[pct-l] storing food?

[Betty Wheeler]

I agree with Trevor - that bear talk at kickoff was quite sobering. "A fed
bear is a dead bear" is not just a saying -- that ranger has had to
personally implement it, so not surprisingly, he felt very strongly about
the proper use of bear canisters.

I know many handle it differently, but for the record, here is what the NPS
recommends in terms of placement of your bear canister:

"Be sure to keep it closed and locked, even while you're around your
campsite. Place the container on the ground in a flat, level area 100 feet
or more from your campsite. Take care not to place it near a cliff or any
water source, as a bear may knock the container around or roll it down a
hill. Do not hang or attach anything to the container (ropes attached to
the container enable a bear to carry it away). You can place pots and pans
on top of the container as a bear alarm if you like."
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bearcanisters.htm


Gandalf's approach is the best -- have someone give you a Bearikade as a
gift! But even the more humble BearVault is a nice stool, and helps keep
those genius marmots out of your food and trash, along with serving its
stated purpose.

Betty



On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 12:59 PM, Trevor McKee <trevormckee85 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> if anyone is on the fence about using a bear canister for food storage in
> sensitive areas just go to "the bear talk" at kickoff.
>
> last year they had a yosemite ranger showing pictures of long-term damage
> to habituated bears. "long term" as in the one's who are not shot or
> "destroyed" after coming back for more.
>
> the talk was somewhat depressing but really well done and educational.
> check it out this year if you can.
>
> -mayor trevor
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Jan 28, 2014, at 12:49 PM, "belcherjd at juno.com" <belcherjd at juno.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > It is again interesting how different people have had totally different
> experiences while hiking. My experiences come from 55 years of hiking on
> the PCT (yes, before it was the PCT) in Washington.
> >
> > As teenager I learned it was not very wise to keep my food in my tent
> because the rodents will gnaw holes in the tent to get to the food. My
> presence made no difference to them at all. Bears were no problem, they
> avoid humans when ever possible and to see one was a wonderful experience.
> It was odd to see bears in Yellowstone not avoiding people.
> >
> > I learn very quickly to hang my food to keep the critters out of my
> snickers and jerky.
> > (Back then there was no such thing as a bear canister.) As the years
> went by I would keep my trail mix with me in the tent to satisfy my mid
> night hunger.... no problem it was in a hard plastic jar of some sort. But,
> then I needed to lighten my pack (age catching up) and so the mix went into
> plastic bags......bang-go holes in the tent and mice playing keep away with
> my food and running over my face.....never did manage to smear one against
> the inside of the tent with my boot (maybe a good thing).
> >
> > One of the problems with hanging my food was that rain would get to it
> .... yuk.
> > Then along came the bear canisters but the expense was unrealistic.
> Finally my wife gave me one (a Bearikade) for Father's Day and for the last
> 10+ years it went with me on all trips, required or not. Oh how nice to
> have a waterproof container for my food and the mice were foiled. Add to
> that I had a great stool to sit on.
> >
> > Two years ago I talked at length with a well known Thru-hiker about how
> he kept the rodents out of his food and food storage. His thoughts/findings
> were that the real bad rodent problem was a unique phenomena to Central
> Washington  area.... of course this has been where most of my hiking has
> been.... and that I,comparatively, would find very little problem on the
> rest of the PCT.
> > Now comes last year and my thru-hike attempt. I discovered that he was
> right, in SoCal the little critters did not bother my food bag no matter
> what I did with it.....what a joy!
> >
> > YMMD
> > 'til later
> > Jon (Gandalf)
> >
> > ---------- Original Message ----------
> >
> >
> > On Jan 26, 2014 5:34 PM, "Jake Handy" <jakers329 at yahoo.com> wrote:> Im
> attempting my first thru-hike of the PCT this year and I'm a little>
> confused.? I'll admit this may seem like a silly question, but where do>
> people store their food at night?? I've read the popular guidebooks (ie.>
> Yogi's, Jardine, etc) and while they make vague references to
> bear-proofing> ones food by hanging it they don't go into much detail.? I'm
> assuming> hikers are just keeping their food with/near them in their
> tent/shelter..?> And if so, is the case the same for food in a
> bear-cannister in the> Sierra's?? I'm assuming that this is the method and
> that the authors of> these books just don't want to specifically recommend
> doing that.? Any help> would be appreciated!> Thanks!> Jake
> > ____________________________________________________________
> > Do THIS before eating carbs (every time)
> > 1 EASY tip to increase fat-burning, lower blood sugar & decrease fat
> storage
> > http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3131/52e8182832e3018287c43st04duc
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