#473: Wild Bears and Whiskey Lemonades

When life gives you lemons… make Whiskey Lemonade.

Well…
that’s how the saying goes for me with this story.

I was hiking a couple hundred miles of the John Muir Trail with a buddy. It was bear country and, of course, we were carrying food on our backs.

To keep food away from bears, at night we would hang our backpacks on tree limbs. We would take a rope…tie a rock to one end of it and our pack to the other…then toss the rock over a secure limb high off the ground. The gravity would bring the rock down so we could grab it…and hoist our packs in the air.

One night, however, one bear was way smarter than two hikers.

The next morning, our packs were on the ground…shredded. A bear had gotten them. Evidently, the bear climbed the tree, went out on the limb, and shook the packs back to the ground. He then enjoyed a tasty buffet of backpack food.

He left three items:

1. A canister of powdered chocolate.
2. Multiple packets of lemonade mix.
3. A bottle of whiskey.

For the next 60 hours, my buddy and I walked extra fast to our next food drop on the trail. We drank stream water with the iodine tablets we carried, carefully rationed spoons of powdered chocolate…and mixed Whiskey Lemonades.

Before my alcohol-free friends panic, please know this blog isn’t about encouraging one to take lemonade packets and whiskey when venturing into bear country to hike. Instead…this blog is about what to do when life serves up your version of:

“A bear was here last night. He got our packs. They’re shredded. Our food is gone. We have 30 miles…through the wilderness…to walk.”

Feel me?

Be tougher than life.

Don’t wait to be rescued.
Put your backpack on every day.
Put your sneakers on every day.
Get your butt moving every day.

Whiskey lemonades?
Totally optional.

PS: I would love to tell you “No more bear encounters”…but, unfortunately, THAT is a blog for another day.