food storage

[neighbor dave]

bear can? ursack? nylon stuff sack as a pillow? hang your food?
thanks

[T-Rx]

I use the Ursack. No need to hang it. just secure to a tree about chest high.

[garlic08]

On the CDT, if you take the loop through RMNP you'll need a cannister now. It's easy enough to cut off that loop, though, if that's a problem. They may do rentals in the Park. In grizzly country in MT and WY, you'd better learn how to hang--do not do the pillow thing. In the desert, do the pillow thing--no trees.

[Serial 07]

i would say it depends on what you are doing...for the AT, i just use the grocery bags the food came in...free and easy and can tie shut iffin' you want to hang it and one inside another can be fairly waterproof...

[turtle fast]

Bear bag...it may not thwart the most determined bear, but if done right should afford some protection. You gotta remember that bears are not the biggest enemy to your food, it is the mice, chipmunks, and squirrels that can wreak havoc on your food...mainly mice here. As well, you would not want to wake up in the night with a paw coming through your tent in the middle of the night. I knew a guy who had to use salon fragrant fruity smelling shampoo in the woods (like who you trying to impress here) he woke up one night with a bear tearing through the tent while he was sleeping and proceeded to lick/eat his hair. Luckily the bear went away after his fellow hikers banged on pots and pans and yelling, he was screaming like a girl and had to change his underwear.

[BrianLe]

Hey, Neighbor Dave! Since I know who you're hiking with --- Milky and I started SOBO last year with Ursacks, had to carry plastic cans in Glacier, but we managed to snag the smaller, weekender types to borrow.

I forget where I ditched the Ursack; Maybe not until Wyoming somewhere. Milky borrowed mine (I've got two), but for most of the trip, I did what you very well know that most thru-hikers do. Oh, you have to hang in Yellowstone. Bring enough cord for that (I bought some at the mini-mart a bit before Macks Inn and then got rid of it after). Since so many people hike the Winds it's possible that bears there are more along the abnormal National Park type of bear --- dunno. I didn't worry about it, but it might make sense to do something in there.

The RMNP loop that Garlic mentions is basically a day hike for you, I think most thru's do it that way, sort of slack-packing it, so no worries (I'd hiked that before and so skipped it).

[neighbor dave]

me and milky are wonderin' nylon sack from a tree? or do we need to bite the bullet and buy them?? seriously do alot of hikers just use the nylon?? i don't want to corrupt the bears and i carried a can on the pct in the places where it was most important.
to ursack or not to ursack, that is the question.....
reading your journal makes me more afeared of mosquitos than anything else!

[garlic08]

I just did a nylon sack from a tree on the PCT. The only time I carried anything else was when required in the High Sierra NPs on the PCT. Montana and Wyoming don't see the population pressure that California does.

[garlic08]

Oops, I mean I did a nylon sack from a tree on the CDT, not PCT.

[Spirit Walker]

We hung from a tree in northern Montana, Yellowstone (usually they had a designated hanging area in the campsites) and the Winds. (In 2006 a grizzly was hanging out near Dubois, we saw black bear in the area in 2007.) The rest of the time we slept with our food. There are bears in southern MT, but since hunting is allowed there, they are usually pretty shy.

[QiWiz]

I'm a fan of the ursack "minor". Critter proof, not bear proof. Light. Hang if there might be bears around but no need to hang to prevent food access from the little critters (mice and other minibears)

[SunnyWalker]

Hang. I use the B.E.A.R. system. See it at "backpackinginmontana.com" I switched out the BIG 'beaner. The big one is used to attache multiple food bags, packs, etc. I use some "drybags" I bought.

[BrianLe]

FWIW, I put the O.P. and his hiking partner (Milky) on trail in Montana in early July --- not at the start, but where Milky was forced to leave the trail last year. They're already doing some pretty decent miles for just being out a couple of weeks and are currently in Yellowstone N.P.