View Full Version : hanging food?
pyoder10
05-18-2006, 22:48
Hey, can anyone explain to me the basics of hanging your food at night?
Also, are their any good alternatives to doing this each night?
Hey, can anyone explain to me the basics of hanging your food at night?
Also, are their any good alternatives to doing this each night?
Hang a line between two trees and tie off to another, then throw another line with food bag over the tree line -or- hang the food bag line off a branch that extends well away from the trunk. The important thing is to hang your food bag 10 feet off the ground and 10 feet away from a tree trunk to be safe.
The alternative is to risk having your food become bear, mouse, or critter dinner.
I recently asked this question also. There is a lot of information available if you search the topic on WB. Still seems to be a personal preference. Some advice I got was that if you hang it wrong, you might as well leave it out, because it will get raided. I will be practicing this weekend with my boys, we're going to play it by ear when we get on the trail. The nights we tent I probably won't hang it, but for the shelters thru the national park we will hang it, because of others in the shelters. Never had a problem camping on the nantahala, and never hung it there.
The most interesting hanging technique I saw was by a pair of neophytes early on the trail in 2004. Hearing that food should be hung from trees, they draped it waist-high in plastic shopping bags hooked onto the shrubbery.
:-?
Finally someone took pity on them and explained what hanging means.
pyoder10
05-19-2006, 13:07
Would it be a risky thing not to hang it?
Also, if we just a get a big trash bag for our food would that work?
I'm a little leary to hang a backpack in case something would happen to it since I'm borrowing it. Would we have to worry aboubt anyone potentially stealing our food?
Most people use a stuff sack to store their food and smellables. That way you can keep your backpack and other essential gear close by. I guess a trashbag would work, although it would probably be too big.
I often use a trash bag - works well in the rain if you twist the top and double it over - attach line with a clove hitch.
you don't need to bear-hang your food unless there are bears where you are. on the a.t. generally, that's north georgia, the smokies, the shenanandoah, and new jersey. in the smokies and the shenny, they have bear hanging cables and poles. outside those areas, you just need to get it up in the air a little so other critters, mostly mice, can't get at it.
NCPatrick
05-19-2006, 14:12
About how much rope/line should you pack for food hanging?
you don't need to bear-hang your food unless there are bears where you are. on the a.t. generally, that's north georgia, the smokies, the shenanandoah, and new jersey. in the smokies and the shenny, they have bear hanging cables and poles. outside those areas, you just need to get it up in the air a little so other critters, mostly mice, can't get at it.
There are bear cables in some spots in New England now. I always hang my edibles because it is not just the bears you have to worry about - racoons, possum, porcupine and many other varmits can go after your food and they can climb trees as well. If I am staying in or near a shelter, I usually use the lines hanging in the shelters.
hammock engineer
05-19-2006, 15:01
I usually bring 50ft with me. Plently to hang and have some for any other uses you may have. You could probibly get by with 30ft.
Mostly it depends on the technique you use to hang your food - the two tree technique mentioned by Tin Man uses more line than the Shen single tree technique (10 ft up 4 ft out and 3 ft down) and the PCT technique is intermediate in its needs. All that said 50 ft of stripped 550 cord or shoe lace cord is enough for most situations even using two trees.
1) Camp away from where bears expect to find food.
2) Conventional wisdom is to hang at least 8 feet out from the tree and 10 feet off the ground. Do not tie off to the same tree you are hanging from. On the AT, most bears are not wise to this. They can figure it out if you hang from the same tree and will just reel your bag in. The Western bears are different - craftier - and may require a PCT hang (search threads).
3) Use a reliable hanging system. This is where most folks screw up. Get or make a strong bag that will hold a fist-sized rock. You can fill it with a rock, many rocks, gravel, sand or bagels to throw over the limb. It is much safer than finding a rock you can tie around safely - if you are good with knots. Store the bear line in the throw bag. Use sturdy line. I use Kevlar MuleTape or a good 3mm accessory line. You can get away with good hard-braided parachute cord. Thinner lines cut into the limb and hang up, leaving your food out of reach.
SawnieRobertson
05-19-2006, 18:23
It is so good to look out at your food bag and see it still hanging there, unmolested. It is also very amusing to try to get it hung properly. Amusing to others, not necessarily amusing to oneself. The only food I ever lost was to a low-brow, two-legged animal. Most hikers feel that we are all in this together and will share throws with you as well as not be indifferent if someone other than you thinks they can use your vittles.
Mostly it depends on the technique you use to hang your food - the two tree technique mentioned by Tin Man uses more line than the Shen single tree technique (10 ft up 4 ft out and 3 ft down) and the PCT technique is intermediate in its needs. All that said 50 ft of stripped 550 cord or shoe lace cord is enough for most situations even using two trees.
Yup, 50 feet is plenty. The weight of the line you are willing to carry is inversely proportional to the amount of time you could afford to lose if your food bag was comprimised. And again, it is not just the bears you need to worry about.
It is so good to look out at your food bag and see it still hanging there, unmolested. It is also very amusing to try to get it hung properly. Amusing to others, not necessarily amusing to oneself.
LOL. It is no more amusing than trying to set up your non-free-standing tent on a free-standing-friendly tent platform. ;)
fiddlehead
05-19-2006, 22:52
I"m surprised that no one else said it, but most hikers that i know, sleep with their food and don't hang it.
We've learned from experience that hanging it is a good way to lose it. It's best to camp where other people don't.
I use my food bag to prop up my feet in my tent. Never had a problem with that except had mice try to get it already when i camped in a regular camping spot. I try not to do that anymore than i have to.
While camping at Old Orchard Shelter on the AT in Virginia. I was tormented by skunks and possums until I hung the food away from the shelter. I don't camp with my food. Never had a problem with people stealing it. Had a problem with a person stealing my firewood once while I slept. Took my red hot log.
Get or make a strong bag that will hold a fist-sized rock. You can fill it with a rock, many rocks, gravel, sand or bagels to throw over the limb. It is much safer than finding a rock you can tie around safely - if you are good with knots. Store the bear line in the throw bag.
Another approach is to use a soda bottle (aka water bottle) partially filled with water as the throw weght - IMO its a good way to have an accurate throw - grip by the neck of the bottle and throw with a good wrist snap. Tie the line on the neck of the bottle with a constrictor knot. Store line with the food bag after you butterfly it to keep it from tangling.
downhill
05-20-2006, 15:35
don't forget to gang it off a branch that can't support even a small bear but enough to hold up your food, tooth paste, and hand sanatizer.
HOI,
Yep, the old water bottle trick... works good.
Sleeping with food: I've never had hung food stolen by humans, but small critters are guaranteed to gnaw through food bags unless they are hung. More packs are ruined by chipmunks than by bears.