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View Full Version : Dumb question 3: things hanging in shelters



dmperkins74
04-06-2012, 07:20
Hi all,

I've never stayed in a shelter, but have stopped to sit and fill out register at several in my various hikes. What are the strings that hang from the ceilings with cans halfway down and a stick on the bottom for?

Is it for hanging clothes to dry them?

alphaPig

fins1838
04-06-2012, 07:23
ash trays.

moytoy
04-06-2012, 07:28
Hang your food. The can is supposed to keep mice from climbing down the string.

Don H
04-06-2012, 08:11
Wind chimes ;)

dmperkins74
04-06-2012, 10:17
I didn't want to guess hanging food... figured that'd invite bears into the shelter, that's why you're supposed to hang from trees, right?

flemdawg1
04-06-2012, 10:45
I didn't want to guess hanging food... figured that'd invite bears into the shelter, that's why you're supposed to hang from trees, right?


At most shelters, bears aren't a problem.

T.S.Kobzol
04-06-2012, 11:10
It also confuses bears. They leave with a puzzled look on their face.

pyroman53
04-06-2012, 11:40
Since you asked a serious question, I'll try to give you a serious answer. Those inverted cans on strings are to hang your pack (or food) so mice are less likely to get to it. I've heard that athletic mice can get around them by jumping, especially to your pack. Jumping onto a slinylon sack of food may be a bit harder (I've never tried it). You ask a great question - shouldn't you hang your food? That question - on this forum - can open up an old wound that never heals...the question of "Should I hang my food or should I just sleep with it (or in this case maybe just hang it on those mice lines around the shelter)? My suggestion is you hang around here, read the various arguments for and against each choice, and make your own choice. After a few years hearing the arguments, I can honestly say both camps have valid points expressed by solid outdoorsmen whom I respect. Maybe success depends on karma - I don't know.

The interesting dilema is when opposing camps are staying in the same shelter. Then, I guess the answer depends on who carries the biggest knife. If you've got the shelter to yourself, do what you want. If there are others - go with the flow (and don't discuss it!!)

pyroman53
04-06-2012, 11:43
Addendum: If you're going to hang your food in a tree - learn how to do it right before you go hanging food-filled pinatas that even BooBoo can get to. I've seen enough of that and thats just plain dumb!

mad4scrapping
04-06-2012, 11:45
I thought they were for curing bacon or cheese.

solobip
04-06-2012, 13:36
I thought the were old fashioned telephones, like we used to have as kids. So you could talk to the other shelter dwellers at night without disturbing anyone sleeping.

hikerboy57
04-06-2012, 15:39
you're all wrong. these are to hang your bear canister from.the cans are to keep coons from using their prying little fingers to get them open.

vamelungeon
04-06-2012, 16:27
It's to talk to the cooks at Progresso Soup company. Surely you've seen the commercials.

shelterbuilder
04-06-2012, 16:38
3-D hiker art!
Actually, they are traps (hung by bears) to snare unsuspecting hikers who get up during the night for nature calls. It's an evolutionary tool designed to weed out "unfit" hikers from the gene pool....

hikerboy57
04-06-2012, 18:24
i can only wonder if the OP figured out which answer was correct.:)

House of Payne
04-06-2012, 18:27
interesting question, some great "progresso soup"type answers. I have a question to add to it. Do the mice and rats venture far from the shelter to seek food from the hikers. IE: will mice climbs trees to get at bear bags? and will mice get into backpacks even though there is no food in it?

daddytwosticks
04-06-2012, 19:21
interesting question, some great "progresso soup"type answers. I have a question to add to it. Do the mice and rats venture far from the shelter to seek food from the hikers. IE: will mice climbs trees to get at bear bags? and will mice get into backpacks even though there is no food in it?
Had some sort of a small rodent get into my food bag hung in a tree about 20 yards from Carter Gap shelter. Chewed a tiny hole, so I think it was a mouse. Use an Ursak Minor now. :)

Pedaling Fool
04-06-2012, 19:31
Interesting observation on those mouse-proof lines. All shelters have them, but not all shelters have professionally installed bear-cable system. People generally use the bearcables when provided, but virtually all use the mouse-proof lines when cables are not provided, as opposed to hanging their food.

chip2012
04-06-2012, 21:21
If you sprayed your food bag with bitter Apple would that keep mice and rodents off of your gear and food bags?

ChinMusic
04-06-2012, 21:50
If you sprayed your food bag with bitter Apple would that keep mice and rodents off of your gear and food bags?

If you want to go that route, try predator unine: http://www.predatorpee.com/

House of Payne
04-06-2012, 23:31
I can imagine the odor that will create. How about mint?

Sarcasm the elf
04-06-2012, 23:45
Dumb question 3: things hanging in shelters....

alphaPig

Hey AlphaPig,

I saw that you've started three recent threads, all of which begin with "Dumb Question" in the subject line. To paraphrase one of my favorite teachers "Any time you have a question you think it too dumb to ask, half the class is probably wondering the same thing."

Keep the questions coming, you're probably helping a lot of folks by asking stuff they want to know... Just don't ask about dog leashes or how long cheese stays good on the trail :D.

heavyfoot
04-07-2012, 01:51
IE: will mice climbs trees to get at bear bags?

Squirrels definitely do. I learned that the hard way and now I carry a http://www.grubpack.com/ for hanging food.

Bronk
04-07-2012, 03:30
I'm actually pretty surprised that with all these replies nobody has gotten the correct answer.

First of all, the purported purpose of the string with a can on it is to keep mice out of your food. Which is patently ridiculous, but may give some people a false sense of security. I've seen a mouse jump from a sitting position on the floor of a shelter and land up in the rafters. Shelter mice are acrobats. No string or can is going to stop one from getting to your food bag. But the concept is loosely based on that pie tin your grandmother puts on her bird house to keep the squirrels out of the bird food.

So, if these things don't really work, then why are they there?

Its actually pretty simple. Hikers don't want to pack out their trash. So after they're done eating their dinner they cut a couple feet off their bear bag rope and hang the can they cooked for dinner up in the shelter. Its a clever way for them to leave their garbage behind without anyone busting them out for it.

Once you get further north from Virginia you start seeing shelters that are wallpapered with snickers wrappers, lipton dinner and mountain house dinner packages.

Empty liquor bottles can also be left behind as an addition to the rocks in the fire ring as long as you pack out the cap.

grok120
04-07-2012, 08:01
Flying squirrels can reach a hanging food bag. One lives in Carter's Gap Shelter. Ate our pop tarts.

Pedaling Fool
04-07-2012, 08:52
I've seen a mouse jump from a sitting position on the floor of a shelter and land up in the rafters. Shelter mice are acrobats. No string or can is going to stop one from getting to your food bag. But the concept is loosely based on that pie tin your grandmother puts on her bird house to keep the squirrels out of the bird food.

You saw a mouse jump from the floor up into the rafters:confused: That must have been mighty mouse.



No string or can is going to stop one from getting to your food bag. But the concept is loosely based on that pie tin your grandmother puts on her bird house to keep the squirrels out of the bird food.
Actually they do work. Everyone knows if you leave food in your pack in a shelter on the floor, the mice WILL get to it. The only foodbags that get raided in shelters are the ones that are position too close to a beam. If they didn't work you'd be hearing cuss words every morning at a shelter. Comparing Squirrels to mice, is like comparing apples and oranges.




Its actually pretty simple. Hikers don't want to pack out their trash. So after they're done eating their dinner they cut a couple feet off their bear bag rope and hang the can they cooked for dinner up in the shelter. Its a clever way for them to leave their garbage behind without anyone busting them out for it.

Once you get further north from Virginia you start seeing shelters that are wallpapered with snickers wrappers, lipton dinner and mountain house dinner packages.

Empty liquor bottles can also be left behind as an addition to the rocks in the fire ring as long as you pack out the cap. You can't be serious:confused:

Amanita
04-07-2012, 12:07
They are anti-mouse devises, as a couple other people have said. They are not 100% effective, but usually they work pretty well, especially if you use a slippery and tough food sack.

As for whether or not to use them, I'll tell you my practices and let you make up your own mind. If there is a bear box or bear cable at the shelter, I will use that. If there are reports of bears in the shelter log but no box/cable I will hang my food in a tree a ways from camp. But if there is no evidence that bears have ever been an issue at that site (no signs, no logs, no box/cable) then I'll just hang my food on the mouse hangers.

I've never seen a bear, and never known anyone who got their food stolen. I'm sure as I get more experience hiking that will change. But the places I have hiked bears have not been extremely active, and the risk is low. If I was down in Georgia for example, where bears have been very active, I wouldn't even consider sleeping near my food. In that case I would want a box, an ursack, or a canister.

bwb49
04-07-2012, 13:21
We were staying at Overmountain shelter several years and we hung our food from one of these apparatus. We had put the food in a plastic trash bag. During the night we heard the numerous mice scampering around, every once in a while one of them would climb down the rope and jump from the can to the bag. This was followed by a tiny scream as he slid down the bag and then the sound of the mouse hitting the floor. He would lie there stunned for a few seconds, then he would utter a few expletives and scamper off to another part of the shelter. The plastic was just too slick for them to grab ahold of.

Same night while we sleeping one of the mice ran across the face of one the guys in our group, I didn't think you could get out of mummy bag without unzipping it, but he did.

Blissful
04-07-2012, 13:46
I hang my backpack on them.

Blissful
04-07-2012, 13:49
Its actually pretty simple. Hikers don't want to pack out their trash. So after they're done eating their dinner they cut a couple feet off their bear bag rope and hang the can they cooked for dinner up in the shelter. Its a clever way for them to leave their garbage behind without anyone busting them out for it.

Once you get further north from Virginia you start seeing shelters that are wallpapered with snickers wrappers, lipton dinner and mountain house dinner packages.

Empty liquor bottles can also be left behind as an addition to the rocks in the fire ring as long as you pack out the cap.


I have never seen wrappers papering shelters like that. I do occasionally see some trash left behind, particularly in SNP, but mostly clothing and empty fuel cans. There was one shelter in NY that was pretty trashy though

harbohiker
04-10-2012, 14:01
I stayed in a shelter once with some people that hung their packs on those strings with the cans. It's really funny because either they don't work and you get mice in your food or pack that then can't get out if they wanted or they do work and through the night you hear the thump* thump* of mice falling 4 feet onto the shelter floor. I have found the best two ways to avoid having your food eaten by rodents or bears is to hang your food near but not with someone who has much better smelling and tastier foods. Or the heavier but more entertaining option which is to hike with a cat.

sheepdog
04-10-2012, 14:18
Squirrels definitely do. I learned that the hard way and now I carry a http://www.grubpack.com/ for hanging food.

so do chipmunks

Wise Old Owl
04-15-2012, 21:29
I stayed in a shelter once with some people that hung their packs on those strings with the cans. It's really funny because either they don't work and you get mice in your food or pack that then can't get out if they wanted or they do work and through the night you hear the thump* thump* of mice falling 4 feet onto the shelter floor. I have found the best two ways to avoid having your food eaten by rodents or bears is to hang your food near but not with someone who has much better smelling and tastier foods.
Or the heavier but more entertaining option which is to hike with a cat.15730


OK looks ok to me....

spacecharge
04-16-2012, 11:57
Shelters in SNP have a threaded metal pipe in the shelter.

What is that used for? Umbrella holder??!!!! LOL :D

Pic attached with item circled in red. Don't remember which shelter this was but they all seemed to have them.

MyName1sMud
04-16-2012, 14:12
It's to talk to the cooks at Progresso Soup company. Surely you've seen the commercials.

DANG beat me to it!

Hoofit
04-16-2012, 16:27
If you get to the shelter and all the cans are empty, then you've arrived too late....