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LoLo
I am planning to hike the Grand Canyon and I am not familiar with the wildlife there. I am used to backpacking/camping through the woods of the Midwest. The most harmfull thing in these woods would be a water moccasin or a coyote, which is not too bad. What anamils are in the Grand Canyon? What should I look out for? What animals are a threat? Also, any suggestions on how to animal proof camp would be helpfull also.
Answer
If you are backpacking in the canyon, than your biggest danger is going to be mice, squirrels and other rodents (and to a lesser degree ravens and other birds) getting into your gear and food.
At the most popular backcountry camping sites (Bright Angel, Indian Gardens, Cottonwood) they have a couple of metal ammo boxes at each campsite to store food in and poles to hang your packs from. You are required to use these and if you do, than you should not have any problems. Just make sure you put ALL of your food or other smelly items in the ammo boxes or hung from the poles.
At other more remote campsites, you will have to fend for yourself. At the backcountry office, they sell fine metal mesh bags to store food in - they are light weight and rodents can not chew through them. You can also hang your food, but tall trees are not that common in the canyon itself. Again, avoid having food or smelly items in your tent or pack as critters can chew their way through (the damage to the tent/pack usually being a bigger pain than the food loss).
Even with the above warnings, I would say that rodents in the canyon - while something to be careful of - are not as bad as many other places that I have backpacked. by following the above precautions, I have never had rodents get my food or get into my gear.
As far as animals that might attack you directly, you don't really have to be too concerned. The canyon does have a good population of mountain lions, but these are shy and rarely seen. In dozens of backpacking and hiking trips to the canyon, I have only briefly seen one and it was running away from me as fast as possible.
Likewise, there are black bears in the more remote forested regions of the North Rim, but here too they will generally try to stay away from you and they are rarely seen.
I do not believe there has been a single recorded incident of a serious bear or lion attack in the canyon in the last 50 years. If you happen to even see one, you should consider yourself lucky for the experience.
The Grand Canyon is also home to a unique form of pink rattlesnake and I have seen these occasionally (usually lower down in the canyon). But they too, tend to be shy. To be safe, it just good standard practice to not put your hands or feet any place that you can't see (rock ledges, etc).
Scorpions are one thing that you should be aware of in the inner canyons. Several species, including the extra potent bark scorpion, are quite common and easy to find if you look. Just avoid walking around in bare feet at the bottom and shake out your boots in the morning. Most scorpion stings are on par with a bee sting. The bark scorpion is generally not fatal unless you are a baby or very eldery - but you will not be a happy camper for a couple of days.
Aside from the above, they do occasionally have problems with deer, coyotes and mountain big horn sheep around the lodge areas on the rim that get too used to people and get into trash, etc. Such animals could potentially be dangerous if people try to get too close, but I have not heard of any actual injuries or attacks. A few years ago, they actually had a couple of wild turkeys down at Phantom Ranch that would follow people around and try to steal food - a little intimidating at times (those are big birds), but not life threatening (they have since been removed).
As far as animals in general, which are not a threat, but are really cool to see... ravens are quite common around the canyon and fun to watch (they are quite curious and playful), the condors are quite famous and a wonderful experience to see. Big horn sheep are also a joy to come across in the canyon and if you go to the bottom, you might be lucky enough to spot the eagles that nest near Phantom Ranch.
Overall, there is less of a threat from animals in the Grand Canyon than in many National Parks (like Yosemite or Glacier). Your biggest dangers (and the thing that causes the most deaths and problems) is heat exhaustion, dehydration and people pushing themselves too hard physically.
If you are backpacking in the canyon, than your biggest danger is going to be mice, squirrels and other rodents (and to a lesser degree ravens and other birds) getting into your gear and food.
At the most popular backcountry camping sites (Bright Angel, Indian Gardens, Cottonwood) they have a couple of metal ammo boxes at each campsite to store food in and poles to hang your packs from. You are required to use these and if you do, than you should not have any problems. Just make sure you put ALL of your food or other smelly items in the ammo boxes or hung from the poles.
At other more remote campsites, you will have to fend for yourself. At the backcountry office, they sell fine metal mesh bags to store food in - they are light weight and rodents can not chew through them. You can also hang your food, but tall trees are not that common in the canyon itself. Again, avoid having food or smelly items in your tent or pack as critters can chew their way through (the damage to the tent/pack usually being a bigger pain than the food loss).
Even with the above warnings, I would say that rodents in the canyon - while something to be careful of - are not as bad as many other places that I have backpacked. by following the above precautions, I have never had rodents get my food or get into my gear.
As far as animals that might attack you directly, you don't really have to be too concerned. The canyon does have a good population of mountain lions, but these are shy and rarely seen. In dozens of backpacking and hiking trips to the canyon, I have only briefly seen one and it was running away from me as fast as possible.
Likewise, there are black bears in the more remote forested regions of the North Rim, but here too they will generally try to stay away from you and they are rarely seen.
I do not believe there has been a single recorded incident of a serious bear or lion attack in the canyon in the last 50 years. If you happen to even see one, you should consider yourself lucky for the experience.
The Grand Canyon is also home to a unique form of pink rattlesnake and I have seen these occasionally (usually lower down in the canyon). But they too, tend to be shy. To be safe, it just good standard practice to not put your hands or feet any place that you can't see (rock ledges, etc).
Scorpions are one thing that you should be aware of in the inner canyons. Several species, including the extra potent bark scorpion, are quite common and easy to find if you look. Just avoid walking around in bare feet at the bottom and shake out your boots in the morning. Most scorpion stings are on par with a bee sting. The bark scorpion is generally not fatal unless you are a baby or very eldery - but you will not be a happy camper for a couple of days.
Aside from the above, they do occasionally have problems with deer, coyotes and mountain big horn sheep around the lodge areas on the rim that get too used to people and get into trash, etc. Such animals could potentially be dangerous if people try to get too close, but I have not heard of any actual injuries or attacks. A few years ago, they actually had a couple of wild turkeys down at Phantom Ranch that would follow people around and try to steal food - a little intimidating at times (those are big birds), but not life threatening (they have since been removed).
As far as animals in general, which are not a threat, but are really cool to see... ravens are quite common around the canyon and fun to watch (they are quite curious and playful), the condors are quite famous and a wonderful experience to see. Big horn sheep are also a joy to come across in the canyon and if you go to the bottom, you might be lucky enough to spot the eagles that nest near Phantom Ranch.
Overall, there is less of a threat from animals in the Grand Canyon than in many National Parks (like Yosemite or Glacier). Your biggest dangers (and the thing that causes the most deaths and problems) is heat exhaustion, dehydration and people pushing themselves too hard physically.
Are there females who have survived the harsh wilderness when going hiking or camping?
I mean with only a knife, rations of food, sleeping bag, and maybe a sidearm.
Answer
Sure, I did that regularly in my 20's. I used to go backpacking even in the middle of the winter at temperatures way below zero, often without a tent, just a lightweight tarp. Didn't need a firearm either (have never carried one -- what would you need it for?) I had a number of female friends who were Outward Bound instructors and had gone through rigorous survival training including as much as a week alone in the backcountry with minimal equipment.
There are countless women throughout history who have endured and even enjoyed such challenges. Remember the Donner Party, the pioneer group who was stranded all winter in the Sierra Nevadas back in the 1840's and some of them had to revert to cannibalism to survive? Most of the women survived and most of the men died. The women also managed to keep all of their children alive (and the women refused to eat the dead). Some of the great adventurers and mountaineers have been female, including a woman in her 50's who was the first to climb 22,000' Huascaran, the highest mountain in the Peruvian Andes. There are plenty of books on women adventurers -- too many to list here.
in fact, during the 1950s and 1960s when the US Military and NASA were preparing for the space program, someone had the idea (unusual at that time when women were discriminated against in most workplace environments) to test women as well as men for candidates to be astronauts. Much to the researchers' surprise, the females they tested had more endurance over a range of conditions than the men, especially for the psychological stress of extended isolation. They had one test where they would leave the person in a dark float chamber until they couldn't stand it any more. Some men lasted a few hours, a few made it to a couple of days. All of the women stood it longer than any of the men and one woman was so comfortable with it that she never asked to be let out -- they just ended the experiment after several days so that the researchers could go home for the weekend! Despite the test results, and the fact that women, being smaller and therefore needing less oxygen and food, would have been more practical to use in the early spacecraft, the US decided to limit the first astronauts to males only. It was almost 20 years before women were a regular part of the on-board space program.
Physiologically, women hold up better in severe cold -- though their hands and feet feel cold sooner than men, that is because their bodies have evolved to protect the core (and a baby, if they are pregnant) so they don't lose heat through their extremities they as fast as men do and so are less susceptible to hypothermia and frostbite. Psychologically they are less likely to panic and make poor decisions under difficult circumstances. I've participated in the rescue of several men over the years who lost it in the woods (often the biggest "toughest" guys are the first to break) and had to be sedated or even strapped in a Stokes litter to evacuate them they were so freaked out. I helped in the rescue of women on 3 occasions, but even though all of them were injured they each kept their calm and were able to evacuate under their own power with some help.
I'm not just saying this because I am female myself. I have worked in construction and been a wilderness skills instructor for over 35 years and I have seen first hand how both men and women react to severe conditions. Yes, there are fewer women than men in both construction and in challenging wilderness sports, but the women that are in those fields are just as tough as, and in some cases, tougher than, any of the men.
Sure, I did that regularly in my 20's. I used to go backpacking even in the middle of the winter at temperatures way below zero, often without a tent, just a lightweight tarp. Didn't need a firearm either (have never carried one -- what would you need it for?) I had a number of female friends who were Outward Bound instructors and had gone through rigorous survival training including as much as a week alone in the backcountry with minimal equipment.
There are countless women throughout history who have endured and even enjoyed such challenges. Remember the Donner Party, the pioneer group who was stranded all winter in the Sierra Nevadas back in the 1840's and some of them had to revert to cannibalism to survive? Most of the women survived and most of the men died. The women also managed to keep all of their children alive (and the women refused to eat the dead). Some of the great adventurers and mountaineers have been female, including a woman in her 50's who was the first to climb 22,000' Huascaran, the highest mountain in the Peruvian Andes. There are plenty of books on women adventurers -- too many to list here.
in fact, during the 1950s and 1960s when the US Military and NASA were preparing for the space program, someone had the idea (unusual at that time when women were discriminated against in most workplace environments) to test women as well as men for candidates to be astronauts. Much to the researchers' surprise, the females they tested had more endurance over a range of conditions than the men, especially for the psychological stress of extended isolation. They had one test where they would leave the person in a dark float chamber until they couldn't stand it any more. Some men lasted a few hours, a few made it to a couple of days. All of the women stood it longer than any of the men and one woman was so comfortable with it that she never asked to be let out -- they just ended the experiment after several days so that the researchers could go home for the weekend! Despite the test results, and the fact that women, being smaller and therefore needing less oxygen and food, would have been more practical to use in the early spacecraft, the US decided to limit the first astronauts to males only. It was almost 20 years before women were a regular part of the on-board space program.
Physiologically, women hold up better in severe cold -- though their hands and feet feel cold sooner than men, that is because their bodies have evolved to protect the core (and a baby, if they are pregnant) so they don't lose heat through their extremities they as fast as men do and so are less susceptible to hypothermia and frostbite. Psychologically they are less likely to panic and make poor decisions under difficult circumstances. I've participated in the rescue of several men over the years who lost it in the woods (often the biggest "toughest" guys are the first to break) and had to be sedated or even strapped in a Stokes litter to evacuate them they were so freaked out. I helped in the rescue of women on 3 occasions, but even though all of them were injured they each kept their calm and were able to evacuate under their own power with some help.
I'm not just saying this because I am female myself. I have worked in construction and been a wilderness skills instructor for over 35 years and I have seen first hand how both men and women react to severe conditions. Yes, there are fewer women than men in both construction and in challenging wilderness sports, but the women that are in those fields are just as tough as, and in some cases, tougher than, any of the men.
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Title Post: Anyone familiar with the wildlife in the Grand Canyon?
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