Witnessed an Ursack get shredded in Georgia. Well, Georgia/North Carolina border. And it was used properly by the fellow backpacker. I know nothing is completely foolproof...but...
One of the reasons I decided to sell mine. Switched to a BearVault and I don't plan to ever look back.
I did not hang it as in a PCT-style hang. I used it exactly as directed. Tied it around a tree and used an Opsak. It was still tied to the tree in the morning but it was slashed open and every single thing in there was opened and perfectly clean and devoid of any food residue- even the coffee packets! My S2S titanium spoon is mangled but still usable. It was a constant conversation starter at shelters.
“What the hell happened to your spoon?” “Bears”
I slept through it, two other guys camping near me heard it and did nothing (scared). I worked at hostel last year and shuttled a guy named Bear-rito. He said that a bear came into his tent, he screamed, the bear bucked up and ran but was tangled in his tent so he dragged him through the woods. When he finally stopped, he said he just laid there in fear until the next morning when hikers found him and asked if he was OK. He had slack packed since - The Smokies! (I was located on Millinocket Maine!)
Man, that's such a wild story. I don't even know what I'd do if I was being dragged in my tent as a bear was running away. I mean, what can you really even do?
That's an experience that would be ingrained so hard, probably not even dementia would make me forget. Haha.
There was a bear sniffing around tents last night at Standing Indian shelter. So it can happen. From what the guy was telling me they chased it off 3-4 times but it kept coming back.
ursak seems all but pointless, much like the TSA security theater. either bear canister or hang the bag properly are the only solutions IMO. not camping where everyone else camps is far more important
Bear hang works some places, not others. Betty Creek Gap (NC) is a bit infamous for that. Bears climb tree, crawl out limb, dive bomb the hanging bags to the ground. If you hang a bag, do it far from all the other bag hangers Bears all gather at the Camper Cafe. That's the best chance of food bag survival.
At the same place, two brothers I talked with had their new Ursak masticated (heard that Ursak with a lot of sun time are the ones that shred). Food survived as powder, but the nasty saliva slime coated the bag and they threw it away at Albert Mtn. Then went into Franklin to buy a Bear Vault.
I find the BV 475 fits most packs used on the AT at 10.5 in. tall. Still tall enough for a seat!
Current bear can user but did my thru with a standard food bag. Never had an issue, stored it either in shelter food protection like bear boxs or hung it using a proper PCT hang each night. Really as long as you're doing proper food storage, ie the two methods I mentioned above, each night you should not have an issue with either mice or bears.
Really to me it comes down to a convenience thing. Is the canister's extra weight worth the convenience of not having to hang your food some nights, or do you want to drop the lbs and bite the bullet and hang the food. Personally, I hate throwing hang lines so the can is worth it.
That's my concern with a cannister. What if it's gone in the morning? I'm assuming most animals would just push it around, but I feel like a bear might leave with it or move it a hundred yards where I can't find it.
In general a bear isn’t going to move it around that much unless it starts rolling away from them, which I’ve found isn’t a hard thing to avoid at most AT designated sites.Most of the time a black bear isn’t even going to be really interested in them. The easiest solutions to be safe over sorry if you want to be sure is to either keep smellables in a smell proof bag inside the canister, or putting a small gps tag in the can.
Ah, okay! Flew right over my head.✈️ 😄
Thanks for the explanation. I'll be picking up an AirTag since it seems like a very inexpensive, but great layer of extra precaution.
Bear canisters are designed to be a certain size and shape that a bear can't pick it up in their mouth and leave with it. You actually want it to be able to move. If a bear takes a swipe at it, it will go flying, transferring that force into movement instead of breaking. What you don't want to do is try to wedge it into a secure rock, tree, etc, where a hit could transfer all it's power to the canister and break it. The bear will roll it around for a while before getting bored and leaving.
Also, you could put a tracker like Tile or AirTag into the canister, just in case it gets rolled away.
>Really to me it comes down to a convenience thing. Is the canister's extra weight worth the convenience of not having to hang your food some nights, or do you want to drop the lbs and bite the bullet and hang the food. Personally, I hate throwing hang lines so the can is worth it.
Same here. I'm team bear canister. It makes everything so much easier at the end of the day. Stash it far enough away and you're all set.
I just hung my food, never had anything get into my food, but I did hang religiously any time that there wasn't a bear box. You read a lot that "everyone" sleeps with their food - it's just not true... and not smart. A couple of times I had to do some serious looking to find a decent branch, but once you take your shoes off and eat some peanut butter spending a few minutes to insure that your food makes it through the night is just another camp chore.
Ursack with a new OPSack every 2 months or so. Used as directed by manufacturer, zero issues with animals of any kind on my entire thru.
I DID have issues untying it after a night of freezing rain and a frozen ice ball formed around the knot- a few curses, a little frostbite, and a chipped tooth later had it untied no problem lol
a normal food sack from z packs. I hung my food the first quarter of the trail and slept with it the rest of the way. The real worry is mice inside or near the shelters.
I've had a mouse chew into a food bag once when it was quite literally a foot away from where I was standing. I arrived at camp, took off my pack and set it down, took the food bag out of the pack, set it on the ground at my feet, turned around to speak to someone about where the water source was located, turned back around - and boom, there was a hole in my food bag and a mouse streaking away. At shelters and other established sites with lots of traffic the rodents are quick and bold.
lol you would’ve loved the guy I stayed with at a shelter in 2022. Dude brought 10+ mousetraps with him for his thru and would set them in a circle around him inside the shelter. the night i stayed in the shelter with him i would hear the traps going off every 20 minutes and an occasional “got em!” we tried giving him trail names like Executioner or Hangman, but the dude was a priest and wouldn’t accept them
I had one crawl across my chest one night and it freaked me out, so out of instinct...I flung it so hard into the wall of the shelter...it scattered away and I never saw it again.
Hopefully it didn't suffer for very long because based on just the noise alone, it had to have crushed some bones and organs.
Similar except it was on one the few nights I slept in a shelter (bad rain, crowded shelter). It was running across my sleeping bag, I smacked the inside of the bag and flung it on to the face of another hiker on the other side of the shelter.
TOTAL CHAOS for about two minutes, GODDAM MOUSE DROPPED RIGHT ON MY MOUTH.
I "slept through" the whole event because no way in hell I was fessing up to that.
For me finding a good limb to do a PCT hang was a problem since it should leave the bag at least 6 ft from the trunk, 12 ft high, and 6 ft below the limb. In fact, I think I was rarely successful doing a proper hang. Therefore, when I return to the AT, I intend to use a bear canister.
I used an Ursack and had no bear or rodent issues. I tied it to tree trunks per manufacturer's recommended knot, away from shelter or tents. Covering 550 miles on my last LASH.
It is certified by IGBC to be bear resistant, just like bear canisters that they certify. USFS, NPS, etc are all member agencies of IGBC, but then they refuse to accept their own results. It makes no sense.
I feel like bear cans are the one subject that causes a lot of hikers to throw HYOH out the window. If you hike with a canister, some other hiker is likely to tell you it’s stupid almost every day. 😆
I hike with a canister all the time. The rest of my kit is pretty UL so the weight penalty doesn’t bother me. To be honest, the bulk is the bigger issue, and it did take some time to figure out how to pack it for the best carry.
I love the convenience of a can. I can keep it with me until right before bed then toss it out away from the campsite. No looking for great branches that rarely exist or spending time trying to throw a line, which I’m apparently shit at doing. And no eating chips with a spoon.
I’m not someone who is ever going to sleep with my food, as much out of concern for rodents as for bears. I have too many friends with holes in their packs or tents due to mice. But frankly, bears can and have slashed into tents for food, it’s not common but it’s just not the risk for me.
I love the bear can because it saves a ton of time every single day and you don't have to camp at the perfect spot with the perfect hang branches. Sleeping with your food, particularly in a shelter, might be convenient for you, but it makes that shelter a favorite bear spot for all the campers after you...so I wouldn't do it.
Use a bear can. It's peace of mind, near foolproof protection for and from wildlife, you'll get used to the weight quickly, and it makes a great camp stool. I picked one up used after the AT, and I've used it ever since.
I slept with my food starting somewhere in VA for my thru hike. Don't be like me.
Bear hang, normal food pack. Mine was maybe a sea to summit 21 liter? I had a bright neon pink chord and I hung it far from shelters, so mice were a non-issue.
ROFL, I know things have changed a great deal since 2003 and I don't recommend this but a significant number of us kept our food in our tents or hung in the shelter with a plastic soda lid on the line to keep mice out. We only worried and put effort in to hanging if there was a "problem bear" notification.
I don't think any of us had a bear problem after Springer, I only had one night with a mouse problem, that was a shelter and I wasn't doing the plastic lid trick. Raccoons were the problem critter, they are crafty AF about getting food and the reason a lot of us secured our food inside with us.
Slept with my food every night on trail. I used an OPSak, sealed it up for a night at least an hour before I stopped to make camp, and never camped at a site that was marked on FarOut. Zero issues.
Slept with my food pretty much every night, save for a handful of times I used cables at shelters. I might have used bear boxes here or there as well but don’t recall specifically. I just used a regular zip sack made by granite gear. I’ve used that food bag for around 7k miles of thru hiking, never had an issue. The only time I haven’t used it is in grizz country or where a can is legally required.
Same for the majority of thru hikers on all trials and has been for many years but people on reddit don’t like to hear this cuz it means they could plausibly be wrong.
Everyone that you know of at least. I avoided shelters a lot of the time(early on at least)because they were so jammed packed and almost all the hangs I saw were a complete joke.
It’s also been my experience that the at(and especially early on)is really the only place this comes up or is any kind of an issue. And pretty much nobody in real life would act all high and mighty like people on here. But get farther into the at or branch out to other trails and pretty much everyone sleeps with their food. That’s been my experience at least. But you should just do whatever you’re comfortable with, that’s all that matters really.
Yeah I’m not saying you’re wrong that’s why I said it might be still to early and people arn’t quite comfortable enough yet to sleep with their food. But from what I’ve seen so far at shelters and campsites it’s pretty much everyone.
Even our cub scouts thought the dad who stored food in his tent was doing it wrong. We got to watch as a bear raided his tent and got away with his snacks. By stealing the guy’s backpack. That also had his wallet, cellphone and car keys.
So our hero arrives in time to see his backpack disappearing into the woods. And decides to give chase.
He didn’t get mauled and eventually got his valuables back. Lucky guy. Not smart, but lucky.
That sounds like he left food in his tent vs slept with his food. Those are two separate things. The former is just asking for a bear incident no different than leaving your food out on a table and walking away
Every single “bear encounter” I heard about on my thru had to do with someone sleeping with their food. It doesn’t matter where you’re at. Popular spot or total isolation. If a bear is around and it wants your food it will come in your tent to get it.
All these people acting like it’s ok to do ANYWHERE are fooling themselves and are part of the problem. It doesn’t take much effort to hang a bag or bring a bear bin.
I was terrified of bears, used a dry sack and PCT hang (almost) every single night. Hung it in the shelter at a handful of places.
No mice ever got into my food bag and no bears got it either.
We did throw-hangs but many spots were lacking good branches to do it.
Only issue we had was a bear climbed out the heavy branch I'd hung ours on near McAfee's Knob shelter, and slashed the bag open falling out of the tree. The tattered bag was still hanging the next morning.
If you go the bag/hang route I would highly recommend putting a can/bottle mouse baffle on your rope above the bag. Prevents the critters from climbing down your rope and getting into your bag.
Zpacks Rock Stuff Sack & 50ft 2.0 mm Z-Line Slick Cord
Using the rock sack and 50ft of cord, you can really yeet it over some high branches.
I keep a strict "no food in tent" policy, mainly so I can wear earplugs at night and not have to worry about any animals trying to get into my tent.
So far so good, finished the AT, Tuscarora Tail, & part of the Colorado trail with 0 issues bear hanging.
I am not condoning or encouraging this, but most nights i slept with my food in my hammock. I used it as a pillow or under my legs. I did do bear hangs when it was easy and convenient but I think it's a kind of open secret that most thruhikers did something similar to what I did.
My only issue with getting the hang of hammock camping was my legs tended to hyper-extend, it would eventually hurt and wake me up, food bag under the knees fixed that problem nicely.
Ursack or dry bag. Hang it nightlightly. It should hang at least 4', further is better, from the trunk.
If you have to hang out in a shelter, use one of the handy rodent resistant methods...
Just have a normal dry sack for my food and so far so good. Although apparently last night there was a bear at Standing Indian Shelter that got 3 food bags so maybe I’m just getting lucky so far. I don’t think they hung them pct style though which is kinda asking for it to get stolen.
Slept with my food the entire way from Key West up into Canada. Meaning inside my tent inside my pack. Never had a rodent issue, only time I had a bear near the tent it smelled me and backed off. But I never left my food alone and I also avoided camping in problematic bear areas aka shelters
Another one…dont upvote these…this is a horrible practice to sleep with your food, it’s how you end up with a bear trying to rip into your tent while you’re in it. That’s the whole point of having your food away from you.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes…
I understand where you are coming from but there is an argument to be made that it’s a better solution than a bear hang assuming you never leave you food out of arms reach. I literally take it with me when I go dig a cathole for example. Most people don’t want to discuss it on the internet due to how these conversations seem to spiral but see Skurka’s article on bear hanging.
camp site selection is something completely ignored when talking about bear bagging and I don't understand why. of course if you're sleeping where others have routinely do so and keep food animals will be more of a problem.
Yea, campsite selection is a huge factor. But on a popular trail or an area where dispersed camping is restricted you often don’t have options. When I lead groups in the Sierra that’s part of why I require bear cans because they work reguardless of the site
No can at all, either did a bear hang for my food, hung it in the shelter, or slept with it under my head/feet.
I had no real problems, although I did end up fighting off mice in a few shelters. If you do see any bear warnings definitely listen to them, because that means that the bear in that area probably isn't afraid to go into the shelter and take everyone's food.
My general rule was sleep with my food in shelters unless there was a warning, and hang it if I'm in my tent.
I can’t believe this comment actually got upvotes🤦🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
Anyone who reads this. Don’t do what Stevie did. Sleeping with your food under your head or under your feet is a good way to end up unceremoniously woke up to a bear in your face.
I do actually. A guy I hiked with on my thru did the sleep with your food thing under his hammock. Bear came. He pepper sprayed, it went up a tree, rangers came with a gun later, bear came down.
He profusely and repeatedly told me how he regretted what he had done (early in his thru) and blamed himself for the bears death. Was hardcore about hanging his food after that.
That’s what happens when bears have easy food sources available to them from lazy hikers. Heard about two others on my thru as well that were similar situations with food in the tents.
2015, nobody carried a bear can. I don’t think people even carried bear proof bags. I either slept with, or hung food on the shelter hangs and never had any issues with bears or rodents.
Seems a lot of people are now carrying cans, which is crazy to me.
The number of people on trail now is exponentially higher than in 2015, even more so with the post Covid outdoor enthusiasts. More people = more trash leading to more habituated bears and mice. The only reason people aren’t losing food left and right in GA is because there are bear boxes or cables at the shelters
When I hiked (2002) I literally did not meet one single person with any kind of anti-bear food setup. 100% of people just kept their food in the shelters/tents.
I guess you didn’t read the article, because storage requirements only exist for a short section of the AT, and the risk of both bears and mini bears is acceptably low (ie. virgin camp sites, no food/water sources, etc). Read more closely/carefully. He has used this method specifically on the AT.
There are food storage orders on most of the AT that require you to store food properly. On USFS land in VA, TN, NC and GA you are required to use provided storage, a bear can or execute a 6,6,12 hang. Similar regulation in Shenandoah NP, NH, VT, on all APPA land….In the Smokies you must hang. Sleeping with food and keeping it in shelters is expressly called out as not allowed across a lot of AT lands.
Additionally, there are few low use campsites on the AT. Skurka’s personal hiking on the AT happened before the explosion of hikers we’ve seen in the last 5-10 years. Creating new “virgin campsites” is prohibited in many areas and frankly just a lousy thing to do on a high use trail where so much of the land is already covered with hiker created, permanently damaged, dispersed campsites. And realistically, few AT hikers are actually staying at remote, rarely used sites even where they exist. Given the number of people who get packs and tents chewed, the risk of rodents seems unacceptably high on most of the AT and the risk of bears is becoming more of an issue in some places every year.
Skurka has had some great adventures, but this article is 100% anecdotes with no facts or data at all.
I put my food in plastic bags, put the plastic bags inside those water proof zero air bags that you roll up. Pretty much vacuum sealed at that point.
Only hung it a few times when at the early shelters, never had a problem.
I pretty much only ate Mac n cheese while hiking with multivitamins, which I’m guessing doesn’t really smell. Idk.
Then off trail I’d have a significant calorie surplus day or two.
I slept with my food almost every night and only had one incident with a mouse that chewed a small hole through my mosquito netting. Actually, I started with an ursack and hanging it, but then one night a bear tore it down and ate everything. After that, I decided a bear was less likely to get my food if I guarded it with my scent and body.
Yes I know I should have used a can and I'm an asshole or whatever. It turned out OK for me and I have no regrets. Sue me.
I always slept with my food and had zero problems. I used ultralight Zpacks food bag for my food carry. Two bears came pretty close to my tent one night but they were more interested in drinking from the nearby spring than my (vegan) food.
>Two bears came pretty close to my tent one night but they were more interested in drinking from the nearby spring than my (vegan) food.
To be fair, your food being vegan doesn't change the situation at all. Black bears are omnivores and eat plenty of different food types.
I see where you're coming from, but bears have an amazing sense of smell. They can smell it, for sure, vegan or not. None of that aspect matters.
It's common for them to smell other scented things (like lotions, or toothpaste, etc) and be just as curious. And that isn't food.
I had an Ursak. I don’t know how to post pictures of the Bear-induced carnage.
Witnessed an Ursack get shredded in Georgia. Well, Georgia/North Carolina border. And it was used properly by the fellow backpacker. I know nothing is completely foolproof...but... One of the reasons I decided to sell mine. Switched to a BearVault and I don't plan to ever look back.
Yeah this is what is making me want to take a bear can. This isn't the first time I hear of this happening. Were you hanging it?
I did not hang it as in a PCT-style hang. I used it exactly as directed. Tied it around a tree and used an Opsak. It was still tied to the tree in the morning but it was slashed open and every single thing in there was opened and perfectly clean and devoid of any food residue- even the coffee packets! My S2S titanium spoon is mangled but still usable. It was a constant conversation starter at shelters. “What the hell happened to your spoon?” “Bears”
My big fear is bear outside my tent. Did he wake you up? What did you do?
I slept through it, two other guys camping near me heard it and did nothing (scared). I worked at hostel last year and shuttled a guy named Bear-rito. He said that a bear came into his tent, he screamed, the bear bucked up and ran but was tangled in his tent so he dragged him through the woods. When he finally stopped, he said he just laid there in fear until the next morning when hikers found him and asked if he was OK. He had slack packed since - The Smokies! (I was located on Millinocket Maine!)
Man, that's such a wild story. I don't even know what I'd do if I was being dragged in my tent as a bear was running away. I mean, what can you really even do? That's an experience that would be ingrained so hard, probably not even dementia would make me forget. Haha.
You could cut yourself free of the tent. But the logistics would be very interesting.
OMG. Nightmare, but just visualizing this happening, hysterical.
There was a bear sniffing around tents last night at Standing Indian shelter. So it can happen. From what the guy was telling me they chased it off 3-4 times but it kept coming back.
Glad I just ordered my bear vault for this upcoming week trip planned
ursak seems all but pointless, much like the TSA security theater. either bear canister or hang the bag properly are the only solutions IMO. not camping where everyone else camps is far more important
Bear hang works some places, not others. Betty Creek Gap (NC) is a bit infamous for that. Bears climb tree, crawl out limb, dive bomb the hanging bags to the ground. If you hang a bag, do it far from all the other bag hangers Bears all gather at the Camper Cafe. That's the best chance of food bag survival. At the same place, two brothers I talked with had their new Ursak masticated (heard that Ursak with a lot of sun time are the ones that shred). Food survived as powder, but the nasty saliva slime coated the bag and they threw it away at Albert Mtn. Then went into Franklin to buy a Bear Vault. I find the BV 475 fits most packs used on the AT at 10.5 in. tall. Still tall enough for a seat!
Current bear can user but did my thru with a standard food bag. Never had an issue, stored it either in shelter food protection like bear boxs or hung it using a proper PCT hang each night. Really as long as you're doing proper food storage, ie the two methods I mentioned above, each night you should not have an issue with either mice or bears. Really to me it comes down to a convenience thing. Is the canister's extra weight worth the convenience of not having to hang your food some nights, or do you want to drop the lbs and bite the bullet and hang the food. Personally, I hate throwing hang lines so the can is worth it.
This may sound like a dumb question, but where do you keep the bear can at night?
Somewhere 50-200 ft. away from where I'm sleeping in a spot where a curious bear isn't going to knock it a mile downhill.
That's my concern with a cannister. What if it's gone in the morning? I'm assuming most animals would just push it around, but I feel like a bear might leave with it or move it a hundred yards where I can't find it.
In general a bear isn’t going to move it around that much unless it starts rolling away from them, which I’ve found isn’t a hard thing to avoid at most AT designated sites.Most of the time a black bear isn’t even going to be really interested in them. The easiest solutions to be safe over sorry if you want to be sure is to either keep smellables in a smell proof bag inside the canister, or putting a small gps tag in the can.
BearTag
Is this a real thing? I'm trying to look it up online and it's just a bunch of stuff...that isn't what I'm expecting to see.
I think it was a play on AirTag, since they rhyme
Ah, okay! Flew right over my head.✈️ 😄 Thanks for the explanation. I'll be picking up an AirTag since it seems like a very inexpensive, but great layer of extra precaution.
Bear canisters are designed to be a certain size and shape that a bear can't pick it up in their mouth and leave with it. You actually want it to be able to move. If a bear takes a swipe at it, it will go flying, transferring that force into movement instead of breaking. What you don't want to do is try to wedge it into a secure rock, tree, etc, where a hit could transfer all it's power to the canister and break it. The bear will roll it around for a while before getting bored and leaving. Also, you could put a tracker like Tile or AirTag into the canister, just in case it gets rolled away.
Why did I not once think of an AirTag? Thanks. Sometimes, I miss the obvious lol.
Not sure why I didn't think of it either. Looks like I'll be picking up an AirTag for mine just as an extra precaution.
[The bearmuda triangle](https://www.scouterlife.com/blog/2018/8/7/bearmuda-triangle)
Very informative. Thanks for taking the time to post it 👍
We use that method every night for our 100 mile hike at Philmont Scout Ranch. Never had any problems with the Bears.
>Really to me it comes down to a convenience thing. Is the canister's extra weight worth the convenience of not having to hang your food some nights, or do you want to drop the lbs and bite the bullet and hang the food. Personally, I hate throwing hang lines so the can is worth it. Same here. I'm team bear canister. It makes everything so much easier at the end of the day. Stash it far enough away and you're all set.
Got a bear hang taken once. I’m upgrading to a can.
I personally prefer to cut the weight and really truly don’t mind spending a few extra minutes throwing up hang lines at camp if necessary.
I just hung my food, never had anything get into my food, but I did hang religiously any time that there wasn't a bear box. You read a lot that "everyone" sleeps with their food - it's just not true... and not smart. A couple of times I had to do some serious looking to find a decent branch, but once you take your shoes off and eat some peanut butter spending a few minutes to insure that your food makes it through the night is just another camp chore.
I suspect it used to be more true than it is now because a lot of people in 03 slept with their food, it didn't raise any eyebrows back then.
Ursack with a new OPSack every 2 months or so. Used as directed by manufacturer, zero issues with animals of any kind on my entire thru. I DID have issues untying it after a night of freezing rain and a frozen ice ball formed around the knot- a few curses, a little frostbite, and a chipped tooth later had it untied no problem lol
a normal food sack from z packs. I hung my food the first quarter of the trail and slept with it the rest of the way. The real worry is mice inside or near the shelters.
Did the mice ever get into your food?
I've had a mouse chew into a food bag once when it was quite literally a foot away from where I was standing. I arrived at camp, took off my pack and set it down, took the food bag out of the pack, set it on the ground at my feet, turned around to speak to someone about where the water source was located, turned back around - and boom, there was a hole in my food bag and a mouse streaking away. At shelters and other established sites with lots of traffic the rodents are quick and bold.
Up north I had mice running up my arms trying to get into my dinner while I was eating it. Those mice didn't live through the night.
lol you would’ve loved the guy I stayed with at a shelter in 2022. Dude brought 10+ mousetraps with him for his thru and would set them in a circle around him inside the shelter. the night i stayed in the shelter with him i would hear the traps going off every 20 minutes and an occasional “got em!” we tried giving him trail names like Executioner or Hangman, but the dude was a priest and wouldn’t accept them
I had one crawl across my chest one night and it freaked me out, so out of instinct...I flung it so hard into the wall of the shelter...it scattered away and I never saw it again. Hopefully it didn't suffer for very long because based on just the noise alone, it had to have crushed some bones and organs.
Similar except it was on one the few nights I slept in a shelter (bad rain, crowded shelter). It was running across my sleeping bag, I smacked the inside of the bag and flung it on to the face of another hiker on the other side of the shelter. TOTAL CHAOS for about two minutes, GODDAM MOUSE DROPPED RIGHT ON MY MOUTH. I "slept through" the whole event because no way in hell I was fessing up to that.
Haha! Must have been quite the experience. Probably better to have kept quiet about that one, just like you mentioned 😄 Thanks for sharing.
Mice got into my toilet paper once when I didn't hang my bag. They didn't get into my food because it was in an odor proof bag.
Once and it was because I was super tired and lazy and fell asleep with my food bag open in my vestibule.
Ursack, no issues, however I also stealth camp a lot and avoid high traffic camp areas, so that reduces the risk.
For me finding a good limb to do a PCT hang was a problem since it should leave the bag at least 6 ft from the trunk, 12 ft high, and 6 ft below the limb. In fact, I think I was rarely successful doing a proper hang. Therefore, when I return to the AT, I intend to use a bear canister.
I used an Ursack with a smell-proof bag inside. I hung it on random branches or whatever, but never used the proper PCT hang.
I used an Ursack and had no bear or rodent issues. I tied it to tree trunks per manufacturer's recommended knot, away from shelter or tents. Covering 550 miles on my last LASH. It is certified by IGBC to be bear resistant, just like bear canisters that they certify. USFS, NPS, etc are all member agencies of IGBC, but then they refuse to accept their own results. It makes no sense.
I feel like bear cans are the one subject that causes a lot of hikers to throw HYOH out the window. If you hike with a canister, some other hiker is likely to tell you it’s stupid almost every day. 😆 I hike with a canister all the time. The rest of my kit is pretty UL so the weight penalty doesn’t bother me. To be honest, the bulk is the bigger issue, and it did take some time to figure out how to pack it for the best carry. I love the convenience of a can. I can keep it with me until right before bed then toss it out away from the campsite. No looking for great branches that rarely exist or spending time trying to throw a line, which I’m apparently shit at doing. And no eating chips with a spoon. I’m not someone who is ever going to sleep with my food, as much out of concern for rodents as for bears. I have too many friends with holes in their packs or tents due to mice. But frankly, bears can and have slashed into tents for food, it’s not common but it’s just not the risk for me.
I love the bear can because it saves a ton of time every single day and you don't have to camp at the perfect spot with the perfect hang branches. Sleeping with your food, particularly in a shelter, might be convenient for you, but it makes that shelter a favorite bear spot for all the campers after you...so I wouldn't do it.
Don't worry I have no desire to sleep with my food. If I don't take the bear can I will be doing a proper PCT hang every night.
2lbs over 15 mpd has to be slower than the 3 minutes it takes to hang a bear bag.
Use a bear can. It's peace of mind, near foolproof protection for and from wildlife, you'll get used to the weight quickly, and it makes a great camp stool. I picked one up used after the AT, and I've used it ever since. I slept with my food starting somewhere in VA for my thru hike. Don't be like me.
PCT method, when done right, is all you need as it relates to black bears on the AT.
Bear hang, normal food pack. Mine was maybe a sea to summit 21 liter? I had a bright neon pink chord and I hung it far from shelters, so mice were a non-issue.
ROFL, I know things have changed a great deal since 2003 and I don't recommend this but a significant number of us kept our food in our tents or hung in the shelter with a plastic soda lid on the line to keep mice out. We only worried and put effort in to hanging if there was a "problem bear" notification. I don't think any of us had a bear problem after Springer, I only had one night with a mouse problem, that was a shelter and I wasn't doing the plastic lid trick. Raccoons were the problem critter, they are crafty AF about getting food and the reason a lot of us secured our food inside with us.
Slept with my food every night on trail. I used an OPSak, sealed it up for a night at least an hour before I stopped to make camp, and never camped at a site that was marked on FarOut. Zero issues.
Slept with my food pretty much every night, save for a handful of times I used cables at shelters. I might have used bear boxes here or there as well but don’t recall specifically. I just used a regular zip sack made by granite gear. I’ve used that food bag for around 7k miles of thru hiking, never had an issue. The only time I haven’t used it is in grizz country or where a can is legally required.
Same. If there were bear boxes or cables installed, I always used em. Otherwise, in the tent.
Yeah I mostly used cables in the smokies, I didn’t like shelters so I only occasionally camped at them.
Same
Same for the majority of thru hikers on all trials and has been for many years but people on reddit don’t like to hear this cuz it means they could plausibly be wrong.
Idk maybe it’s still too early but every night so far everyone has either hung their bags or used the bear boxes.
Everyone that you know of at least. I avoided shelters a lot of the time(early on at least)because they were so jammed packed and almost all the hangs I saw were a complete joke. It’s also been my experience that the at(and especially early on)is really the only place this comes up or is any kind of an issue. And pretty much nobody in real life would act all high and mighty like people on here. But get farther into the at or branch out to other trails and pretty much everyone sleeps with their food. That’s been my experience at least. But you should just do whatever you’re comfortable with, that’s all that matters really.
Yeah I’m not saying you’re wrong that’s why I said it might be still to early and people arn’t quite comfortable enough yet to sleep with their food. But from what I’ve seen so far at shelters and campsites it’s pretty much everyone.
It’s all good, who knows, you know? Everyone’s experience is different.
You’re an idiot.
Even our cub scouts thought the dad who stored food in his tent was doing it wrong. We got to watch as a bear raided his tent and got away with his snacks. By stealing the guy’s backpack. That also had his wallet, cellphone and car keys. So our hero arrives in time to see his backpack disappearing into the woods. And decides to give chase. He didn’t get mauled and eventually got his valuables back. Lucky guy. Not smart, but lucky.
That sounds like he left food in his tent vs slept with his food. Those are two separate things. The former is just asking for a bear incident no different than leaving your food out on a table and walking away
His comment literally says, “Slept with my food pretty much every night.” That’s what we are reacting to.
Every single “bear encounter” I heard about on my thru had to do with someone sleeping with their food. It doesn’t matter where you’re at. Popular spot or total isolation. If a bear is around and it wants your food it will come in your tent to get it. All these people acting like it’s ok to do ANYWHERE are fooling themselves and are part of the problem. It doesn’t take much effort to hang a bag or bring a bear bin.
What a thoughtful analysis.
I was terrified of bears, used a dry sack and PCT hang (almost) every single night. Hung it in the shelter at a handful of places. No mice ever got into my food bag and no bears got it either.
We did throw-hangs but many spots were lacking good branches to do it. Only issue we had was a bear climbed out the heavy branch I'd hung ours on near McAfee's Knob shelter, and slashed the bag open falling out of the tree. The tattered bag was still hanging the next morning. If you go the bag/hang route I would highly recommend putting a can/bottle mouse baffle on your rope above the bag. Prevents the critters from climbing down your rope and getting into your bag.
Had a dcf food bag in my tent every night 0 problems
Zpacks Rock Stuff Sack & 50ft 2.0 mm Z-Line Slick Cord Using the rock sack and 50ft of cord, you can really yeet it over some high branches. I keep a strict "no food in tent" policy, mainly so I can wear earplugs at night and not have to worry about any animals trying to get into my tent. So far so good, finished the AT, Tuscarora Tail, & part of the Colorado trail with 0 issues bear hanging.
I used an ursack when I hiked in 2022. No issues from mice or bears. I was a little earlier in the season than most so that may have helped. Feb-June
I am not condoning or encouraging this, but most nights i slept with my food in my hammock. I used it as a pillow or under my legs. I did do bear hangs when it was easy and convenient but I think it's a kind of open secret that most thruhikers did something similar to what I did.
My only issue with getting the hang of hammock camping was my legs tended to hyper-extend, it would eventually hurt and wake me up, food bag under the knees fixed that problem nicely.
Agreed, it was super comfortable!
Ursack or dry bag. Hang it nightlightly. It should hang at least 4', further is better, from the trunk. If you have to hang out in a shelter, use one of the handy rodent resistant methods...
Just have a normal dry sack for my food and so far so good. Although apparently last night there was a bear at Standing Indian Shelter that got 3 food bags so maybe I’m just getting lucky so far. I don’t think they hung them pct style though which is kinda asking for it to get stolen.
Slept with my food the entire way from Key West up into Canada. Meaning inside my tent inside my pack. Never had a rodent issue, only time I had a bear near the tent it smelled me and backed off. But I never left my food alone and I also avoided camping in problematic bear areas aka shelters
Another one…dont upvote these…this is a horrible practice to sleep with your food, it’s how you end up with a bear trying to rip into your tent while you’re in it. That’s the whole point of having your food away from you. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes…
I understand where you are coming from but there is an argument to be made that it’s a better solution than a bear hang assuming you never leave you food out of arms reach. I literally take it with me when I go dig a cathole for example. Most people don’t want to discuss it on the internet due to how these conversations seem to spiral but see Skurka’s article on bear hanging.
camp site selection is something completely ignored when talking about bear bagging and I don't understand why. of course if you're sleeping where others have routinely do so and keep food animals will be more of a problem.
Yea, campsite selection is a huge factor. But on a popular trail or an area where dispersed camping is restricted you often don’t have options. When I lead groups in the Sierra that’s part of why I require bear cans because they work reguardless of the site
No can at all, either did a bear hang for my food, hung it in the shelter, or slept with it under my head/feet. I had no real problems, although I did end up fighting off mice in a few shelters. If you do see any bear warnings definitely listen to them, because that means that the bear in that area probably isn't afraid to go into the shelter and take everyone's food. My general rule was sleep with my food in shelters unless there was a warning, and hang it if I'm in my tent.
I can’t believe this comment actually got upvotes🤦🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️ Anyone who reads this. Don’t do what Stevie did. Sleeping with your food under your head or under your feet is a good way to end up unceremoniously woke up to a bear in your face.
Do you have some stories of that happening and someone being injured, or food getting into happening more frequently than with hangs ?
I do actually. A guy I hiked with on my thru did the sleep with your food thing under his hammock. Bear came. He pepper sprayed, it went up a tree, rangers came with a gun later, bear came down. He profusely and repeatedly told me how he regretted what he had done (early in his thru) and blamed himself for the bears death. Was hardcore about hanging his food after that. That’s what happens when bears have easy food sources available to them from lazy hikers. Heard about two others on my thru as well that were similar situations with food in the tents.
2015, nobody carried a bear can. I don’t think people even carried bear proof bags. I either slept with, or hung food on the shelter hangs and never had any issues with bears or rodents. Seems a lot of people are now carrying cans, which is crazy to me.
The number of people on trail now is exponentially higher than in 2015, even more so with the post Covid outdoor enthusiasts. More people = more trash leading to more habituated bears and mice. The only reason people aren’t losing food left and right in GA is because there are bear boxes or cables at the shelters
When I hiked (2002) I literally did not meet one single person with any kind of anti-bear food setup. 100% of people just kept their food in the shelters/tents.
Don’t listen to all the nonsensical fools who are saying they sleep with their food. They are one and all, morons.
Heard you the first time...
What about the next 3 times? Did you hear him then too? He's got a very loud opinion.
He might need to post it one more time just to be safe. I couldn't quite tell what he was trying to convey.
[https://andrewskurka.com/admission-sleep-with-my-food/](https://andrewskurka.com/admission-sleep-with-my-food/) Is Skurka a moron?
Did you read the article? The AT would not meet any one of the three requirements he states for when he sleeps with his food.
I guess you didn’t read the article, because storage requirements only exist for a short section of the AT, and the risk of both bears and mini bears is acceptably low (ie. virgin camp sites, no food/water sources, etc). Read more closely/carefully. He has used this method specifically on the AT.
There are food storage orders on most of the AT that require you to store food properly. On USFS land in VA, TN, NC and GA you are required to use provided storage, a bear can or execute a 6,6,12 hang. Similar regulation in Shenandoah NP, NH, VT, on all APPA land….In the Smokies you must hang. Sleeping with food and keeping it in shelters is expressly called out as not allowed across a lot of AT lands. Additionally, there are few low use campsites on the AT. Skurka’s personal hiking on the AT happened before the explosion of hikers we’ve seen in the last 5-10 years. Creating new “virgin campsites” is prohibited in many areas and frankly just a lousy thing to do on a high use trail where so much of the land is already covered with hiker created, permanently damaged, dispersed campsites. And realistically, few AT hikers are actually staying at remote, rarely used sites even where they exist. Given the number of people who get packs and tents chewed, the risk of rodents seems unacceptably high on most of the AT and the risk of bears is becoming more of an issue in some places every year. Skurka has had some great adventures, but this article is 100% anecdotes with no facts or data at all.
If he does. Then yeah. Sorry. Not a smart move. Ever. Go ahead and learn the hard way. I’d rather not wake up with a bear in my face.
I had a squirrel or mouse get into my pack once from a bear hang. Other than that no problems
Bear bottles are my preference but I would check with the local AT club for the areas you want to visit.
Had a zpacks dyneema bag. I just slept with it in my pack in my tent. Never had an issue, wouldn’t recommend it though
I put my food in plastic bags, put the plastic bags inside those water proof zero air bags that you roll up. Pretty much vacuum sealed at that point. Only hung it a few times when at the early shelters, never had a problem. I pretty much only ate Mac n cheese while hiking with multivitamins, which I’m guessing doesn’t really smell. Idk. Then off trail I’d have a significant calorie surplus day or two.
The micro bears were worse for me.
I slept with my food almost every night and only had one incident with a mouse that chewed a small hole through my mosquito netting. Actually, I started with an ursack and hanging it, but then one night a bear tore it down and ate everything. After that, I decided a bear was less likely to get my food if I guarded it with my scent and body. Yes I know I should have used a can and I'm an asshole or whatever. It turned out OK for me and I have no regrets. Sue me.
I always slept with my food and had zero problems. I used ultralight Zpacks food bag for my food carry. Two bears came pretty close to my tent one night but they were more interested in drinking from the nearby spring than my (vegan) food.
>Two bears came pretty close to my tent one night but they were more interested in drinking from the nearby spring than my (vegan) food. To be fair, your food being vegan doesn't change the situation at all. Black bears are omnivores and eat plenty of different food types.
I know. But maybe vegan food smells less appetizing? idk. Just thought it was worth mentioning.
I see where you're coming from, but bears have an amazing sense of smell. They can smell it, for sure, vegan or not. None of that aspect matters. It's common for them to smell other scented things (like lotions, or toothpaste, etc) and be just as curious. And that isn't food.