Storing stove and cookware?

[Candy Korn]

When you hang your food, do you need to put your stove and utensil with your food and hang it all? Just the food? Will the fuel can mess the food up or explode in a bear vault overnight?

[FarmerChef]

Again attempting to deflect the to hang or not to hang argument...save it for another thread

As for storing stove and cookware. If you're going to go to the trouble to hang a bear bag, carry a vault or put your stuff in a bear box or on a bear pole than the answer is "yes." Anything that smells like food (including your clothes and/or pack if you spilled food on them) will be food to a bear, mice, porcupine, raccoon, etc. Even if you do your dishes really well and clean your cookstove super well, it will still smell like food. Maybe not to you but definitely to a bear. Go ahead and put it in your bear bag. Your fuel can and stove don't need to go in the bag unless you spilled food on them. Don't forget your toothbrush and toothpaste. Basically, anything that smells like food.

I will tell you, though, in my experience - by far and away the biggest danger is not from bears but from mice. That's not to say to be lax on bear safety but to be educated about their habits and keep an eye out for notices of aggressive bears or a bear frequenting certain shelters. For me, it's just as easy to fill my pack with all our food and stuff it in a bear box or hang it on a bear pole as it is to hang it on a mouse hanger in a shelter. Since you're tenting (from another thread) you'll be definitely hanging and that's a good idea. Also remember to put it well away from your campsite and to cook away from both your tent and your bear bag (think a triangle). Again, most people don't do this but if you're going to go the bear bag route that's the most up to date advice I've heard so far.

[Drybones]

When you hang your food, do you need to put your stove and utensil with your food and hang it all? Just the food? Will the fuel can mess the food up or explode in a bear vault overnight?

If you're going to hang, everything with a scent should be in the bag, even your bubble gum and tooth paste. And if you spill food on your clothing, those also. IMO, it's a losing battle so I just sleep with my food bag...dont recommend it out west in grizzly country though.

[Another Kevin]

I don't worry too much about toothbrush, toothpaste and soap, because they're all peppermint-scented. Peppermint grows wild almost everywhere black bears are found, and bears don't eat it. So it's a familiar scent to a bear, that the bear doesn't associate with food.

Pot and stove go in the bearbag with all the other smellables. (The pot has to. The pot stand, stove, windscreen, ... all pack in the pot, so why not throw them in?)

If I'm base camping (aka "zero day in the woods" except that I've been known to base camp and then slackpack to bag a peak or something), I may hang my whole pack. That's partly to put it out of the immediate view of inquisitive animals of the two-legged variety.

[Candy Korn]

Tis may be for another thread but....I have bear vault, but have not used it. Can I put my stove in the bear vault with out the heat building up to a point it will explode? Also, and this is going to sound very beginner, with the bear vault do I just put everything with a food smell in it and stash it 100ft from my camp site, or do I need to hang it as well? This is a legitimate question.

[Candy Korn]

And a follow up question formAnother Kevin. The peppermint thing, is that really true? Sincere question. If I were to use peppermint scented stuff it would act as a deterent? What about lemon grass?

[Siestita]

"Can I put my stove in the bear vault with out the heat building up to a point it will explode? Also, and this is going to sound very beginner, with the bear vault do I just put everything with a food smell in it and stash it 100ft from my camp site, or do I need to hang it as well?"

I've never had a stove's heat build up unless that stove was lit. Are you planning to operate your stove inside your bear vault? If so, anticipate the vault melting before anything explodes. As explained by others above, stoves and fuel don't need to be secured from bears. The practical challenge that I've had with my Bear Vault has been fitting a whole week's food into it. The Vaults typically are not large enough to to additionally hold stoves or stained clothing. Take your gear out in the woods sometime and learn how to use it.

And, why on earth would you hang the bear vault?

[Candy Korn]

I've never had a stove's heat build up unless that stove was lit. Are you planning to operate your stove inside your bear vault? If so, anticipate the vault melting before anything explodes. As explained by others above, stoves and fuel don't need to be secured from bears. The practical challenge that I've had with my Bear Vault has been fitting a whole week's food into it. The Vaults typically are not large enough to to additionally hold stoves or stained clothing. Take your gear out in the woods sometime and learn how to use it.

And, why on earth would you hang the bear vault?
[/QUOTE]
No. I do not plan on cooking in my bear vault. Its not good to keep an explosive in a hot car and I have legitamite concerns of heat build up in a hard plastic contair stored on my person .I have been going out and doing 2 and 3 nights here in Florida(testing all my gear), but we do not have bears to worry about. I have not done an overnight on the AT, only day hikes. As far as storage at night, 100ft from campsite stashed is what I have been doing here in FL. My concern is a bear or person walking off with it, so should I stash it in bushes or somewhat hidden, and asking about hanging it was a serious question. I'm new and have what may seem to be funny questions/ concerns and appreciate the patentice shown by most!

[Siestita]

"My concern is a bear or person walking off with it, so should I stash it in bushes or somewhat hidden..." Bears often carry away unattended packs but they apparently are not capable of "carrying" canisters such as Bear Vaults. Also, being intelligent, adoptive creatures, they presumably figure out quickly that they can't get into the canisters. So, they learn to leave those alone and seek food elsewhere. Unless you camp near a road, its unlikely that another person will steal your food, either hung or stored on the ground within a canister. And, in locations without nuisance bears, which is apparently the case where you camp in Florida, you could simply sleep with your food.

Where such facilities exist, such as for example in Great Smoky Mountain National Park, cable systems, poles, and/or installed metal bear boxes are very convenient to use. The presence of such facilities is an indication, at least to me, that problems have occurred in an area.

Alternatively, in areas where hikers are rarely if ever visited by problem bears, sleeping with ones food is easy, and to me is a reasonable thing to do. The challenge is securing food overnight in locations that do not fit into either of the categories I've mentioned above, places that have habituated bears but don't have any installed cables, etc. That's where the "hanging vs. canister" dilemma occurs. Hanging, especially if done well (and why do it poorly?), requires both skill and expenditure of time and energy. Canisters, in contrast, are easy to use, but they impose a weight penalty on those who carry them. So, even though you own a Bear Vault canister, it might it worth your while to get some light weight cord and experiment with hanging a bear bag sometime. You might become a convert to the "bear bag hanging" fraternity, or, after having had some amusing or frustrating entertainment, you could end up appreciating your Bear Vault's convenience.

Backpacking can be fun. Instead of worrying about people possibly stealing your food, or other scary "what ifs", spend some time entertaining yourself playing the "bear bag hanging game" and or addressing the "how much food can I cram into my canister" puzzle.

[Hill Ape]

You may love the trail name candy corn. But I can promise you, if a bear canister explodes from having a stove in it you will earn a truely epic trail name you'll never escape from. Children will hear that story for generations. You may think your concerns are legitimate, but you are overthinking it.

And no, peppermint is not a bear deterrent, it doesn't attract them either. It's a null value.

Relax, don't let anxiety get the better of you.

[Old Hiker]

My stove, canister and utensils go into a separate bag that fits into my food bag. I hang them because my bandana that I use for a pot holder, etc. usually gets food on it. If I remember, my toothpaste, et.al. goes in as well. My toiletries are in a separate ziploc in a separate section of my pack. I've never had my pack chewed. At least to date.

The only time I had a problem with critters chewing the bear bag was when we (wife, me and Scout Troop) were stealth camping. SOMETHING got into the bag, chewed open the Wally-World trail mix, ate the mix and threw the corn-nuts out onto the ground. Wife was pissed, as she LOVES corn-nuts. Silver dollar sized hole: mouse? squirrel? wookalar?

I have two Al pots that fit together into a cylinder that my stove and canister fit into, so it's all nested together.

[FarmerChef]

Again attempting to deflect the to hang or not to hang argument...save it for another thread

As for storing stove and cookware. If you're going to go to the trouble to hang a bear bag, carry a vault or put your stuff in a bear box or on a bear pole than the answer is "yes." Anything that smells like food (including your clothes and/or pack if you spilled food on them) will be food to a bear, mice, porcupine, raccoon, etc. Even if you do your dishes really well and clean your cookstove super well, it will still smell like food. Maybe not to you but definitely to a bear. Go ahead and put it in your bear bag. Your fuel can and stove don't need to go in the bag unless you spilled food on them. Don't forget your toothbrush and toothpaste. Basically, anything that smells like food.

I will tell you, though, in my experience - by far and away the biggest danger is not from bears but from mice. That's not to say to be lax on bear safety but to be educated about their habits and keep an eye out for notices of aggressive bears or a bear frequenting certain shelters. For me, it's just as easy to fill my pack with all our food and stuff it in a bear box or hang it on a bear pole as it is to hang it on a mouse hanger in a shelter. Since you're tenting (from another thread) you'll be definitely hanging and that's a good idea. Also remember to put it well away from your campsite and to cook away from both your tent and your bear bag (think a triangle). Again, most people don't do this but if you're going to go the bear bag route that's the most up to date advice I've heard so far.

By the way, to clarify. I pack it all in a pack because my wife and I carry that much food for 3 children, 2 adults and 1 dog on each hike. It's a lot of food fresh out of resupply. The amount of food you have should be significantly smaller. If you're carrying kibble that tends to be fairly bulky. I'm assuming for argument here that you've tried loading your BV with all your food to ensure it's big enough...Just a thought.