another bear canister
what parts of the A.T do you need either a bear bag or a bear canister-what would be the better choice ✌
Most thru hikers would say 'no bear canister'.
There's only a few sections a bear canister is required, and that's only if you camp in those areas.
Instead, most thru hikers simply hike thru those areas and don't camp there.
There is a short 6 mile stretch south of Blood Mountain in Georgia which mandates the use of a canister if you camp overnight in that section. Almost everyone avoids this by hiking through and not spending the night there. The remainder of the trail has no requirements at all regarding how food is stored when not hiking...at least for now. There were many issues with bears in New Jersey and New York this year,so I would not be surprised to see additional regulations in the future.Originally Posted by pickle
Many hikers slept with their food for the entire trail and never had an issue. But some people lost their food to bears and it's usually best to have the ability to hang your food (PROPERLY!) when in problem bear areas.
“He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.” –Socrates
Great Smoky Mountains National Park requires food be stored on the bear cables available at every backcountry campsite and backcountry shelter.
GSMNP is a very different environment compared to the bulk of the AT. There are a small number of spots you are allowed to camp, and a large number of hikers AND bears... and the bears know where the camp spots are located.
Every year, campsites get temporarily closed due to someone not properly protecting their food from the bears.
I wasn't advising the OP to skirt the rules or avoid sound judgement... simply stated I pointed out what we witnessed. You probably should have quoted my entire post.
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“He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.” –Socrates
I never thought you were suggesting the rules can be ignored.
I simply wanted to correct your statement about the lack of rules elsewhere (as GSMNP has them).
I also wanted to point out the problem created when campers don't follow the rules; because at the moment, there are a dozen campsites in GSMNP temporarily closed because people have not been properly protecting bears from human food.
But in retrospect, I can see the way I quoted your post might make is sound that way... for that I apologize.
But on the flip side, it does make me wonder what everyone does in GSMNP during the spring time bubble when there are perhaps 40 or more people at a shelter and there's likely only 8 bear cables with a total of 16 hooks for hanging food. I'm sure that there are many who are sleeping with food in there tents when it's that crowded. I could understand doing that if you're in a crowd of tents (safety in numbers). But if you're at all isolated, I would strongly recommend following the rules. We want to avoid attacks like the one that happened to an AT thru hiker near Spence Field last year.
For those not familiar with the incident, an AT thru hiker was attacked while sleeping in his tent near Spence Field. From what I've read, I get the impression he was the lone camper in a field about 200 yards from the shelter because the limited space immediately around the shelter was already full of tents from other AT thru hikers. Now bears in GSMNP generally don't go around randomly attacking tents. So while the victim of the attack reported that he had properly stored his food on the bear cables at the shelter, the simple fact that he was attacked strongly suggests that SOMEONE hadn't properly followed the rules resulting in a bear learning to associate people and/or tents with food. So in this case, the guy was likely not so much a victim of a bear attack, but the victim of someone else not following the rules. Someone who might not have had much consequence brought on themselves for not following the rules, but had tremendous consequences for fellow hikers.
Just to clairfy, some other parts if the trail do have food storage requirements, just no other parts have a requirement to bring a canister.
On a different note, I find it somewhat puzzling that New Jersey still has issues given that with the exception of the Southernmost few miles that is within DWG recreation area, the rest of the state is designated site only camping and every site has a massive bear box.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
I could say the same about GSMNP. Every campsite has bear cables, yet there's currently a dozen campsites (~10%) closed due to bear activity.
I could say the same about GSMNP. Every campsite has bear cables, yet there's currently a dozen campsites (~10%) closed due to bear activity.
its more than just bear cables though-------its the scraps people dont clean up............its the food people forget to put away...........its the odors in general that attracts the bears.....
People suck.
I once carried out a discarded mouse chewed box of spaghetti, found at a shelter just reopened after being closed for month or more.
A high % of people consider buildings in woods to be dumping ground. Someone will clean it...
It only takes it happenning occassionally for mr bear to put it on his rounds.
Last edited by MuddyWaters; 09-12-2017 at 16:12.
and thats one of the pissers of a populated area like the Smokies-----there is just sooooooooooo many people..........
and within that amount of people----theres the ones that are educated about the backcountry, there are the ones that arent educated about the backcountry, there are ones who quite frankly dont give a damn, and there's the ones who are entitled and think they know more than others yet still dont follow good backcountry practices.......
ive seen people at shelters who carry all their stuff in plactic grocery bags and ive seen experienced backpackers who leave food out....
its quite the range....
and hence, why there is more bear incidents in the Park as opposed to other wilderness places around here (like slickrock)...
however, in the jacks creek area, and the shining rock area (both in wilderness areas), there is a large amount of people and the bear incidents have risen where they now require canisters for shining rock and jacks river area is closed to camping during the summer months...
Here's the account of the bear attack you are referencing from the guy himself: https://peachpeak.wordpress.com/2016...rst-blog-post/.
AT: 2007-2019 (45 sections)
JMT: 2013
Yea, that's one of the articles I read back when it was first published. If he was camped where I think he was, he had to stumble at least 200 yards thru the darkness (as measured by Google Earth) to find the shelter... even farther if he was in the larger field at the top of the hill where the AT crosses it.
If we let the bears start eating people, problem take care of itself one way or other....# careless people go way down...
Never been, but i imagine most visitors to glacier take bear avoidance pretty seriously. And thats the difference.
Last edited by MuddyWaters; 09-12-2017 at 18:26.
Except for the short section mentioned in Ga, you don't need one. Hike through that section. If you buy either, you will regret spending the money and if you buy the canister, you will send it home if you stay out there very long. Pretty simple.
Even the section in GA (between Jarrard Gap and Neel Gap) only requires it between March 1 and June 1 each year.
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