[pct-l] Resupply/parking

[Edward Anderson]

Hi Marion,
While it turned out to be true that your coolers were mouse proof - the mice can't get in - coolers are probably not air-tight enough to prevent food odors from escaping.  Mice will still be attracted to your van to try to get at it.  I see the same problem with bear canisters - the bears can't get the food inside but will be attracted to the camp area because the food smell escapes.  My experience on the trail has proven that food stored inside an OpSak is safe from rodents (and bears) because NO smells can escape. Just be very careful that you don't get food smells on the outside of the sack.

What convinced me of the effectiveness of OpSaks was my experience at my resupply food cache one half mile north of Beldon Town in Northern California. My processed horse food (over 30 pounds of it) was stored in heat-sealed Food-Saver bags and my own food in a large OpSak. Rodents got ALL of the horse food (sreaded the bags and ate every single grain) and didn't get into mine in the OpSak - even though all of the food was buried together. From then on I used OpSaks for the horse feed as well - for caches and in camp - all the way to Canada. No bear or rodent problems. I noticed hikers who were hanging their food bags high in trees. I just used the OpSaks in camps and was careful that there would be no lingering food smells after dinner.

MendoRider


________________________________
From: Marion Davison <mardav at charter.net>
To: Pacific Crest Trail List <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Fri, June 4, 2010 7:00:28 PM
Subject: [pct-l] Resupply/parking

I would not send a resupply to Red's Meadow.  If you walk right through 
Red's Meadow past the store, the store is pretty big and comprehensive. 
  You could easily get enough there to get you to Tuolumne Meadows.  If 
you leave the trail at Crater Meadow and hike to Horseshoe Lake, you can 
take a free shuttle bus into town and shop in a real grocery store. 
Also enjoy all the other town amenities, which are many.

Trailhead parking--something to think about.  Damage from critters, from 
bears to micro bears (mice) can be substantial if you park at a 
trailhead for a while.  We left our stock rig at Horseshoe Lake for 
several weeks, while we hiked a figure 8 loop.  We had our resupply in 
our van.  The van is bearproof, but not mouse proof.  While we hiked, 
several mice moved in and feasted on our resupply and made nests and set 
up house.  When we returned we found the mess, cleaned up as best we 
could and stored all the remaining foodstuff in a couple of coolers, 
which were mouseproof.  But it took the rest of the summer, when we were 
using the rig as an RV on a road trip and sleeping in it, to get rid of 
the now resident mice--setting traps every night.  Eventually we had to 
dismantle the RV to clean out the mouse poop, nests, and dead mice.  Ecch.
From that time on we have stored resupplies in the vehicle inside 
coolers.  No more cardboard boxes or plastic tubs.
Marion
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