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Can
you guess what this is? Darrell took this photo as he walked
Southern California. If you can guess what is in the picture,
make an entry to our guestbook to say what you think. (Those of you who we've already told, shhhhhh, keep it secret for now!) In mid-August, I'll write the answer here...
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Well, good job everyone! We've gotten some very creative and fun guesses on this mystery photo. Water bag, baby hammock, food stash, laundry bag... It looks like it could be any one of those things, but it's not!
What you see here is the result of wildfire. It's a metal sign that suffered the intense heat of a fire. The sign's sturcture survived, but the plastic that covered it melted and then hardened into this shape. It looks soft and cushy, doesn't it? But it's hard as rock.
Mystery Photo #2: Guess the Gear
Here's
a picture of Darrell's gear, unpacked and spread out on the
ground. I've drawn an arrow to one particular item that he
purchased espeically for this trip. It has to do with
safety. Can you guess what it is? Okay, post your ideas in
the guestbook again...
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Correct identification by fellow hiker Alan Lam! He posted in the guestbook on August 27th that this is a bear cannister, a.k.a. a bear barrel. All of Darrell's food is in this plastic barrel, which has a bear-proof locking system to the lid. With this, Darrell doesn't have to hang his food in trees. A bear might play soccer with the cannister, but he'll not succeed in opening it. Experience has shown that bears eventually get bored trying to open these and leave 'em alone. Finding food is serious business for any animal that hibernates, and they cannot afford to waste too much time when the food eludes them. In bear inhabited areas, hikers must, by law, either hang their food or use one of these barrels. When you're up at these altitudes, it can be really difficult to find a tree that offers branches high enough to hang food, so these cannisters come in real handy. Even if there is a good tree, hanging food can be difficult, especially when you're tired and just want to crawl into your tent at sleep. The barrels alleviate that problem entirely.
However, Darrell is just about out of the more serious bear territory. He's going to send this cannister home and just hang his stuff from now on. He's tired of carrying it. It adds an extra 2.5 pounds after all...