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  1. #21
    Clueless Weekender
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    Water treatment: Always. Since heating water to boiling suffices to treat it, I don't bother treating water that I use to cook, or to make coffee or tea. There are also a couple of sources that I trust, like the artesian spring on the east side of Slide Mountain in the Catskills. The sources I trust are very few.

    Food storage: I use bear boxes, cables, and poles where they're provided. I use a canister where the law says I have to. I'll sleep with food during the part of the year when the bears are asleep, or if I'm more than 4-5 miles away from a settlement in an area where hunting is permitted. (That combination means that a bear that I encounter is likely not to see humans as a food source and likely to have a healthy fear of humans.) The rest of the time, which is most of the time, I hang. If I don't spot a suitable tree, I'll hang between two unsuitable ones. I can always find a pair of trees where I can get the rope over branches, even if the bag would hang too close to the trunk.

    I don't hike in the West, so grizzly are not a concern. I'd imagine that the whole changing-clothes ritual is a bit overblown. I'm a human, I'm going to smell like human food. I don't think I have any good way on trail to get the scent out of hair and beard, for instance.

    I haven't had a bear bother my food yet. I've had a raccoon try to drag my (foodless) pack away, and I've had a porcupine steal my skivvies out of my tent vestibule, but my food's always been safe so far.
    I always know where I am. I'm right here.

  2. #22

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    It's not naughty, it's common sense learned through long experience.

  3. #23
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    Default how naughty are you on the A.T.? (bear bags, water treatment, etc.)

    what about the hammock hangers who don't hang food. where do you store it overnight? in the hammock?

  4. #24
    Some days, it's not worth chewing through the restraints.
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    Quote Originally Posted by susiegear View Post
    what about the hammock hangers who don't hang food. where do you store it overnight? in the hammock?
    I'm a hanger... I use a canister.

  5. #25
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    I always hung my food, and always filtered and or aquamira'd my water.

    The really naughty habits you should ask are... Do you cook and eat in the shelters? Do you pee on the outside of the shelter and spit your tooth paste right next to the shelter? Do you throw wet wipes and other non biodegradable trash in the privys? Do you approach shelters after dark when you know everyone is asleep, or for that matter do you approach other camp sites after dark and flash your head lamp around and cook and make noise knowing people nearby are trying to sleep? And the absolute worst of them all, do you wash your dishes at the water source and dump rice and oatmeat or noodles right in the collection pool? Oh and do you bath or wash your cloths at the water source?

    There's a very slippery slope out there on the trail and as soon as someone starts doing naughty things it snowballs pretty quickly.

  6. #26
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    I'll bring a couple of condoms, in case Mr. Big gets some exercise.

  7. #27
    Registered User Tuckahoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by susiegear View Post
    what about the hammock hangers who don't hang food. where do you store it overnight? in the hammock?
    In the hammock clipped to the spreader bar at the head end.
    igne et ferrum est potentas
    "In the beginning, all America was Virginia." -​William Byrd

  8. #28

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    There's no hope for me....

  9. #29
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    Your poll will get a much different result here than if you conducted it on the AT.


    In my experience, virtually everyone I met on the trail filtered their water and hung their food.


    The food was never hung "correctly" except when cables were available (often not even then). It's virtually impossible to find a branch higher than 20 feet that is strong enough 10 feet from the trunk to support a food bag, and nobody can throw a rock with a line attached straight up 20 feet even when one is found, anyway. So people knowingly hang their food laughably close to the ground, anyway. The first time you give up and sleep with your food, you learn why -- the mice. They may not actually get into your food bag, but they will harrass you all night.


    As for filtering your water, the first time you watch a herd of stinking idiots play in the water source, you'll filter, believe me.

  10. #30
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    I always treated the water but I drank the beer straight from the can. Argh. I was horrible at hanging the food bag and could not count the times the rock came back and almost smashed me or someone else in the head. But I hung that bag almost every night. I had mice try to get in it one night when i slept with it and know lots of folks with holes in their tents where mice had chewed through. One woman had a bear come in her tent- near Springer. Her trail name was Go Away Bear.

  11. #31
    Registered User Sandy of PA's Avatar
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    I treat all water, my Mom's thru-hike in 1976 was ended by giardia, she never was able to hike long distance again. It took her 6 months to recover. I use a bearcan, I suck at throwing rocks!

  12. #32
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    A bit of context: I've been backpacking since I was a baby (1961), but only in the western half of the continent. We recently (this fall) moved to the New England area.

    I've spend all of one night along the actual AT in the White Mountains. I slept with my food, and I didn't filter or treat any of the water that I gathered during that three day trip.

    In general, over many decades of backpacking, I have only ever occasionally treated water in the last couple years to help me save weight by not having to carry as much water. I can now carry less water because I can safely fill up at questionable water sources if I run low and need to.

    I also never hung a bear bag or used a bear canister (read: I always slept with my food) until the last couple of years when I started experimenting with bear bag hanging (so I carry what I need to do it easily). Now, in areas of known bear activity or high people traffic (read: likelihood of activity from food acclimated animals of all kinds) I have fun trying to prefect the art of hanging my food bag.
    Last edited by Alligator; 02-21-2016 at 23:04. Reason: TOS #4
    I'm not lost. I'm exploring.

  13. #33

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    Always treat water.
    If there are bear cables, box, or pole I use it. Otherwise only hang if in a heavy bear area like SNP or NJ.
    The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
    Richard Ewell, CSA General


  14. #34
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    I always filter our water, but detest hanging a bear bag. . .buying an Ursack.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  15. #35

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    You're applying a judgement call against people because they don't assume your standards? I'm quite satisfied that whether I decide to treat H20 or not bear bag or not on the AT my actions will demonstrably entail less risk for me than you deciding to treat or not or bear bag or not. HYOH.

  16. #36
    Registered User English Stu's Avatar
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    I treat and hang. Finding a suitable branch is not easy; if it is fair way from my camp spot I put nearby a twig marker on the trail. The woods can look different in the morning.

  17. #37
    Registered User Christoph's Avatar
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    I hung my food more than I filtered. Mainly because of rodents. As for filtering, not all that much.
    - Trail name: Thumper

  18. #38
    Registered User Theosus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MuddyWaters View Post
    I hang when I find a proper tree.It isnt that easy.
    A poor hang, will lose your food. Which is bad for you and da bear.
    It amazed me when I was using the PCT hang, how hard it is to find a decent limb! Too high, too low, too thick, too thin, too rotten, too much brush under it, too many other limbs close by...

    I use an ursack now, and always treat my water.
    Please don't read my blog at theosus1.Wordpress.com
    "I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Thank God for Search and Rescue" - Robert Frost (first edit).

  19. #39
    Registered User evyck da fleet's Avatar
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    Treated 99% of the time. 100% after GA. As others have mentioned it had more to due with what the hikers in front of me may have been doing around water sources.

    Hung using PCT about 1/2 dozen times in GA/TN, used bear cables/boxes when available otherwise slept with my food. The worst damage to my pack was chew holes in the hip pockets from hanging pack in a shelter. Since I saw mouse hangs (bear pinatas) at most shelters, I figured my food was safer in my tent. I did run across several hikers who hung their food regularly. Never had a problem with rodents around my tent.

  20. #40
    Registered User dudeijuststarted's Avatar
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    Oooh be-have

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