Nantahala Outdoor Center to Fontana Dam bears

[Airgirl]

Hi, I'm wondering if I will need to hang my food in bear bags in this area? it looks like there are no bear cables here even at the shelters? If need to bear bag it, any suggestions on methods?

Thanks

[Odd Man Out]

I got the Zpacks bear bag combo kit with everything you need.

http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/bear_bag.shtml

Then Google "PCT Method" to learn how to use it.

[MuddyWaters]

Well, what do you consider your other options to be?

How do you feel about sleeping with your food?

In shelters many will hang it from the mouse trapezes. But the rule is, go with the flow. In a shelter its a group decision, you are in it together. If others are hanging, you hang too. If the are using the trapezes, you can do that, but they don't call them mouse trapezes for nothing.

[July]

Well, what do you consider your other options to be?

How do you feel about sleeping with your food?

In shelters many will hang it from the mouse trapezes. But the rule is, go with the flow. In a shelter its a group decision, you are in it together. If others are hanging, you hang too. If the are using the trapezes, you can do that, but they don't call them mouse trapezes for nothing.

At least.... dont sleep with your food on the floor:) Away from shelter.... my pillow.

[Gambit McCrae]

Hi, I'm wondering if I will need to hang my food in bear bags in this area? it looks like there are no bear cables here even at the shelters? If need to bear bag it, any suggestions on methods?

Thanks

Almost all thru hikers I talked to this year stated that they slept with their food if tenting and just hung it in their pack in shelters.

[NCBeaver]

We just completed this section (NOBO) yesterday. My partner SOBO'd it last summer. There is only one shelter in the Nantahala country that has a bear cable (Wesser Bald). That does not mean that there aren't bears around. a bear avoider, not a bear hunter.
Anyway, assuming you have a waterproof bag and some line, all you need to do is find a handy tree limb. We did not go deep into the woods nor hang it terribly high, but we always practice bear safety in North Carolina and you should too. It's not about you, its about protecting the bears.
Both the Park and Forest service take a dim view of bears that hang around where people play. Since relocation doesn't work once they learn that food can be found near people, they just kill the bear outright. You can do your bit. LNT of food in or around a shelter where a bear can get at it.
Food, cookware and toiletries (if scented) should go in a waterproof bag, hung at least 9 feet off the ground (higher than you can jump up and touch) at least 5 feet away from the trunk. Though it is better if possible pick a branch on a tree that is too narrow of trunk to be climbed by a bear. The Nantahala country is primarily oak dominated hardwood forest, so good limbs to use abound. Avoid using dead branches if you can.

[misterfloyd]

I would definitely hang a food bag.

Going through Nat. Forest there are a few places where bears are not to be hunted, legally that is.

In NC weather you are GSMNP, Pisgah, Nat. Cherokee, or any of the wilderness areas, there are bears. That being said hanging is for protecting them as well as for you. I cannot tell you how much garbage I always see in Shinning rock, the AT or any of the above in any stretch. NC dept of forestry regularly close off a place because " some bear attacked a hiker in a tent" in fall on a regular basis.

I don't want to start a debate of hanging food but it needs to be learned. I have done it in places where I could have easily slept with my food but I decided I needed the practice. Learn how to put it between two trees. The higher up you get the more spruce and dead Hemlocks you will run into, harder to find a good branch

There are many good posts on youtube, some are garbage. This to me is a good one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgBLDMuPuvE When I learned it, I practiced the hell out of it.

Others may not feel the same as I do, which is fine as well.

Best,
Floyd

[Dogtra]

Almost all thru hikers I talked to this year stated that they slept with their food if tenting and just hung it in their pack in shelters.

Mmhmmm....

Sounds like thru-hikers have become terribly complacent on this issue then.
Even if there are no bear cables, it is not difficult to hang a bear bag.

[slbirdnerd]

+1 for misterfloyd's link, this video is how I learned! You will need the alternate method. It is not hard once you get a few good hangs under your belt. Practice at home or at a local park. I like to throw my line right after I get to camp/set up tent, then leave my rock sack hanging till I'm ready to hang my food. That way you're not trying to throw a line at dusk/dark.

I will always hang my food. It's not a matter of fear, mostly responsibility. Besides, your food could be gnawed on by lots of things other than bears and who wants mouse crap or raccoon spit in their food bag?

[flemdawg1]

Hi, I'm wondering if I will need to hang my food in bear bags in this area? it looks like there are no bear cables here even at the shelters? If need to bear bag it, any suggestions on methods?

Thanks

I hiked that area last summer, just hung my food bag in the shelter, didn't have any problems.

[10-K]

I would never try to discourage someone who felt they needed to hang their food from doing so but I will say that I think it's unnecessary. Probably the single best thing you can do to avoid bears is not to camp at shelters or established campsites along the trail.

[tpike2]

Hiked for 5 months and never had an issue with bears. Rodents should be your biggest concern. Hang your bag on cables or bear boxes if provided. Hang it at the shelter or sleep with it in your tent if not. You will be fine.

[TomN]

I hang my food just to keep it away from mice and racoons.

[RED-DOG]

If you are going to be using a tent Sleep with it, i have always slept with my food in my tent and never had a problem, if your going to be using the shelters then hang it and i am not talking about from bears i am talking about from other critters such as Raccoons, bears don't usually mess with some one's food unless it is close to the ground or they can smell it. I have completed the AT three times and only had a few bear encounters, not over food but instead the curious type bear. you should have no issues with bears on this short section.

if you hang your food use the PCT method theirs several youtube videos that shows you how.

[Del Q]

I have done it both ways...........on my hike last fall in this area I tented every night and slept with food......no issues

[dangerdave]

I am thru hiking next year, and I WILL NOT SLEEP WITH MY FOOD! Why? Because I have been closer to a live wild black bear than anyone you know.

I 2009, while tent camping in West Virginia, I had a six foot black bear attempt to enter my tent. That's right! He pushed his nose in against my tent wall just far enough to be a few inches from my nose. I awoke when the bear huffed out a blast of air into my face, looming over me, so close it made my eye lashed flutter! I **** you not! I shutter to remember this...

The story ended well, only because I had the sense to lock my food in my nearby truck, which the bear also attempted to enter after smelling no food with me---or maybe he got a whiff of my shorts! The paw prints we found in the morning were as big as my outstretch hand, and I have big hands. If I had had anything to eat in that tent, I would not likely be here to tell you this. So, take heed, food-sleepers!

You don't want to do it to save the bears? Save yourself! A hungry bear will roll you out and tear you up to get your "pillow". And it only has to happen once.

Hang your freakin' bag!

[Ox97GaMe]

The bear population in this section is not very large. In fact, I have never seen any signs of bear along the AT in the Nantahala National Forest. However, there are a TON of bears in the GSMNP. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that a few bears could migrate into the Fontana to Cable Gap Shelter section in the springtime. There is bear hunting in Graham County NC, where the trail resides. This would keep any straggler bear population from getting too large. I would still recommend that you hang food to keep it away from all the other creatures in the mountains (mice, squirrels, skunks, etc)

[Grinch]

Keeping food in the shelter is why they are overrun with mice. I am surprised no hantavirus cases have been seen. It may be inconvenient but hanging your food is a must and not doing so is inconsiderate and irresponsible.

[brancher]

Keeping food in the shelter is why they are overrun with mice. I am surprised no hantavirus cases have been seen. It may be inconvenient but hanging your food is a must and not doing so is inconsiderate and irresponsible.

Bingo. This is an issue that requires NO thinking. Just hang the food. Everywhere you go.

[Taysel]

So I've seen a lot of debate about where people hang their food at night, but what about the actual consumption of the food? Do most people eat at their tent site or further away?