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View Full Version : Couple of random questions about bears and pollen....



importman77
03-19-2015, 11:20
Hi guys, This may qualify as the most unrelated pair of questions I've ever asked. I plan to try to finish Georgia on spring break in a few weeks and as usual, I have questions. First, I've been browsing some old threads and came across several relating to problem bears north of Neel's Gap where I will be starting out. These were old posts and I wonder if there is still an issue regarding that now. I understand that if you get past Hogpen gap the situation is supposed to be better but I'm not sure I'm up to doing 12-14 miles right out of the gate. Any knowledge on this will help me with my plans. My second question, which is totally unrelated is about pollen. I'm trying to talk a real good friend of mine into going with me on this trip but he has very serious allergies to pollen and he's not sure he can handle it. What would the pollen levels in that area be in early April? Also, any really good remedies for that if it should be a problem? He takes medicine daily for allergies but I wondered if there was anything else I could tell him to help with that problem. Surely there are allergy prone hikers on here that can tell what works for them? As always I really appreciate any suggestions/advice you can offer on these subjects. Thanks

Ground Control
03-19-2015, 11:33
Should he choose to join, tell your friend to try some of the local honey.

As nice as it is to have a hiking companion, talking someone into coming along is often a double-edged sword; it can be a huge downer & wet blanket if/when they decide coming along was a mistake.

Slo-go'en
03-19-2015, 12:59
Pollen levels will likely be pretty high. Nothing much is blooming yet along the ridges, but down lower it will be. Wind blowing up from the valleys will bring up the pollen. If it's rainy that would help keep the levels down.

I've never been affected much by pollen, but on my last trip down south it hit me pretty hard. I was so stuffed up I couldn't sleep because I couldn't breathe laying down. I thought I was getting a head cold, but someone gave me an antihistamine which mostly cleared it up. This didn't occur until I got was getting into Virginia mid May. But I believe pollen levels were also unusually high that year, off the charts as it were.

Anyway, I can now sympathize with allergy sufferers. If your friend has serious allergy problems to the point he should stay inside as much as possible in the spring, he probably shouldn't go. If he can mange it with OTC antihistamines, it might not be too bad. You could also check the pollen reports for the area as the time gets close.

Bronk
03-19-2015, 14:50
Every sneeze and every hill will be blamed on you as if you put them there. Don't do it.

squeezebox
03-19-2015, 20:04
What about about a dust mask like from Home Depot, or something from medical supply?

Hangfire
03-20-2015, 00:12
You know I didn't see a bear until leaving Damascus, but I sucked at bear spotting. There was a dead bear along the trail that I missed(of course) just north of Neal Gap, someone got a claw off of it thus establishing her trail name as bear claw... Lots of bear cables in Georgia, otherwise hang a bag (and do it correctly).
As far as the pollen goes I have pretty bad allergies but didn't have any problems in April, in fact in early April everything was still really brown and barren.

Huli
03-20-2015, 04:50
Nasonex spray is what I use.
Local honey will help if he can start about a month out.

Fredt4
03-22-2015, 13:22
The only correct way to hang a bear bag is not to hang it. At Blood Mountain shelter there were three other hikers with me that hung their bag. I slept with mine. The next morning I was the only one that didn't lose the food to the bear. My take is, "Hang your food and you kill the bear, so just don't do it."

hobby
03-22-2015, 13:52
Hi guys, This may qualify as the most unrelated pair of questions I've ever asked. I plan to try to finish Georgia on spring break in a few weeks and as usual, I have questions. First, I've been browsing some old threads and came across several relating to problem bears north of Neel's Gap where I will be starting out. These were old posts and I wonder if there is still an issue regarding that now. I understand that if you get past Hogpen gap the situation is supposed to be better but I'm not sure I'm up to doing 12-14 miles right out of the gate. Any knowledge on this will help me with my plans. My second question, which is totally unrelated is about pollen. I'm trying to talk a real good friend of mine into going with me on this trip but he has very serious allergies to pollen and he's not sure he can handle it. What would the pollen levels in that area be in early April? Also, any really good remedies for that if it should be a problem? He takes medicine daily for allergies but I wondered if there was anything else I could tell him to help with that problem. Surely there are allergy prone hikers on here that can tell what works for them? As always I really appreciate any suggestions/advice you can offer on these subjects. Thanks

Nasalcrom-- start using 2weeks prior

Slo-go'en
03-22-2015, 14:34
The only correct way to hang a bear bag is not to hang it. At Blood Mountain shelter there were three other hikers with me that hung their bag. I slept with mine. The next morning I was the only one that didn't lose the food to the bear. My take is, "Hang your food and you kill the bear, so just don't do it."

And had you been the only one there, maybe you wouldn't have been so lucky.

nuknees
03-22-2015, 15:01
And had you been the only one there, maybe you wouldn't have been so lucky.

Very true Slo! I was reading a thread here a week ago about this very thing - sleeping with your food bag. Someone wrote that they spoke with a hiker who was doing this...using his food bag as a pillow and was woken up in middle of night by the bear that snagged it and ran off with it.
I'll hang myself if no boxes or poles thanks! :)

hobby
03-22-2015, 20:17
Very true Slo! I was reading a thread here a week ago about this very thing - sleeping with your food bag. Someone wrote that they spoke with a hiker who was doing this...using his food bag as a pillow and was woken up in middle of night by the bear that snagged it and ran off with it.
I'll hang myself if no boxes or poles thanks! :)

No boxes or poles is no reason to hang yourself!

Sarcasm the elf
03-22-2015, 20:48
The only correct way to hang a bear bag is not to hang it. At Blood Mountain shelter there were three other hikers with me that hung their bag. I slept with mine. The next morning I was the only one that didn't lose the food to the bear. My take is, "Hang your food and you kill the bear, so just don't do it."

What fool would hang their food at blood mountain shelter? When I was there in 2012 and 2013 there wasn't an appropriate tree for bear bagging to be found anywhere near the summit. If they hung it from any of the stubby trees near the shelter then I'm not surprised in the slightest that they had problems with animals.

The blood mountain shelter was also home to the largest rat I'd ever seen, he was the subject of conversation the next day at the Mountain Crossings hostel.