Off-road flute advice

[sbfluter]

Bears don't actually eat people. They eat people's stuff. That is why they insist you carry a large cannister for all your food and things the bears are attracted to. Then they can't get at your stuff and decide it's not worth hanging around people.

They might hurt you if you startle them or their cubs. So don't startle them if you can manage.

The black bears are not like grizzlies. The Sierra is full of black bears. My local backcountry is full of black bears. I've seen their prints many times. I've seen their poop. But I have never seen them. I've also seen cougar prints. I fear them more than bears because lions do eat people.

I would rather die or be severely injured being eaten by a lion than to die of a heart-attack watching television after a long day at some lousy wage-slavery job. We all have choices to make and this is mine.

[Cork]

OK, maybe a first step toward individual liberation could simply be to give up the TV, entirely.

For instance, I have never owned a TV, no cable, no satellite dish, or anything like that, although I do have a radio.

I also have friends who have TVs, and all too often when I visit them, they are there, as perennial victims, in front of their TVs.

Oh, wait a minute, this thread is supposed to have something to do with flutes, ahem.

Well, that's one of the things I do, play flute, instead of watching TV.

[sbfluter]

Me, too. I play my flute or my dulcimer. I'm sure that my partner will be glad to see me go away for a few months. And I will be happy to have all that time to play my music without bothering anybody.

[Aanvil]

I would rather die or be severely injured being eaten by a lion than to die of a heart-attack watching television after a long day at some lousy wage-slavery job. We all have choices to make and this is mine.

Somehow... I don't think you have really thought this choice through.

Really.

You might want to modify it at least.

Say die of a heart attack first... then be eaten by the lion.

[Jon C.]

OK, maybe a first step toward individual liberation could simply be to give up the TV, entirely.

For instance, I have never owned a TV, no cable, no satellite dish, or anything like that, although I do have a radio.

I also have friends who have TVs, and all too often when I visit them, they are there, as perennial victims, in front of their TVs.

Oh, wait a minute, this thread is supposed to have something to do with flutes, ahem.

Well, that's one of the things I do, play flute, instead of watching TV.

Haven't had a TV since there was only 13 channels, and 2 on UHF.

[Jon C.]

I would rather die or be severely injured being eaten by a lion than to die of a heart-attack watching television after a long day at some lousy wage-slavery job. We all have choices to make and this is mine.

Somehow... I don't think you have really thought this choice through.

Really.

You might want to modify it at least.

Say die of a heart attack first... then be eaten by the lion.

I think that is how I would go!

[Jay]

I believe you'll hit some high altitudes on that route. Having carried both a flute and whistle on the Continental Divide trail (subsequent trips), I would say the whistle is the easier player when oxygen is in short supply. However, if you're going with friends, you would be surprised how loud the whistle is in camp. It's much more acceptable to drag a flute out of your pack.

Have fun!
Jay

[norcalbob]

Bears don't actually eat people. They eat people's stuff. That is why they insist you carry a large cannister for all your food and things the bears are attracted to. Then they can't get at your stuff and decide it's not worth hanging around people.

They might hurt you if you startle them or their cubs. So don't startle them if you can manage.

The black bears are not like grizzlies. The Sierra is full of black bears.

The Sierras are indeed full of black bears, and I've had my share of encounters with them up close and personal. These were mostly in the days before the bear resistant, food cannister requirements. Although the black bears are just looking for food and not me to eat, it can be an unnerving experience to be face to face with one less than 20 feet away.

On two separate occasions in the high country of Kings Canyon I have had a personal bear encounter. Once while sleeping under the stars in an area where metal bear-proof boxes had been brought in by helicopter for food storage, my friend and I were awakened by a ruckus. When I pointed my headlamp in the direction of the containers, there were 6 beady eyes staring back at us: a momma bear and her 2 cubs. Momma was doing battle with the bear box. After a few anxious moments she headed off down the path. She had managed to turn the metal box over and it weighed at least 150 pounds or more.

On another occasion four of us made camp in an area that had signs of bear activity so we hung our food bags high in lodgepole pine, and piled our backpacks in the center of the campsite with our pots and pans plied on top of them. Again, in the middle of the night, we awoke when we heard the pans falling down, just in time to see a big bear run away with one of the empty backpacks in its mouth. We started yelling at him, and he stopped, looked at us and dropped the pack. The pack was fine except for some big, slobbery bite holes in it.

Probably the funniest but the most potentially dangerous encounter I had occurred in a public campsite in Yosemite Valley. My climbing partner and I were sitting around the campfire sipping on a bottle of Yukon Jack while trying to summon up some additional courage for a difficult climb were going to attempt the next day. I had an old VW van with a fold down bed inside, and I had left the sliding door open. As I walked (or perhaps stumbled) to the van to turn in for the night, a big black bear calmly lumbered out of the van with a bag of food in her mouth. We both looked at each other rather nonchalantly, and she waddled away; we would have made for strange bedmates.

The Yukon Jack helped quell the fear that evening, but it didn't help with our climbing ability the next day. We failed miserably with only headaches and parched throats to show for it...

So where are you going on the PCT, Diane, and have you decided what instruments you are taking after all?

[Cork]

Please be careful out there, on the trail, Diane.

The odds of you running into any serious trouble are slight, but there indeed does remain a chance for you to encounter real danger, and that's no joke.

That said, I'd bring at least one stiff knife, a strong one, with the understanding that a knife through an eye and into a brain could stop an oppressor.

Yeah, that's not the adventure you have in mind, no doubt, so just call me the devil's advocate.

Otherwise, I wish you a great trip, and I look forward to your return.

[sbfluter]

I need more protection walking down the streets in my city. I swear it can be a pain in the butt being female in the city sometimes. At least in the wilderness I'm at or near the top of the food chain at all times. I'm never that close to the top in the city.

I keep changing my mind about which flute to bring. The weight-weenie in me says bring my smallest penny whistle. Ouch, but that is loud!

I think my Dixon aluminum low whistle weighs less than my PVC Tipple, too.

I seriously think I would have more fun bringing my strumstick dulcimer.

So far, I just can't make up my mind.

What would you haul on your back from Mexico to Ashland, Oregon?

[Cork]

...At least in the wilderness I'm at or near the top of the food chain at all times...

As I was saying, there really is a difference between being at and near the top of the food chain.

I'd bring the Tipple, but YMMV.

[talasiga]

Travel light
Take little to allow space
To hear the songs of the wild places

The good player plays music in time
The entranced listener makes it timeless

[norcalbob]

I keep changing my mind about which flute to bring. The weight-weenie in me says bring my smallest penny whistle. Ouch, but that is loud!

I think my Dixon aluminum low whistle weighs less than my PVC Tipple, too.

I seriously think I would have more fun bringing my strumstick dulcimer.
I
So far, I just can't make up my mind.

What would you haul on your back from Mexico to Ashland, Oregon?

I certainly understand being a "weight-weenie." Many years before all the new hi-tech, low weight gear, I used to regularly hump 60 pounds for a 2 week trip...ugh...and wearing itchy wool clothing to boot. Never again!

I would take the instrument that I would miss the most if I didn't take it with me, and for me, that would be my flute. The sound of a flute in the wilderness just seems to fit for me, and I look forward to backpacking with mine. As much as I love to hear a good whistle, I wouldn't take one with me; the sound is just too loud and piercing. Since it is so light though, you could take it as well, and use it as a substitute for a regular emergency whistle which everyone should have with them. But I'd only play it when I was certain no one was within earshot so as not to disturb their wilderness experience.

From Mexico to the Oregon border sounds like a fabulous trip! When do you plan to leave, and how long do expect to be on the trail?

I actually prefer to be in the Sierras in the late season, after Labor Day and into the early fall. The early season often has difficult stream crossings and snow problems in the high passes, and mid-summer is full of hikers, skeeters, and sudden flash and boomer weather. In the fall, the weather is surprising stable, the passes are generally snow free, and the skeeters are mostly gone along with the people. However, the days are short and the nights get cold, and I have been caught in an occasional, freak white-out or, worse yet, an extended period of heavy rain from a pineapple express weather system. But, those events seem to make the experience even more memorable in the Range of Light.

[jemtheflute]

Take a pack pony?

Seriously. I've never liked serious backpacking - not because I don't enjoy the great outdoors (I do) or mind roughing it (I don't) or am a wimp (well, maybe now in my sedentary, unfit middle age!), but I have never seen the attraction of life as a snail! I'd enjoy the walking, the adventure, all the wonders of the trail, the camping, being solitary etc. etc. But not the humping. Take a beast of burden and only carry a daypack size load yourself! I've never actually done it (have camp-toured off a push-bike, though), but if I ever did contemplate a long distance (more than a day's worth) hike, I'd want a pack pony along.

[ChrisCracknell]

Me, I'd take a flute. Whistles are ok, but wouldn't fit my mood when in the mountains. I would take (probably) my folk flute and arrange a moisture proof barrier for it (freezer bag/tupperware?) and wrap it in some clothes. But then again, I'd be walking in Scotland which is a less challenging climate for a played flute than some others that I can think of. I also would be unlikely to be more than a week out at any one time these days. I guess a Delrin flute if I had one that I liked playing would also be ok. As a weight saver, I might consider taking my F or G flute instead. Not the piccolo though, for the same reason as the whistle.

Playing outside is great and even better in nice places. However, the acoustic effect is the opposite of playing in a small room with hardboard floors and no furniture (see other thread) - at first, one's sound can sound pretty weak.

Anyway, whatever you do, have fun. And I'm sure you know perfectly well how to deal with bears etc. I too feel safer in the outdoors than I do in a typical city. And I'm an 86Kg male Judo 4th Dan...

'bye

Chris.