SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019
10 BACKPACKER.COM
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INNSTRAILCHAT
Your opinions, photos, and featsWilderness Hero
Ranger Randy Morgenson, who disappeared in Sequoia
and Kings Canyon National Parks in 1996, left such a
lasting impression on his colleagues and friends that
they named a mountain after him (“Epitaph in the Sky,”
July/August 2019). But everyday hikers remembered his
zeal for the wilderness, too. In an email, Bob Borthwick
recounted a meeting with Morgenson during a hike of the
John Muir Trail with his sons in July, 1996. “We were on a
downhill grade approaching McClure Meadow, and Randy
approached us to check our wilderness permits,” he wrote.
“Randy gave us this parting advice: ‘When you get to the
meadow, don’t stay on the trail around the edge. Be sure
to walk out to the middle and turn slowly in all directions
to savor the beauty.’ He was a special ranger and a special
man.” Borthwick believes he may have been one of the last
people to talk to Morgenson.THE FAST AND THE FURRIEST
Everyone knows that bears will steal your
food bag, but in Colorado, one bruin took it
a step further this summer when it broke
into, and then crashed, a car. Read the story
at backpacker.com/grandtheftbear, and
get the skills and gear to stay safe in bear
country at backpacker.com/bears.JOIN THE CLUB
Go beyond the pages of
BACKPACKER. Join our
Basecamp membership
program, and you can hang
out with the editors in our
members-only Facebook g roup, as well as get
exclusive videos, discounts, newsletters and
more. Sign up at backpacker.com/basecampTHE SCALES OF JUSTICE
After Zoë Rom shared her story about accidentally peeing on a rattler (“You’re Doing
It Wrong!” July/August 2019, page 106), reader Cindy Slawski wrote in to admonish
her for the encounter, which led to the animal’s death. “Her ‘bad’ wasn’t accidentally
letting it flow on the unsuspecting snake’s head, it was allowing it to be bludgeoned
and hacked to death afterward,” she said.You’re right of course, Cindy. It’s always a bummer when an animal dies, even when
the person who kills it is trying to save someone else’s life. But killing snakes is rarely
necessary. If you get caught with your pants down, slowly back away.Morgenson at^
Tyndall Creek Ranger
Station, 1988