Cohabiting with the Wild

"It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here."

"So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space."

--- Edward Abbey

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It is often easy to forget that we share this world with many other species whose existence, alas, is endangered because of our activities. And yet when we go out into the mountains and look around, we cannot help but to realize that their existence represents an elemental source of order in the natural world.

"We can love the wild. We can fear it. We are strengthened and nurtured by it. As a species, we came of age in a natural world far wilder than today's, and much of the need for wildness still exists within us, body and mind."

--- Peter Kahn and Pat Hasbaach

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Spring season is approaching and our fury friends (especially Grizzly bears) will soon be out wandering in ways nature intended them to be. And nature also intended us to be wandering out in the wilderness. We love hiking, climbing, resting on alpine meadows, and sometimes covering long distances under sheltering skies --- be they scorching hot, torrentially rainy, or unforgivingly cold. One day you may encounter one of them, and you'd then wish you knew 'what these animals really need': Eat you? Love you? Kill you? or Avoid confrontation?

This event is going to be an easy day outing that involves an indoor session on Grizzly bear, black bear, cougar, and wolf morphology, behaviors, diets, and adaptations; brain-based human response mechanisms in case of encounters, as well as choosing the potential courses of action in those situations. After this session, we will go for a half-day hike in the K-Country.

Where: ACC Canmore Clubhouse + K-Country (Blended)

Max: 10

Hiking Difficulty: Moderate/Difficult

Fitness Level: Average

Gear:

• 3 season hiking gear (Backpack, waterproof hiking boots, trekking poles, lunch, water, shell layers, gaiters, sunglasses, first aid kit)

• Pen and paper

• Chocolate for the organizer

Participation and Carpooling: CORA 2014 members only. If you are bringing a guest, you must make a drop-in fee payment ($5) on behalf of your guest.

We'll carpool in the city as convenience to non-drivers. CORA trips start at the trailhead. In this case, it will begin at ACC Clubhouse.

Rule of Conduct: Be nice to animals and plants. Flatter the organizer. Have sense of humor. Oh, and by attending this trip you agree to be bound by the CORA Rules of Conduct (https://www.meetup.com/Calgary-Outdoor-Recreation-Association-CORA/pages/Rules_of_Conduct/).

You'll be expected to sign a trip waiver as well.