PDA

View Full Version : cooking where you camp



jefals
08-20-2017, 11:28
By "cooking", I'm talking about heating up some water and pouring it in a package of mountain house. I'm not talking about grilling a salmon, slow cooking a pot roast or broiling a steak....
Still -- if some big, bold creature smells that mountain house while you're making it or eating it, he's not gonna care if you're in camp or not, is he? If he wants it, he's going to come get it.

Then once you've finished, won't any lingering odors be blown away by the wind?
Soooo, am I wrong? If this is the only kind of "cooking" I'm doing - isn't it safe enough to do in camp?

heatherfeather
08-20-2017, 11:37
The idea is that if you cook and eat in camp, the smells are likely to linger long past when you have eaten, so if you are sleeping there, you might get a late night visitor investigating the smell. Even if you don't think it smells like food once you're done eating, a bear's nose might disagree. Where if you cook/eat at a different location, that smell will not be lingering where you are sleeping. Having said that, heating water and rehydrating your meal in a bag is probably less likely to produce strong food odors. If in black bear territory, I think you'd generally be safe. I'd play it more strict in grizzly country, personally.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

soilman
08-20-2017, 11:45
My experience is that the majority of hikers cook where they camp on the AT. I often cook at shelters and then hike on mainly because there usually is a water source and often times a picnic table or other suitable place to sit at the shelter.

MuddyWaters
08-20-2017, 11:47
I usually try to cook where someone else camps...

Hike a few more miles after dinner .

saltysack
08-20-2017, 12:01
I usually try to cook where someone else camps...

Hike a few more miles after dinner .

Yep get the mice warmed up at the shelter and then hike on......[emoji51]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

PatmanTN
08-20-2017, 13:53
"cooking where you camp"

If you're in the Smokies, please don't. A significant percentage of the campsites get shutdown each year because of aggressive bear behavior. I believe a great deal of that (not all) is a direct result of bad people habits. Any consider that cooking where you camp in a designated camping situation is at the least poor etiquette, but definitely thoughtless, as you are causing potential trouble for the next person.

PatmanTN
08-20-2017, 13:59
Also meant to say that you are likely in no imminent danger if you do in Appalachian black bear country, but again there are other reasons to abstain when in certain areas. Didn't mean to sound preachy either, I cook at camp in many situations just not in the high-use designated sites.

devoidapop
08-20-2017, 14:33
I can eek out a few extra miles by cooking and moving on, plus I have one less thing to do when I'm setting up for the night. I agree with earlier post. Shelters are for eating at, not sleeping.

jefals
08-20-2017, 14:45
I can eek out a few extra miles by cooking and moving on, plus I have one less thing to do when I'm setting up for the night. I agree with earlier post. Shelters are for eating at, not sleeping.
So far, for me, tho, when I finally get that 34 pound pack off after a long day, the last thing I want to do is put it back on.

jefals
08-20-2017, 14:52
Also meant to say that you are likely in no imminent danger if you do in Appalachian black bear country, but again there are other reasons to abstain when in certain areas. Didn't mean to sound preachy either, I cook at camp in many situations just not in the high-use designated sites.
Probably should have mentioned that I'm generally in the Sierras. Now that is black bear country - people have seen em, but nobody I've run into has, including folks who have been hiking and camping up there all their lives.
Again, I wouldn't be frying burgers up there, but I kinda agree with folks that think a mtn. House meal is c oing to be ok..

soilman
08-20-2017, 15:00
In all my years backpacking I don't ever remember coming across someone who has stopped along the trail, but not at a campsite, to cook a meal. I don't think cooking at camp has that much impact on increasing wildlife problems. Regardless of where one cooks you still have to carry trash and uncooked food. So bears, rodents, and other varmints may be attracted to your camp by the simple fact that you have food.

Tipi Walter
08-20-2017, 15:55
Camping in grizzly country versus in the Southeast probably changes everything. I cook in camp and often inside my tent vestibule, but my trips are in the Southeast mts of NC/TN/Georgia and Virginia.

Bansko
08-20-2017, 16:24
I cook where I camp. If you don't, then you're admitting that the bears and/or your fears have won. Of course, you hang your trash and food farther out. It serves as a decoy if nothing else.

rafe
08-20-2017, 16:31
From my experience, the sort of "cooking" described by the OP won't draw critters, particularly if you are conscientious about clean-up and disposal. Make sure food is double or triple-wrapped; ditto for used packaging, dishes, your spoon or spork, etc. If we were talking CDT, or parts of PCT, I'd take it a few steps further -- ie. no cooking whatsoever near where I sleep.

jefals
08-20-2017, 16:36
From my experience, the sort of "cooking" described by the OP won't draw critters, particularly if you are conscientious about clean-up and disposal. Make sure food is double or triple-wrapped; ditto for used packaging, dishes, your spoon or spork, etc. If we were talking CDT, or parts of PCT, I'd take it a few steps further -- ie. no cooking whatsoever near where I sleep.
Where on the PCT are you referring to?

Cheyou
08-20-2017, 16:45
I cook where I camp. If you don't, then you're admitting that the bears and/or your fears have won. Of course, you hang your trash and food farther out. It serves as a decoy if nothing else.
That is the silliest thing I've read all day !

Thom

heatherfeather
08-20-2017, 16:51
As an aside, you don't have to eat on the trail in the middle of your hike to avoid cooking in your campsite. The classics recommendation is to sketch out a rough equilateral triangle about 100 yards on each side. Your camp site is one corner, your cooking/eating location is another corner, and your food storage location is the third point. The bear is most likely to check out your cooking/eating location and food storage area, not where you are sleeping.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Slo-go'en
08-20-2017, 16:59
The food backpackers typically cook doesn't have a strong odor. Cleaning your pot and tossing the gray water off into the woods next to camp makes for a longer lasting odor.

In Griz country we would not set up the tents until after cooking, used a bandana as a napkin instead using our pants legs for wiping our hands, disposed of the waste water in to the fire pit and put our clothes outside of the tent at night. Food was hung well away from camp and down wind.

rafe
08-20-2017, 17:16
Where on the PCT are you referring to?

No specifics, I haven't hiked but a few miles of the PCT, and in that section bear canisters were required. Maybe I should have said, "where brown bears or grizzlies might be encountered."

Tipi Walter
08-20-2017, 17:19
Bears also defend their kill---so should hikers keep their food close by for the same reason? Some people even say we shouldn't hang our food because it cannot be . . . defended. Easy access therefore to a hungry bear---his own private restaurant. Nobody wants to really test this theory, though.

Sleeping in my tent with my food bags in the tent vestibule works for me and apparently for Lone Wolf. Recommended? Oh heck no. And mice will swarm.

But remember this---After a big dinner you're sleeping in your shelter with a 2 lb bag of food with you in the tent---Your stomach. Any righteous bear can probably smell you and your sweat and your scalp and your old bug spray and probably your 2 lb bag of food in your gut. We are walking cheese sticks.

jefals
08-20-2017, 17:38
But remember this---After a big dinner you're sleeping in your shelter with a 2 lb bag of food with you in the tent---Your stomach. Any righteous bear can probably smell you and your sweat and your scalp and your old bug spray and probably your 2 lb bag of food in your gut. We are walking cheese sticks.
Hmm... you know, this is giving me some ideas, how I can describe myself on the online dating site... hmm...:cool:

Miner
08-20-2017, 18:07
Probably should have mentioned that I'm generally in the Sierras. Now that is black bear country - people have seen em, but nobody I've run into has, including folks who have been hiking and camping up there all their lives.
Again, I wouldn't be frying burgers up there, but I kinda agree with folks that think a mtn. House meal is c oing to be ok.. I have to question where these people you referred to normally camp. Or are they just young? As someone who has been backpacking in the Sierras for over 25 years, I find the lack of bear encounters amazing. I've lost track of how many bears I've seen over the years. I will say this, in areas like Yosemite where bear cans are required, I've had less bear encounters in my camp then I use to back in the 1990's. Still see them on the trail though.

On the AT, I normally cooked at a shelter. If I wasn't planning on camping there, I still stopped to cook at the last shelter. In the Sierra, I often stop to cook somewhere else then my camp. That is partially due to how long the days are in summer since I normally hike til its dark or 8pm which is a little late to wait for dinner. And partly to avoid bear encounters in areas that don't require a bear can (which means I don't have one). If I'm going stoveless, I could care less.

jefals
08-20-2017, 18:44
Probably should have mentioned that I'm generally in the Sierras. Now that is black bear country - people have seen em, but nobody I've run into has, including folks who have been hiking and camping up there all their lives.
Again, I wouldn't be frying burgers up there, but I kinda agree with folks that think a mtn. House meal is c oing to be ok.. I have to question where these people you referred to normally camp. Or are they just young? As someone who has been backpacking in the Sierras for over 25 years, I find the lack of bear encounters amazing. I've lost track of how many bears I've seen over the years. I will say this, in areas like Yosemite where bear cans are required, I've had less bear encounters in my camp then I use to back in the 1990's. Still see them on the trail though.

On the AT, I normally cooked at a shelter. If I wasn't planning on camping there, I still stopped to cook at the last shelter. In the Sierra, I often stop to cook somewhere else then my camp. That is partially due to how long the days are in summer since I normally hike til its dark or 8pm which is a little late to wait for dinner. And partly to avoid bear encounters in areas that don't require a bear can (which means I don't have one). If I'm going stoveless, I could care less.
I'm specifically referring to Desolation Wilderness where bear cans are required. When I was up there, I came across several other folks hiking up there. One guy told me he had been hiking up there over 40 years and never seen a bear. Another person told me something similar. Instead of "forty years", this one said he'd been hiking up there "all his life" and never seen a bear.
On the other hand, I've seen some youtube videos of hikers in the area where they are filming a bear.

I was at Marlette CG on the TRT a couple days ago. A sign there did mention that I was in bear (and mountain lion) country, and it also mentioned that encounters with either of those critters are rare.

Venchka
08-20-2017, 19:24
I'm specifically referring to Desolation Wilderness where bear cans are required. When I was up there, I came across several other folks hiking up there. One guy told me he had been hiking up there over 40 years and never seen a bear. Another person told me something similar. Instead of "forty years", this one said he'd been hiking up there "all his life" and never seen a bear.
On the other hand, I've seen some youtube videos of hikers in the area where they are filming a bear.

I was at Marlette CG on the TRT a couple days ago. A sign there did mention that I was in bear (and mountain lion) country, and it also mentioned that encounters with either of those critters are rare.

Yo Jeff!
That sign sounds like CYA by the local trail management. Such signs are absent in much of the Rockies where folks are expected to look after themselves.
Yellowstone seems to be doing a good job since the nightly bear feeding was stopped. Designated backcountry campsites have a combined kitchen and food hanging arrangement or lockers. Campers are encouraged to camp 100 yards from the kitchen area. Glacier has a similar system in place. Bear cans are not required in the improved backcountry sites. Based on trip reports and photos, people cook and sleep at the site they have been assigned to.
Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

FreeGoldRush
08-20-2017, 23:06
At most shelters along the AT in the south I found the bear cables are just steps away from the shelter. Since it was determined it was safe to store food and trash right next to the shelter, why is cooking any different?

pyroman53
08-21-2017, 10:05
In black bear country - cook where I camp. Try to be somewhat careful. If staying at shelter, cook there, but be extra careful with spills. The area around shelters is worse than around my 2 year old grandson's place at the dinner table.

Venchka
08-21-2017, 12:56
We need to examine reality.
If backpacking were as dangerous as some of us imagine it to be, Colin Fletcher wouldn't have survived to write the books that started it all.
Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

davesailer
08-21-2017, 20:39
Since you're talking about big, bold creatures...

From Tips for Coexistence with Grizzlies: (http://westernwildlife.org/grizzly-bear-outreach-project/tips-for-coexistence-with-grizzlies/)


Remember the 100 yard rule: locate your cook area and food cache at least 100 yards downwind from your tent when not in established campgrounds.
NEVER cook or eat in your tent - the tent will smell of food and may attract bears. Avoid cooking greasy, odorous foods.
Locate your cook area and hang your food at least 100 yards downwind from your tent.
Remove the clothing you wore while cooking before going to sleep. Store these clothes in your vehicle or with your food and garbage.
Wash all dishes immediately after eating. Dump water at least 100 yards from your campsite.

Venchka
08-21-2017, 20:58
Since you're talking about big, bold creatures...

From Tips for Coexistence with Grizzlies: (http://westernwildlife.org/grizzly-bear-outreach-project/tips-for-coexistence-with-grizzlies/)


Remember the 100 yard rule: locate your cook area and food cache at least 100 yards downwind from your tent when not in established campgrounds.
NEVER cook or eat in your tent - the tent will smell of food and may attract bears. Avoid cooking greasy, odorous foods.
Locate your cook area and hang your food at least 100 yards downwind from your tent.
Remove the clothing you wore while cooking before going to sleep. Store these clothes in your vehicle or with your food and garbage.
Wash all dishes immediately after eating. Dump water at least 100 yards from your campsite.


That's aimed at car campers and some of it is redundant.
According to my research, there might be a dozen Grizzlies scattered around the North Cascades. The chance of seeing one would be a once in a lifetime event.
The two bear fatalities in recent memory, Glacier and Yellowstone, both occurred when a hiker and a mountain bike rider surprised bears on a trail or road. Middle of the day. No cooking. No camping.
Go read trip reports at Backcountrypost.com and see how 99.99% of visitors coexist with the two largest grizzly populations in the lower 48. Everybody, humans and bears, wins.
Look at Joey's videos. His YouTube channel is My Own Frontier. He's the real deal.
Have fun in the woods.
Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

lucky luke
08-22-2017, 10:07
... -- if some big, bold creature smells that mountain house while you're making it or eating it, he's not gonna care if you're in camp or not, is he? If he wants it, he's going to come get it.
...

yup, the creature is called the common throughhiker. hairy (and some bald) all of them bold, big, smelly, hungry. you bet, he wants your mtn house, heŽll get it. if making bear noises wont scare you away, he might even get downright dirty and try yogiing.:D

English Stu
08-22-2017, 10:09
I cooked at shelters even if I was not staying. If hanging food 100yds from your camp make sure you can find it! I had one nervous experience and now certainly put a twig arrow nearby or even something better. On the JMT I made sure at one place by tying a trash bag (not smelly) to a tree nearby.
Things can look different in the morning and if the weather has changed they probably are. In tree-less areas if hiding bags in rocks I have seem recommended taking a photo of the location and a Grid reference if far away.

Feral Bill
08-22-2017, 10:40
As an aside, you don't have to eat on the trail in the middle of your hike to avoid cooking in your campsite. The classics recommendation is to sketch out a rough equilateral triangle about 100 yards on each side. Your camp site is one corner, your cooking/eating location is another corner, and your food storage location is the third point. The bear is most likely to check out your cooking/eating location and food storage area, not where you are sleeping.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk yes, but how often does anyone do this, even in grizzly country?

rocketsocks
08-22-2017, 10:59
Of all the steaks, chickens, sausages, hot dogs, frog legs, pork ribs, and burgers cooked, I never once had a bear visit my grill.

Tipi Walter
08-22-2017, 11:03
Of all the steaks, chickens, sausages, hot dogs, frog legs, pork ribs, and burgers cooked, I never once had a bear visit my grill.

I carry and eat so much peanut butter on a trip that a bear would eat like a king---but so far they don't seem interested. Yellow jackets on the other hand . . . .

Longboysfan
08-22-2017, 14:05
You're right on the cook and sleep at night. I've never seen anyone stop eat and leave.

I did get up and out of camp - bad site that was too windy to eat at - one early AM. Went an hour plus up the trail to great water source.
Pulled everything out there and ate cleaned up - water filled up and off I went.

PatmanTN
08-22-2017, 15:03
yes, but how often does anyone do this, even in grizzly country?

I did it every single night while in Glacier National Park last year. I was solo in mid-September (during hyperphagia) and walked in grizz tracks for the better part of each day. Never ran into one but would go fishing at the lakes or walk around exploring and routinely found fresh prints at places I was just at; had to have missed by mere moments.

cbxx
08-22-2017, 16:39
I gotta think that after several days or weeks on the trail the food smells (and many other smells bears might be curious about) are all over you and your clothes. I'm in favor of being careful and taking precautions, but at that point it might not make much difference. (FYI - I hang my food and cook away from camp.)

jefals
08-22-2017, 17:02
According to my research, there might be a dozen Grizzlies scattered around the North Cascades. The chance of seeing one would be a once in a lifetime event.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Uh, yeah, that's kinda what I'm thinkin...:(

Venchka
08-22-2017, 17:09
Uh, yeah, that's kinda what I'm thinkin...:(

Always with the negative waves.
Once in a lifetime due to rarity not fatality.
As for how to coexist with Grizz in Yellowstone and Glacier just read the Backcountry info online for the parks, trip reports at Backcountrypost.com and videos from folks like Joey at myownfrontier.
Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

twinsinpa
08-24-2017, 17:22
Well all of you guys certainly confused me!! i am about to go on my first section hike with my sister and now i don't know where to eat! Can someone plz help. we will be hiking in PA. i really dont think we will be able to stop at a shelter cook and eat and then hike some more. at least that wasn't my plan.

handlebar
08-24-2017, 18:15
On my AT thru, nearly all the hikers cooked at the shelter they later slept in. Most of the time, the hikers hung their food bags from the rafters of the shelter to avoid the "mini-bears"---mice, opossum, raccoons, skunks. In Shenandoah NP and Great Smokey Mtn NP, definitely take advantage of the bear cables. In areas where there is a hunting season for bears, bears seem to avoid humans. Most of the problems seem to be in national parks.

illabelle
08-24-2017, 18:31
Well all of you guys certainly confused me!! i am about to go on my first section hike with my sister and now i don't know where to eat! Can someone plz help. we will be hiking in PA. i really dont think we will be able to stop at a shelter cook and eat and then hike some more. at least that wasn't my plan.
WB is populated with hikers and cyber-hikers of all persuasions. Some practice and preach LNT in all its purity. Some preach one thing and practice another. Some are well-informed, others less so. It's okay to be confused, but let it be your own confusion - don't absorb the confusion of WB!

As I see it, "most" people cook and eat where they camp, whether that's at an established campsite, a stealth site, or a shelter. Most of the time, they don't get eaten by bears. Occasionally an area will be patrolled by a bear that has lost its fear of humans. In those circumstances, it is prudent to be more cautious, though I think "most" people will still cook and eat where they camp. After all, if I eat at point A, and move on to my campsite at point B, what if someone ahead of me ate at point B and camped at point C? Point B has been eaten in before I set up camp whether it was me or not.

Bronk
08-25-2017, 08:53
Thousands of people are killed by bears each year because they cook dinner in camp. Your best bet after a long day of hiking is to just go to bed and wait for breakfast, that way any odors will be left behind when you leave camp.

Venchka
08-25-2017, 09:06
Yo Jeff!
See what you started?
The East Coasters are in a tizzy. They don't know what to do.
Have fun Y'all!
Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

theinfamousj
08-27-2017, 16:54
I do the triangle method, personally. I also don't hang my dinner clothes. Bears can tell the difference between food and sweaty clothes that have been in the vicinity of food. They aren't stupid.

Sent from my SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

jefals
08-27-2017, 21:57
Alright guys. I'm back on the trail for 2 or 3 days. Based on most of what I'm reading, I'll be eating my mountain house where I camp....
Hopefully, you will hear from me in a few days. If not - you'll read,about me in the papers... ?

MuddyWaters
08-27-2017, 23:43
Well all of you guys certainly confused me!! i am about to go on my first section hike with my sister and now i don't know where to eat! Can someone plz help. we will be hiking in PA. i really dont think we will be able to stop at a shelter cook and eat and then hike some more. at least that wasn't my plan.
Theres good reasons for doing that, its not about bear avoidance....necessarilly.

In summer...it may not be dark until 8-9 pm. When do you want to eat? Do you enjoy sitting around doing nothing for 3-4 hrs?

In colder weather, as soon as sun starts to go down, its too cold for bare hands to prepare dinner and be exposed to wind. Fingers lose dexterity in short time. Best to cook before that happens...while its warmer.

As well, places that are good for cooking, big rocks to sit on or shelter from wind, arent necessarilly the flat spot you need to pitch a shelter.

I can find flat spot off trail and pitch shelter in last bits of daylight. No desire to try to cook/eat that way.

Fireplug
08-28-2017, 00:37
I've seen people cook in shelters. Not the best but when it 12 degrees out or raining that's where you cook. It attracts mice. Big deal. Never had a bear come into camp durning or after cooking. Don't worry about it. Just hang ur food. That's the important thing

Deacon
08-28-2017, 04:55
Alright guys. I'm back on the trail for 2 or 3 days. Based on most of what I'm reading, I'll be eating my mountain house where I camp....
Hopefully, you will hear from me in a few days. If not - you'll read,about me in the papers... ?

My first year out on the AT a few years ago, I had an incident that convinced me I was fine when I cooked and camped in the same spot.

I had dehydrated all my dinners, and one of them was BBQ'd spaghetti with garlic, spices, with quite a strong aroma. I packaged my dinners in ziploc bags and ate directly out of them as well.

I had already changed into my camp clothes, heated water and poured into the dinner. When it came time to eat, the bag slipped out of my hand and spilled all over my shirt and shorts. I smelled like an Italian kitchen.

I wiped it off the best I could but was two weeks before I could wash clothes.

I've been using those same clothes on the trail now for five years and never had a creature of any kind bother me.

twinsinpa
08-28-2017, 07:15
thanks all! sounds like i should just do whatever i feel like and hang my food or use the bear boxes. we go in a week and half and getting extremely excited!

MtDoraDave
08-28-2017, 07:25
My hiking partner was pouring his boiling water into his mountain house meal and low and behold, it fell over. Food smells soaked into the ground. Right between our two tents. In a bear populated area. When it's cold, he often cooks oatmeal and coffee in his vestibule. I do NOT cook in my vestibule, but I do cook where I camp - but no longer right next to my tent; I try to cook far enough away that any critter coming to investigate any spilled food in the middle of the night won't disturb the human nearby (me). I hang my pot and stove with my food at night.




I cook where I camp. If you don't, then you're admitting that the bears and/or your fears have won. Of course, you hang your trash and food farther out. It serves as a decoy if nothing else.


I also wear a seat belt when I drive and lock the doors to my house. Admitting fears have won and being prudent may be different interpretations of the same thing, but that's okay. People take their fears with them when they go hiking. Shrug. There is no magic fear-be-gone pill or procedure. Some say the opposite of fear is faith, but that's a discussion for another forum.

jefals
08-31-2017, 11:32
No specifics, I haven't hiked but a few miles of the PCT, and in that section bear canisters were required. Maybe I should have said, "where brown bears or grizzlies might be encountered."
Thanks. I've just done the first section, starting at Campo. No bears there!

jefals
08-31-2017, 11:42
Alright. I was out in the Sierras. Opened a pack of jerky at my camp. Thought, "hmm, this stuff does have a smell to it", but I ate most if it and sealed the package back up tight.
In the middle of the night, I got hungry. Opened a candy bar inside my tent and ate the whole thing. Then, noticed little specks on my tent-floor..."is that sugar from the candy bar, or is it dirt"? Just to be safe, I ate em.
Well, it was a good trip and no bears!

blw2
08-31-2017, 13:03
Alright. I was out in the Sierras. Opened a pack of jerky at my camp. Thought, "hmm, this stuff does have a smell to it", but I ate most if it and sealed the package back up tight.
In the middle of the night, I got hungry. Opened a candy bar inside my tent and ate the whole thing. Then, noticed little specks on my tent-floor..."is that sugar from the candy bar, or is it dirt"? Just to be safe, I ate em.
Well, it was a good trip and no bears!
Nahhh.... that was just the ants that were coming after the jerky remnants you left behind earlier..... no problem!

martinb
09-01-2017, 14:09
Doesn't really matter if you are carrying food. If I cook 100 yds down the trail but store my food under a pillow, the bear is going to smell it either way. Change your cook clothes and make sure your mouth and fingers don't smell like mac n cheese. Some food hangers are too close to campsites in GSMNP. I tended to avoid these sites. Grizzlies are another story. My BC ranger-friend stores food a long way from camp when he goes on personal trips.

MuddyWaters
09-01-2017, 14:55
Doesn't really matter if you are carrying food. If I cook 100 yds down the trail but store my food under a pillow, the bear is going to smell it either way.
Maybe, but hot food smells carry way farther. I can smell food being cooked several houses away if grilled or window open.

In gsmp a woman at campground was frying bacon one morning, when she felt a nudge on her butt. She told her husband to stop it. A minute later her butt was nudged harder, she swatted hehind her thinking her husband was getting frisky. It wasnt her husband. A large black bear was patiently waiting. He got the bacon too, all of it.

martinb
09-01-2017, 15:06
I believe it MW. One time I passed a..cache is the best way I can describe it, hanging from the wires of one BC site featuring cooking grease, cast iron pan, used rags, and miscellaneous cookware in a white hefty bag.

jefals
09-01-2017, 15:23
Nahhh.... that was just the ants that were coming after the jerky remnants you left behind earlier..... no problem!
I don't think so. They got ants up there the size of a chihuahua!

Five Tango
09-01-2017, 15:47
My first year out on the AT a few years ago, I had an incident that convinced me I was fine when I cooked and camped in the same spot.

I had dehydrated all my dinners, and one of them was BBQ'd spaghetti with garlic, spices, with quite a strong aroma. I packaged my dinners in ziploc bags and ate directly out of them as well.

I had already changed into my camp clothes, heated water and poured into the dinner. When it came time to eat, the bag slipped out of my hand and spilled all over my shirt and shorts. I smelled like an Italian kitchen.

I wiped it off the best I could but was two weeks before I could wash clothes.

I've been using those same clothes on the trail now for five years and never had a creature of any kind bother me.

Everybody knows Bears don't like Italian food!They like American cuisine!:)