Bear bag questions
I'm not sure what the right size bear bag is to take on a thru hike. Is 10L too small? is 15L the right size? Do you have to put your pot in your bear bag?
I have a 20L dry bag. Is that a good size to take?
No idea how much you eat or what you eat, but I've carried about a 10L Ursack Minor for food on the AT and PCT and it's always been good for about 5 days of food. You rarely need to carry more days' worth than that.
"Food bag" is a better term than "bear bag" for thru-hikers, since 90% never bother to hang their food in a tree. I never did.
"Hahk your own hahk." - Ron Haven
"The world is a book, of which those who do not travel read only a page." - St. Augustine
http://www.scrubhiker.com/
20L is a good size compression/dry bag. A sil nylon bag difference of 10 litres is negligible (i know, no such thing) but is worth it if you decided to splurge on muffins out of town.
Its really important to hang food all the time since the AT is such a high spot of use and is already more likely for animal incidence. Further more i think Thru Hikers should be the example int he woods and should try to hold the highest land ethic, despite whats easiest.
I use a 15 liter dry bag for my food bag and get in the habit of hanging it every night. Last year there was a guy had his tent tore up by a PIG. My partner had a sil/nylon stuff sack windy and rainy one night rope rubbed a hole in it. rain took care of the rest.
I start out the Day with nothing and by the end of the Day I still have most of it.
My choice is 15 Liter sil nylon food bag. Works for 5+ days easily
I use a Ursack S29 All White Bag I measures 10.6 Liters.
Blackheart
I use the largest of the three "Outdoor Products" dry bags Walmart sells as a set of three. It's about 20 liters. Plenty of room, roll top closure, waterproof, easy to hang, cheap to replace if it gets damaged. Yes, put your pot and utensils in with your food if you do anything other than boiling water in it. Also put your toothpaste, toothbrush, and any other stuff that smells like food in there.Originally Posted by kidben
Realistically though, many hikers just don't hang their food in areas where bears historically aren't a problem. Some areas are worse than others for having habituated bears, notably GSMNP, SNP, NJ - mostly all the places where bears come into frequent contact with humans and their food/waste and/or where they aren't hunted. You'll see plenty of food bags hung inside shelters from mouse trapezes all the way from GA to ME to keep the smaller critters like mice and chipmunks from getting food though.
Originally Posted by kidben
"I'm not sure what the right size bear bag is to take on a thru hike. Is 10L too small? is 15L the right size? Do you have to put your pot in your bear bag?"
You will need a large one, maybe 30L to hold all of munchie food.
Definitely put your pot in your food bag and hang it up, because bears are incorrigible potheads.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; give a man religion and he will die praying for a fish.
I use a 15L sea to summit dry bag with a fold and buckle top plenty of room for all your food, and yes i also put my cooking pot and stove, cannister,spork and anything else that has a smell on it, but i hardly ever hung it the only time i would hang it is when i slept in a shelter which is very rare, i usually sleep with it inside my tent, never had an issue.
Originally Posted by kidben
"I'm not sure what the right size bear bag is to take on a thru hike. Is 10L too small? is 15L the right size? Do you have to put your pot in your bear bag?"
You will need a large one, maybe 30L to hold all of munchie food.
Even with your pot in your food bag. Anything over 20L is overkill.
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