View Full Version : Bear cans or hang food? help
phoebersl
12-27-2008, 15:30
Should I plan on using bear cans or hanging food? If I do hang food what should I plan on packing to make that happen? Any advice is welcome!!
Usually chipmunk bagging is enough. Just bring some 550 cord and tie your food bag to it. Bear can is overkill.
Hang your food, if you want. I got to the point where I hung my food in the shelter from the mouse lines. If the bear wants your food, they will get it. At least if you hang it in the shelter with your camera near by you'll get a nice photo.
Kirby
Usually chipmunk bagging is enough. Just bring some 550 cord and tie your food bag to it. Bear can is overkill.
Yes, it's unlikely that a bear will get your food, but red squirrels here in New England are pretty adept at it. Luckily they sleep when you do, but if they get up before you........:rolleyes:. Raccoons are also pretty wily.
If you do decide to hang your food from a tree, it would be a good idea to learn the "Pacific Crest Trail" method of hanging so the animals can't readily get to your line to chew through it.
If you're staying at or near a shelter with bear cables, use them. They're there because problem bears frequent the area.
Imo, you're lucky to see a bear anywhere on the AT (NJ being the biggest possible exception).
Lone Wolf
12-27-2008, 15:59
sleeping with your food is the best method of protecting it from critters
sleeping with your food is the best method of protecting it from critters
Doesn't necessarily work for mice unless you stay awake all night. One guy in the Hundred Mile Wilderness (might've been Bronco) slept with his food bag in his vestibule, and the mice chewed right into it. We were about 50 yd. away from the shelter.
sleeping with your food is the best method of protecting it from critters
wolf! shes just a girl! im ashamed/highly amused with you!
wolf! shes just a girl! im ashamed/highly amused with you!
Just a girl?????? :eek:
Better watch your back, Captain.:D
Just a girl?????? :eek:
Better watch your back, Captain.:D
"its me front im worried about"
garlic08
12-27-2008, 18:10
Assuming you're talking about the AT, no need for a bear-proof container. They're required in the National Parks in the Sierra Nevada on the PCT.
Pedaling Fool
12-27-2008, 19:10
Doesn't necessarily work for mice unless you stay awake all night. One guy in the Hundred Mile Wilderness (might've been Bronco) slept with his food bag in his vestibule, and the mice chewed right into it. We were about 50 yd. away from the shelter.
The vestibule is not "inside your tent". I've never hung food, always keep it in my TENT (not vestibule), never had a mouse get in. I've had a mouse crawl over my tent, but never chew into my tent.
I have had things in my vestibule chewed up, here's a pic of my laces which were chewed by something over night while in my vestibule.
When you hang, you'll need a waterproof stuff sack of some kind to keep your food dry. I use a Sea to Summit bag, but OR makes some good light ones too.
superman
12-27-2008, 19:47
Innovative hiking may be the answer. I met a guy on the PCT who wore all his stuff around his waste. That didn't work in the long run. A couple years ago a guy tried to move his stuff using a hand truck. That didn't work. I think I've got the answer. I have a plastic 55 gallon drum down in the barn. I think I'll just make a door in one end that locks. Then I'll throw all my gear and food into it and role it along the trail. That should work? :-?
Innovative hiking may be the answer. I met a guy on the PCT who wore all his stuff around his waste. That didn't work in the long run. A couple years ago a guy tried to move his stuff using a hand truck. That didn't work. I think I've got the answer. I have a plastic 55 gallon drum down in the barn. I think I'll just make a door in one end that locks. Then I'll throw all my gear and food into it and role it along the trail. That should work? :-?
In 2005 there was a guy we dubbed "luggageman" who had a couple of rolling suitcases, as well as a couple of other bags. He would roll one suitcase with a bag on top, then turn around and go back for the other suitcase with another bag on top. It meant he was making 3 trips for any distance!
In 2005 there was a guy we dubbed "luggageman" who had a couple of rolling suitcases, as well as a couple of other bags. He would roll one suitcase with a bag on top, then turn around and go back for the other suitcase with another bag on top. It meant he was making 3 trips for any distance!I would have made it only to the top of Kelly Knob. I'd abandon the second suitcase rather than go back down and climb it again. Actually, now that I think about it, Sassafras would have done it.
fiddlehead
12-27-2008, 20:41
Hanging your food with "Beer" cans is a better idea.
In 2005 there was a guy we dubbed "luggageman" who had a couple of rolling suitcases, as well as a couple of other bags. He would roll one suitcase with a bag on top, then turn around and go back for the other suitcase with another bag on top. It meant he was making 3 trips for any distance!
Bellhop could have also worked oo even bell boy
Lone Wolf
12-27-2008, 21:59
Doesn't necessarily work for mice unless you stay awake all night. One guy in the Hundred Mile Wilderness (might've been Bronco) slept with his food bag in his vestibule, and the mice chewed right into it. We were about 50 yd. away from the shelter.
22 years and 16,000 miles, never had a mammal get my chow in my tent. bronco who?
22 years and 16,000 miles, never had a mammal get my chow in my tent. bronco who?
Others haven't been as fortunate.
This Bronco http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/member.php?u=12630
Hanging your food with "Beer" cans is a better idea.
Only the empties. If you hang full beer cans that means you are either carrying too much weight the next day or you are drinking with breakfast - either is doable, but might prove problematic.
Imo, you're lucky to see a bear anywhere on the AT (NJ being the biggest possible exception).
Several CT and MA sites have bear boxes now with signs that bears frequent the area. In October at Glen Brook campsite in MA, a guy sleeping on a nearby tent platform claims to have seen a bear before we got up. When I was at Ethan Pond campsite in NH this year, the caretaker told us to be sure to use the bear box as a bear frequents the area.
I don't worry about critters much, but it is no effort to use bear boxes or lines when available, so I do. And I sleep with my food in the tent elsewhere.