Canned Food

[lsylvain]

I started to do it the other day at the grocery store but my wife was embarrassed by her husband putting cans of tuna on the produce scale so I had to stop, so I thought I would ask here.

At one point does buying canned tuna and chicken become lighter than buying foil packs? And most definitely spam as it comes in those thin walled cans. (picking one up is what got me thinking about this) There are 4 of us going together, so we kind of have a bulk option to consider. It may very well be lighter to bring one big 30 oz or so can than 5 or whatever foil packs.

[Trailweaver]

Go to the grocery store without your wife, and wear a disguise. . . or you could buy one of each, take them home and weigh them in the privacy of your home, and then go buy the one that's lightest in bulk. The heavier ones can be eaten from home, right?

Husbands and wives do have a realllly heavy load to bear, don't they? (in my case, husband.)

[kayak karl]

The cans have more water in them. Just something to think about.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

[The Cleaner]

Also some hikers don't pack the empty cans out. I burn the smell out in a fire and then put foil trash in them.Flatten them with ax or rock and out they go.....

[Tipi Walter]

There's no mention of the length of the trip. 3 days? 7 days? For a short trip it's a-okay to take canned food---beans, chilis, refried beans, soups, whatever else. What could it matter? The weight is negligible for a short trip.

[Tipi Walter]

Also some hikers don't pack the empty cans out. I burn the smell out in a fire and then put foil trash in them.Flatten them with ax or rock and out they go.....

Your post reminds me of a time I was backpacking the Horse Cove trail and set up camp by this "redneck" firepit---lazy or just dumb??

http://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backpacking2010/Coy-Williams-and-the-25th/i-4tqrZ6c/0/L/TRIP%20114%20095-L.jpg

[The Cleaner]

Your post reminds me of a time I was backpacking the Horse Cove trail and set up camp by this "redneck" firepit---lazy or just dumb??

http://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backpacking2010/Coy-Williams-and-the-25th/i-4tqrZ6c/0/L/TRIP%20114%20095-L.jpg
How about criminal? I guess I'm lucky that the side trails near the AT here are not used by many hikers.

[kayak karl]

i met a few that even in a town with slim pickin's for resupply would rather go hungry then carry a can. some things like canned spam and ham can be put in zip lock before leaving. i refuse to do that with tuna and sardines ;) i always take a can of fruit cocktail with me for first night. i save the can for a cup, i don't carry a cup.
PS. I don't think you were planning to leave the cans in fire pit.

[The Cleaner]

If I came to a camp with that many cans there I'd build a fire and burn the cans till charred then flatten them. Pack out some and leave the rest for others to pack out. At least the food odors would be gone and the critter attraction factor would be gone too.

[sfdoc]

Aren't there any recycling bins or opportunities along the trail, or is recycling carried on only on the Northeast? Just asking.

[Tipi Walter]

If I came to a camp with that many cans there I'd build a fire and burn the cans till charred then flatten them. Pack out some and leave the rest for others to pack out. At least the food odors would be gone and the critter attraction factor would be gone too.

Good idea but I still had 10 more days of the trip to go and I wasn't hauling other people's trash. Dayhikers usually/almost always find such messes and haul them out.


Aren't there any recycling bins or opportunities along the trail, or is recycling carried on only on the Northeast? Just asking.

Recycling bins on the trail? Heaven's sake no and let's hope there never is. I mean, it is a wilderness area.

[squeezebox]

Sometimes the trail magic folks offer trash cans. So often you don't have to haul the trash to far. As far as not carrying other people's trash, excuse me but you actually are your brother's keeper. If we all carry out a little trash it will slowly go away. Let's all help out the trail maintenance folks.
I live in a low income (low intelligence) neighborhood, and they are always throwing beer cans in my yard. Who has to clean them up? I do!
Thanks for letting me rant!

[Tipi Walter]

Sometimes the trail magic folks offer trash cans. So often you don't have to haul the trash to far. As far as not carrying other people's trash, excuse me but you actually are your brother's keeper. If we all carry out a little trash it will slowly go away. Let's all help out the trail maintenance folks.
I live in a low income (low intelligence) neighborhood, and they are always throwing beer cans in my yard. Who has to clean them up? I do!
Thanks for letting me rant!

So, I'm going to add 4 lbs of trash to my already-heavy 80 lb pack? And then carry it for 10 more days? No way.

[Slo-go'en]

Before there were foil packets, there were cans. An empty tuna can weighs 1 oz, not a big deal.

Back in the spring of '89 I woke up to 6" of wet snow on the ground at Bald Mountain shelter, a little south of Erwin, with the snow still coming down. There was another guy in the shelter who had hiked up from the road the day before.

As I got ready to leave and hike through the storm, the other guy said he wasn't going anywhere until it all melted. Then I saw he had at least 15 pounds of can goods stacked against the shelter wall!

[Abatis1948]

Your post reminds me of a time I was backpacking the Horse Cove trail and set up camp by this "redneck" firepit---lazy or just dumb??

http://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backpacking2010/Coy-Williams-and-the-25th/i-4tqrZ6c/0/L/TRIP%20114%20095-L.jpg

Two times in the last two years, I have hauled trash down from Preacher’s Rock. The first time I spoke to four Georgia Tech students who could have been stepping off the covers of Backpacker Magazine with their top of the line clothes and equipment. They informed me they spent the night in the area behind the rocks at Preacher’s. Their cans were still warm when I picked them up. I guess my point is being “Hiker Trash” crosses all socioeconomic boundaries.

[Tipi Walter]

Before there were foil packets, there were cans. An empty tuna can weighs 1 oz, not a big deal.

Back in the spring of '89 I woke up to 6" of wet snow on the ground at Bald Mountain shelter, a little south of Erwin, with the snow still coming down. There was another guy in the shelter who had hiked up from the road the day before.

As I got ready to leave and hike through the storm, the other guy said he wasn't going anywhere until it all melted. Then I saw he had at least 15 pounds of can goods stacked against the shelter wall!

Sounds excellent. Let's hope a nanny-state helicopter didn't come in and hover over the shelter and make him leave.:)

[Abatis1948]

I have hiked passed sights like Tipi posted many times. I have also hauled many pounds of trash off the trail. Sometimes you have to leave others trash for some other Good Samaritan.

[Tipi Walter]

Two times in the last two years, I have hauled trash down from Preacher’s Rock. The first time I spoke to four Georgia Tech students who could have been stepping off the covers of Backpacker Magazine with their top of the line clothes and equipment. They informed me they spent the night in the area behind the rocks at Preacher’s. Their cans were still warm when I picked them up. I guess my point is being “Hiker Trash” crosses all socioeconomic boundaries.



Once on the first day of a long trip I entered the Bald River wilderness and saw two backpackers leaving and I offered a big friendly hello. Big mistake. A couple miles later I got to their camp and found their campfire still burning and piled high with wet smouldering trash and under a rock by the firepit I found 12 empty beer cans. Next time I see someone hiking out I'll have to stop and instead of saying hello I'll just say,

"Okay miscreants, what kind of crap did you leave back in camp??"

[bamboo bob]

I make it a rule to pick up ten pieces of trash a day. But only in the back country. Not near trailheads. Not at shelters. Not cigarette butts. I've converted a lot of hikers too. At least they say they're converted. Litter is a pet peeve of mine. One unintended consequence of dump laws such as charging for mattresses and construction trash at the local dump or transfer station is an increase in such things dumped at trail heads. Tires too. In CT, in VT, in FL. Not so much on the AT though.

[lsylvain]

Go to the grocery store without your wife, and wear a disguise. . . or you could buy one of each, take them home and weigh them in the privacy of your home, and then go buy the one that's lightest in bulk. The heavier ones can be eaten from home, right?

Husbands and wives do have a realllly heavy load to bear, don't they? (in my case, husband.)

That's the plan. Just go by myself and figure it out.

I'm figuring comparing packed in water and packed in oil. Packed in oil has over double the calories than packed in water. I'm also figuring that I wouldn't drain the tuna in many cases just dump the whole can in a vat of mac and cheese or whatever, there should be some calories in the water and there is about 20 calories extra per oz if you don't drain the oil. Which takes 30 or so calories per oz for foil packs to around 80 calories per oz canned in oil. The can could weigh twice as much and it would still be more calorie dense than the foil packs.

[squeezebox]

Tipi - I feel your pain! It should not be on us to carry the idiots trash out. Instead on carrying out 4 lbs. of trash. how about carrying out 1 or 2 lbs of trash. If we all clean up a bit it will go away. And to everybody confront the jerks who are leaving their trash, don't put up with it, don't be a nice guy and skirt an argument, take their picture , report to a ranger, these people don't belong on the trail. They belong in jail.

[squeezebox]

It should not be on us to baby sit these idiots leaving trash. but instead of picking up 4 lbs. of trash how about 1 or 2. If we all pitch in it will slowly go away. Don't leave it for the trail maintenance folks. Confront these idiots, get some other hikers to back you up. Take their picture, report them to a ranger, These people don't belong on the trail they belong in jail.

Sometimes it's not HYOH, sometimes it's just flat out wrong.

[squeezebox]

Sorry for the double post. brain fart!

[atraildreamer]

Sometimes the trail magic folks offer trash cans. So often you don't have to haul the trash to far. As far as not carrying other people's trash, excuse me but you actually are your brother's keeper. If we all carry out a little trash it will slowly go away. Let's all help out the trail maintenance folks.
I live in a low income (low intelligence) neighborhood, and they are always throwing beer cans in my yard. Who has to clean them up? I do!
Thanks for letting me rant!

Well, if they are aluminum cans you can make some $$$ by cashing them in!

Does picking up after the slobs just encourage them to toss more trash? Just wondering.
--------------

I remember a funny story from the Readers' Digest years ago:

A big Caddy convertible pulls into a gas station in Maine. The clueless tourist driver proceeds to empty his car ashtray on the ground while he is being gassed up. The station-owner's wife comes out with a dustpan and broom and cleans up the mess. The driver smirks at the woman. She then proceeds to dump the mess on the back seat of the Caddy!

[2015 Lady Thru-Hiker]

I like when they act like because they burned it it's taken care of. If I can see the empty, charred A1 bottle, spam can and 12 pack of beer cans I know they can too. Geez!! Fortunately it was at the end of a 4 day hike and I only had to hike another 2 miles from the site. Not sure what I would have done if it had happened at the beginning of my hike instead. Set it to the side and pick it up on my way out?

[Trailweaver]

I think I'd sit down and cry if I saw a campsite left like that. I've packed out trash too, and usually don't confront folks when I know they did it because I hike alone and have to think about my safety. I once found a raw steak, a partially eaten cooked steak, cans, Al foil, etc. left behind at an illegal fire pit only a few feet away from the shelter fire pit. (the fire pit had been built right next to a tree, left damaged by the fire, btw). I was livid. I knew who had done it - the father and son who'd camped there the night before, with their full-sized, tall enough to stand up in tent for six), and then ran into them when I hiked to the road and my car. I had carried out their trash, but still didn't feel I could confront them. I've always wished I'd had the courage to say something to them and steer them to this website to help them understand how to limit their impact, how to get backpacking gear (instead of car camping gear), and to just know how important it is to do it right.

Sorry for my rant. . . but just wanted to say that I agree - we should all carry out whatever trash we can, and try, in the future, to educate those who leave it behind.

[Tipi Walter]

I think I'd sit down and cry if I saw a campsite left like that. I've packed out trash too, and usually don't confront folks when I know they did it because I hike alone and have to think about my safety. I once found a raw steak, a partially eaten cooked steak, cans, Al foil, etc. left behind at an illegal fire pit only a few feet away from the shelter fire pit. (the fire pit had been built right next to a tree, left damaged by the fire, btw). I was livid. I knew who had done it - the father and son who'd camped there the night before, with their full-sized, tall enough to stand up in tent for six), and then ran into them when I hiked to the road and my car. I had carried out their trash, but still didn't feel I could confront them. I've always wished I'd had the courage to say something to them and steer them to this website to help them understand how to limit their impact, how to get backpacking gear (instead of car camping gear), and to just know how important it is to do it right.

Sorry for my rant. . . but just wanted to say that I agree - we should all carry out whatever trash we can, and try, in the future, to educate those who leave it behind.

You could put a face to the trash---take a pic of the trash and if you're lucky take a pic of them and post the pics on your trip report. I do this when I meet "illegal" horseback riders ruining trails where they don't belong. I usually can't find the people who trash a campsite. They are long gone. What amazes me is the courage, stamina and guts it takes for them to haul out their fat lard bodies while leaving their trash. I mean, how far deep did they have to dig to carry the weight of their own bodies out?

Sure, leave your trash boys. Just getting your body out must be like a Navy SEAL training evolution so congratulations on that. One more trip and they'll get the Trident.

Rant #57.

[Trailweaver]

I like you!!! I could really like your style of "outing" the trash folks!