View Full Version : How do you keep a bear bag dry?
lazy river road
09-22-2009, 12:19
Well how do you keep a bear bag dry? Im hikeing the LT this summer and am learning the concept of bear bagging...this imo is going to be one of my more difficult tasks on the trail....so after the bag hangs out all night in the rain and collects condensation...how do you repack it in your bag with out getting every thing else wet...im sure their is a simple answer to this but one i have not thought off. Do all newbie hikers have the same ?'s :rolleyes:
.......Well how do you keep a bear bag dry?....... how do you repack it in your bag with out getting every thing else wet...im sure their is a simple answer to this but one i have not thought of.......Dry it off with a bandana.
I have
A) put it on top of everything else but outside the contractor bag I use to line my pack.
B) put it outside my pack
C) used my bandanna to wipe it off and put it in my pack
What works best for you will probably depend on what pack you have, how much stuff you are carrying, etc.
lazy river road
09-22-2009, 12:28
all seem like simple enough solutions...ive never thru hiked and have all these random ?'s in my head like this one... ^^ thanks
.......ive never thru hiked.......Me either. :D
bigcranky
09-22-2009, 12:52
It'll be fine. If you use a silnylon bear bag, the fabric wipes dry (i.e., it won't absorb water.) I just put it in the top of my pack *on top of* my plastic trash bag pack liner.
lazy river road
09-22-2009, 12:57
lol thanks hooch...actually ive never backpacked at all...im already anxious about my Mid June leave date for the LT...im just ready to get on the trail and it seems like so far away and so much planning to do but I know I cant plan for half the things that will happen int he woods of VT...so with bear bagging...do i have the right Ideah...
1. Throw rope over high limb away from tree trunk..(i forgot the sugggested hight)
2. Lower rope and attach carabiner to bear bag
3. Hoist food making sure it is high enough from ground and low down enough away from tree limb and far enough away from tree trunk
4. Tie other end of rope to the tree trunk
5. Un Tie in the morning
is that basically it. am i missing any thing besides the hight requirement
Lone Wolf
09-22-2009, 13:10
Well how do you keep a bear bag dry?
keep it in your tent
lazy river road
09-22-2009, 13:12
Lone Wolf best advice ive heard on WB yet :)
Blissful
09-22-2009, 14:10
When my bag is wet I have an Reynold oven bag ready to tuck it into in the AM. Then when it clears like at lunch, I take out the food and the bag usually dries quite quickly.
Blissful
09-22-2009, 14:12
keep it in your tent
Tell that to Chaco taco...
:eek:
Pedaling Fool
09-22-2009, 15:01
If everyone keeps showing fear to these bears they will start taking your food off your back. Notice how these problems happen where there's a high population of people, they learn we fear them. I'll keep my food in my tent.
How about this: if the bag is wet and wipe drying isn't enough, turn it inside out, close it, pack it.
spirit4earth
09-22-2009, 16:05
for the sake of the bears, hang your food.
tscoffey
09-22-2009, 16:38
In order to answer the question I would have to get way, way more familiar than I ever wish to with a bear.
Bare Bear
09-22-2009, 17:08
You could pack the weight of a Seal LIne or similair 'dry bag' but I would not. I used my sleeping bag stuff sack for the hang bag. All my food is in gallon zip locks (ONLY the Freezer type work well, and only Ziplock) so I did not care if the bag got wet. It drys in minutes literally.
1. Throw rope over high limb away from tree trunk..(i forgot the sugggested hight)
2. Lower rope and attach carabiner to bear bag
3. Hoist food making sure it is high enough from ground and low down enough away from tree limb and far enough away from tree trunk
4. Tie other end of rope to the tree trunk
5. Un Tie in the morning
Don't need a biner, just tie the rope/cord directly to the bag. Biners are just one of those little outdoor accessories that most folks don't need, but for some reason or another believe that they do.
First read up on these bear bag techniques:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/bear_bag_hanging_technique.html
I prefer the PCT method... Simple and fool proof... Once you've found the right branch, it takes less than a minute.
I use a silnylon drybag for a foodbag, and simply wipe it down in the morning... No troubles..
Put your food bag into a silnylon bag, preferably one that has a strap on the bottom so you can hang the bag upside down and rain won't bother it. In the morning, take the food bag out of the silnylon bag. Do not put the wet bag in your pack. Hang it on the outside and let it dry as you hike. This "extra bag" could also be used for some other purpose such as a stuff sack for your shelter. Once you leave the Smokies, most food bags will do fine when hung in the shelters and rain will not be an issue.
bigcranky
09-22-2009, 17:51
lol thanks hooch...actually ive never backpacked at all...im already anxious about my Mid June leave date for the LT...
No offense, but wouldn't it be a good idea to do some weekend backpacking trips before then? Maryland has some nice trails, including a pretty section of the AT.
Sleepy the Arab
09-22-2009, 19:05
Bah. Food is for wusses.
lazy river road
09-23-2009, 09:11
no offense taken big cranky....none at all :).....I do plan on doing a couple of overnighters before I go....Im going to wait till the spring time rolls around again...I still dont have a pack and a couple of other essential gear items that I plan on aquireing throughout the year....I am hopeing to do my first weekend trip in late march early april once weather starts warming up...
superman
09-23-2009, 09:57
This is a great time to hike on the LT. No bugs, not too wet, beautiful foliage, not as many people, not too hot. Go from south to north...try a section or two in the southern part of the trail. If you start with the northern last 20 miles you might deside hiking is not for you. Spring is too wet on the LT, then it's too buggy. Bear bag...what ever.:)
fredmugs
09-23-2009, 10:11
I took a Sham Wow on my last trip and it worked great.
I take my food bag and stick it inside one of those cheap plastic grocery bags and then loop both the food bag and the plastic bag to whatever I'm attaching it to. You can shake most of the water off of it. They also work great for keeping clothes dry and keeping your trash in.
Tell that to Chaco taco...
:eek:The exact thought that came to my mind! The mystery why even mice and other critters don't seem to mess with LW is beyond me! :eek:
I gave up bear bagging in favor of bear vaulting a couple years ago and have never looked back. I enjoy watching neighbor campers spend up to 30 minutes hanging their food while I'm relaxing. :)
lazy river road
09-23-2009, 12:58
Supreman sadley enough I am not embarking on my LT trip till next June (i know bug season uugghh) summit what is this bear vaulting you are reffering to???
summit what is this bear vaulting you are reffering to???I use a bear vault:
http://www.rei.com/product/768902
Holds up to seven days worth of food, weighs 2 lb 9 oz.
Yeah, a little heavier than I would like but worth it for the peace of mind of food not getting: stolen, ruined, or wet. If you do find yourself in a shelter, no more playing outsmart the mice on getting to your food (in heavy rain - only time I stay in a shelter).
It fits nicely in my packs main compartment, shoved to one side with room for tent and ground pad to fill up the other side. As the food goes down, I pack other stuff inside it with the remaining food so my pack becomes less crowded/smaller. It also makes a nice table in camp . . . good combo with a thermaRest chair.
If it's raining when I'm done eating, I just roll it out as far away as it will roll from the tent and I'm done . . . no hanging food in the rain, possibly getting your dry set of clothes wet!
No sir, I don't mind the weight at all. ;)
lazy river road
09-23-2009, 18:24
thx summit...im not sure if im ready to carry one of those but I like the wire mesh bags ive seen...those seem like a good medium alternative
Chaco Taco
09-24-2009, 08:19
Tell that to Chaco taco...
:eek:
Haha, I will still keep my food with me in my tent. I was in a problem area and should have picked up on that. Wasnt the bears fault
Chaco Taco
09-24-2009, 08:20
Holds up to seven days worth of food, weighs 2 lb 9 oz.
Y ;)
Good lord man:D
Low Impact
09-24-2009, 09:56
Am I the only one who keeps their bear-bag dry by sleeping with it??
Lone Wolf
09-24-2009, 10:03
i sleep with my food bag. what's a bear bag?
garlic08
09-24-2009, 10:17
Am I the only one who doesn't care if the thing gets wet? On my very first hike, I learned not to store anything in there that gets damaged in the rain. Remove all cardboard packaging and bring some extra ziplocks along to protect anything that needs it. Inside the pack, all my insulation is stored in plastic so my wet tent and food bag and rain gear don't bother it. One less bloody thing to worry about.
OldStormcrow
09-24-2009, 10:42
I use an old sleeping bag stuff sack for a food bag. I throw my "bear rope" over a high tree limb with the aid of a rock tied to it, then tie a t-handle on the rope made out of a 6" stick. I poke a hole in the bottom of a kitchen trash can-sized bag and hang it from the t-handle. I hang my food bag on the t-handle, pull the trash bag down over it, pull it 'way up in a tree, tie it off, go to bed and just keep snoring away when it starts to rain.
lazy river road
09-24-2009, 11:04
Oldstormcrow this is why i Love WB and the information on it...such a simple solution...I know I am going to get wet...I know my stuff is going to get wet...but i want to try and minimize it as much as possible if possible....great advice
Last week in the Adirondacks, I found 2 piles of bear poop. The first was away from campers, and was like a big pile of raspberry/blackberry jam, just like all the bushes I was walking through.
The second was near a popular campsite, and was full of food wrappers, and was also near some very po'd hikers who had lost their food supply.
I guess the moral of the story is choose your poison. LW likes to sleep with his food (I think it's because nothing else will sleep with him:eek:), but he also camps away from shelters, which is a key bit of information. I prefer a bear vault for a number of reasons (it makes a nice seat, food doesn't get squished, etc.)
Kerosene
09-24-2009, 11:13
If you start with the northern last 20 miles you might deside hiking is not for you.:)I took my 16-year old brother on his first backpacking trip in August 1979: A SOBO thru-hike of the LT. The temperature almost touch 100F that first top trying to summit Little Jay, and then we raced down the mountain to the shelter to just beat the thunderstorm we saw approaching off of Lake Champlain.
It helps to be a resilient teenager in basketball shape, and by then I had 500+ miles of AT hiking under my belt. The northern half of the LT is still some of the best backpacking I've ever done.
Kerosene
09-24-2009, 11:14
I use an old sleeping bag stuff sack for a food bag. I throw my "bear rope" over a high tree limb with the aid of a rock tied to it, then tie a t-handle on the rope made out of a 6" stick. I poke a hole in the bottom of a kitchen trash can-sized bag and hang it from the t-handle. I hang my food bag on the t-handle, pull the trash bag down over it, pull it 'way up in a tree, tie it off, go to bed and just keep snoring away when it starts to rain.I also recommend a white trashbag so that you can find your hang the next morning. Not that I've ever lost my foodbag, but it has taken me a few more minutes to find it than I would've liked!
OldStormcrow
09-24-2009, 11:22
I also recommend a white trashbag so that you can find your hang the next morning. Not that I've ever lost my foodbag, but it has taken me a few more minutes to find it than I would've liked!
Yep, that's what I use. That way, I can find it in the dark when I get the munchies at around midnight!
Chaco Taco
09-24-2009, 11:37
Yep, that's what I use. That way, I can find it in the dark when I get the munchies at around midnight!
Why would you get the munchies around midnight
Follow these links for clips from a show that appeared on Discovery Channel last night I thought there were some very good points made about bears. Sorry for the commericals in the begining at least they are short ones.
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/bear-feeding-frenzy-bear-bait.html (http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/bear-feeding-frenzy-bear-bait.html)
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/bear-feeding-frenzy-van-vs-wild.html (http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/bear-feeding-frenzy-van-vs-wild.html)
A few things I noticed the blacks bears show no fear of people, they are becoming (habituated), they smelled the food that was consumed one hour earlier, a vehicle provides no protection (a tent surely won't). One thing that the expert mentioned is that the wild bears in this study have now learned to associates vehicles with food.
Why would you want to sleep with your food? If not for the sake of these beautiful animals, then for the sake of your fellow backpackers take the time to store your food properly. I can foresee that one of these days that for you to backpack in some of our National Forest you will be confined to camping in designated sites, where there will be those ugly steel bear containers (which IMHO distracts from a wilderness experience) so you'll have a place to safely store your food, or at the very least it will be mandated that you are to carry a plastic bear resistant container, similar to what has happened in the Marcy Dam area. I know this will not change some peoples minds about sleeping with their food, but if it changes just one persons mind then it was worth the effort.
Ok I'm off the soap box.
My intent is not to point a finger or start a flame war, but just to have people think of what the potential ramifications could be and have become in certain National Forest due to the habituation of bears.
In high use areas, according to the National Forest Service, "hanging your food in bags is no longer a viable option. Bears are smart and have figured that out, and how to get them."
Good lord man:DYeah, good Lord man, I don't want to have to hike out and go get more food and another tent! :) :p Well worth a couple of lbs. Glad you weren't harmed!
how do you keep your bear bag dry?
You hang it in the shelter on the mouse hangs under those upside down tuna cans like everyone else does!
Seriously. The Long Trail?? You won't see any bears. You will see mice!!
DavidNH.
OldStormcrow
09-24-2009, 16:13
Why would you get the munchies around midnight
Doesn't everybody?
Chaco Taco
09-24-2009, 16:21
Doesn't everybody?
http://www.mbpalaver.com/.a/6a00d8341c03ee53ef0111688f96f4970c-250wi
Chaco Taco
09-24-2009, 16:22
Yeah, good Lord man, I don't want to have to hike out and go get more food and another tent! :) :p Well worth a couple of lbs. Glad you weren't harmed!
But a canister? Out west yea, but....wow. Thats 2 pounds you wouldnt have to carry
But a canister? Out west yea, but....wow. Thats 2 pounds you wouldnt have to carryI balance what I have to carry with what I want to carry that makes for a more enjoyable hiking experience. Everyone should do that so that what each of us carries is as unique as we are individuals! I've been hiking long enough that I know what to me is worth its weight, and I put a bear canister squarely in that corner. Zero worries about my food makes for a good night's sleep which makes for a good next day's hike. Goes a long way. :)
Skidsteer
09-24-2009, 18:53
Well how do you keep a bear bag dry?
Depends.
The tricky part is convincing the bear to wear them.
I balance what I have to carry with what I want to carry that makes for a more enjoyable hiking experience. Everyone should do that so that what each of us carries is as unique as we are individuals! I've been hiking long enough that I know what to me is worth its weight, and I put a bear canister squarely in that corner. Zero worries about my food makes for a good night's sleep which makes for a good next day's hike. Goes a long way. :)
Same philosophy here, plus the list of places where a bear can is required is always growing. I look at the weight as equivalent to a day's food. Even with a bear can, I can carry 4-5 days of food and never come close to 30 pounds total pack weight.
lazy river road
09-24-2009, 21:37
Well I like the way a bear canister sounds although as said ill have to worry more about mice then bears on the LT so a bear canister probally seems overkill...ill still have to hang my food from mice and vermonts.....and i think im going to go with a mesh metal bag....if I continue on from the LT onto the AT untill I hit the CT border would I have to hang/handle food differently
superman
09-24-2009, 21:53
How do you keep a bear bag dry?
Change his diaper often.:D
ShelterLeopard
09-24-2009, 23:10
Well how do you keep a bear bag dry? Im hikeing the LT this summer and am learning the concept of bear bagging...this imo is going to be one of my more difficult tasks on the trail....so after the bag hangs out all night in the rain and collects condensation...how do you repack it in your bag with out getting every thing else wet...im sure their is a simple answer to this but one i have not thought off. Do all newbie hikers have the same ?'s :rolleyes:
I usually have a light weight dry bag for my food, and a plastic bag to go on top of that when I hang it. That way, my food bag stays pretty dry (both food and bag, I mean), and the bagis dry enough to put in my pack, and I just tie the plastic bag on the outside of my pack to dry it as I go.
My wet food bag goes inside my pack on top of my plastic pack liner which keeps everything else dry. My poncho goes on top with my food bag as does my water filter, for easy access and because dampness doesn't affect them. Everything in my food bag is either prepackaged to stay dry or repackaged into ziplock plastic bags or other watertight containers by me, so it doesn't matter if my food bag got full of water (it won't though, because I used a lighter to burn a small drain hole in the bottom of it).
Darwin again
09-25-2009, 10:13
First off, you don't ever want to keep your bear in a bag.
SunnyWalker
09-25-2009, 18:48
I take a plastic bag and poke a home in the bottom of it. I poke the rope or line thru this, and attach the bear bag to it and draw it up. Pretty dry in the morning. Easy, quick, cheap.
Darwin again
09-26-2009, 17:08
I take a plastic bag and poke a home in the bottom of it. I poke the rope or line thru this, and attach the bear bag to it and draw it up. Pretty dry in the morning. Easy, quick, cheap.
And never, NEVER poke your bear!
Chaco Taco
09-26-2009, 18:03
I balance what I have to carry with what I want to carry that makes for a more enjoyable hiking experience. Everyone should do that so that what each of us carries is as unique as we are individuals! I've been hiking long enough that I know what to me is worth its weight, and I put a bear canister squarely in that corner. Zero worries about my food makes for a good night's sleep which makes for a good next day's hike. Goes a long way. :)
I hear ya, mind would rest easy. Thats cool!
ShelterLeopard
09-30-2009, 12:37
Actually I change my mind. No more hanging bear bags. I'm just going to sit in the shelter watching my food bag all night long, wide blodshot eyes from no sleep, holding a pointy stick. That oughta keep 'em away!
Seriously though, the real reason I hang my bear bag isn't that I don't want bears to get it (though I don't want them to), it's more that I don't want them to get ME when they do eventually get my food.