jul 30, 2013 - 09:59pm PT
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How we doin on meatfest?
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