by some who still need to learn the art of living lightly on the land. The solution depends on each of us. We can minimize our impact. The saying, “Take only memories (or photos), leave only footprints,” sums it up.
Learn to Go Light
John Muir, traveling along the crest of the Sierra in the 1870s with little more that his overcoat and his pockets full of biscuits was the archetype.
Muir’s example may be too extreme for many, but we think he might have appreciated modern lightweight equipment and food as a great convenience. A lot of the stuff that goes into the mountains is burdensome, harmful to the wilderness, or just plain annoying to other people seeking peace and solitude. Please leave behind anything that is obtrusive or that can be used to modify the terrain: gas lanterns, radios, hatchets, gigantic tents, etc.
Carry Out Your Trash
You packed that foil and those cans and bags in when full; you can pack them out empty. Never litter or bury your trash.
Sanitation
Eliminate body wastes at least 100 feet, and preferably 200 feet, from lakes, streams, trails, and campsites. Bury feces at least 6 inches deep wherever possible. Intestinal pathogens can survive for years in feces when they’re buried, but burial reduces the chances that critters will come in contact with them and carry pathogens into the water. Where burial is not possible due to lack of enough soil or gravel, leave feces where they will receive maximum exposure to heat and sunlight to hasten the destruction of pathogens. Also help reduce the waste problem in the backcountry by packing out your used toilet paper, facial tissues, tampons, sanitary napkins, and diapers. It’s easy to carry them out in a heavy-duty, self-sealing plastic bag.
Protect the Water
Just because something is “biodegradable,” like some soaps, doesn’t mean it’s okay to put it in the water. In addition, the fragile sod of meadows, lakeshores, and streamsides is rapidly disappearing from the High Sierra. Pick “hard” campsites, sandy places that can stand the use. Camp at least 200 feet from water unless that’s absolutely impossible; in no case camp closer than 25 feet. Don’t make campsite “improvements” like rock walls, bough beds, new fireplaces, or tent ditches.
Avoid Campfires
Use a modern, lightweight backpacking stove. (If you use a gas-cartridge stove, be sure to pack your used cartridges out.) Campfires waste a precious resource: wood that would otherwise shelter animals and, upon falling and decaying, return vital nutrients to the soil. Campfires also run the risk of starting forest fires.
Exercise special care when using an ultra-lightweight alcohol stove, as its flames tend to be uncontrollable when the pot is off the burning stove. Be sure the area is cleared for at least a cubic yard of flammable materials above, around, and below the stove.
If your stove fails and you must cook over a campfire in order to survive, here are some guidelines: If possible, camp in an established site with an existing fireplace you can use. If you must build a fireplace, build with efficiency and restoration in mind: two to four medium-sized rocks set parallel along the sides of a narrow, shallow trench in a sandy place. Set the pot on the rocks and over the fire, which you can feed with small sticks and twigs (use only dead and downed wood). Never leave the fire unattended. Before you leave, thoroughly extinguish the fire and pour water over the ashes, and then restore the site by scattering the rocks and filling the trench.
To use a stove or have a campfire where legal, you must have a California Campfire Permit. One such permit is good for the season. Your wilderness permit can double as your California Campfire Permit. If you’re taking a trip that doesn’t require a wilderness permit, you still need a California Campfire Permit, available at any ranger station.
Respect the Wildlife
Avoid trampling on nests, burrows, or other homes of animals. Observe all fishing limits and keep shorelines clean and clear of litter. If angling, use biodegradable line and never leave any of it behind. If you come across an animal, just quietly observe it. Above all, don’t go near any nesting animals and their young. Get “close” with binoculars or telephoto lenses.
Deer
Grouse
Safety and Well Being
Hiking in the high country is far safer than driving to the mountains, and a few precautions can shield you from most of the discomforts and dangers that could threaten you.
Health Hazards
Altitude Sickness: If you normally live at sea level and come to the Sierra to hike, it may take your body several days to acclimate. Starved of your accustomed oxygen, for a few days you may experience shortness of breath even with minimal activity, severe headaches, or nausea. The best solutions are to spend time at altitude before you begin your hike and to plan a very easy first day. On your hike, light, frequent meals are best.
Giardia and Cryptosporidium: Giardiasis is a serious gastrointestinal disease caused by a waterborne protozoan, Giardia lamblia. Any mammal (including humans) can become infected. It will then excrete live giardia in its feces, from which the protozoan can get into even the most remote sources of water, such as a stream issuing from a glacier. Giardia can survive in snow through the winter and in cold water as a cyst resistant to the usual chemical treatments. Giardiasis can be contracted by drinking untreated water. Symptoms appear two to three weeks after exposure.
Cryptosporidium is another, smaller, very hardy pest that causes a disease similar to giardiasis. It’s been found in the streams of the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles, and it is spreading throughout Southern California. Probably it will eventually infest Sierra waters.
At this time, boiling and filtering are the only sure backcountry defenses against giardia and cryptosporidium. Bring water to a rolling boil; this is easy to do while you’re cooking and is now judged effective at any Sierra altitude. To be effective against both giardia and the much-smaller cryptosporidium, a filter must trap particles down to 0.4 micron.
Halogen treatments (iodine, chlorine) are ineffective against cryptosporidium and hard to use properly against giardia—but they are better than no treatment at all. There are chlorine-dioxide water treatments available for backpackers as well as a device that claims to zap the bugs. The chlorine-dioxide treatments reportedly take 30 minutes to kill giardia and four hours to kill cryptosporidia. Consider these treatments as back-up systems—to use only when boiling or filtering isn’t possible; use only as directed.
This may feel cool and refreshing, but it’s advisable to filter or boil water before drinking it.
Hypothermia: Hypothermia refers to subnormal body temperature. More hikers die from hypothermia than from any other single cause. Caused by exposure to cold, often intensified by wet, wind, and weariness, the first symptoms of hypothermia are uncontrollable shivering and imperfect motor coordination. These are rapidly followed by loss of judgment, so that you yourself cannot make the decisions to protect your own life. Death by “exposure” is death by hypothermia.
To prevent hypothermia, stay warm: Carry wind- and rain-protective clothing, and put it on as soon as you feel chilly. Stay dry: Carry or wear wool or a suitable synthetic (not cotton) against your skin,
