[pct-l] sleeping with your food everywhere except in the Sierra

[Stephen Adams]

You all are hitting on what I think to be the reality of the situation, at least in my case.  I just think that over the years I simply haven't been on the bears' normal patrol routes.  I just think a lot of folks think  they are OK when they just are not getting the visits.  I know a lot of scary beary stories that have happened in Seki and I just don't think it's enough anymore to think I can get away with the way I was doing things anymore.  SO I now use an Ursack where we are not required to have canisters yet, and am upgrading to the Baricade when finances allow so I can camp any damn place I feel like and not worry about it anymore.  Can you imagine being three or more days from your trailhead or the nearest supply source and loosing your food?   
On Dec 6, 2009, at 10:18 PM, Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com wrote:

> The topic of food storage comes up a lot. I always kept my food  
> inside my tent. Except when I had the bear canister, and then that  
> stayed outside the tent. I never had any trouble with bears with my  
> food inside my tent. I did have rodents two times, once in the desert  
> and once in Washington. In the desert I had no tent. In Washington my  
> tent had no zipper. So that is why rodents were able to get at my food.
> 
> I think the reason I never had trouble with bears was that I rarely  
> camped anywhere that ordinary backpackers camped. I had a rule for  
> personal safety that I avoided camping within 10 miles of a major  
> road. (Bad two-legged critters rarely go further than a mile from  
> cars, so 10 was a good buffer.) Once I got outside that 10 mile zone,  
> there was almost nobody on the trail and the camping spots I used  
> were dispersed and small.
> 
> Bears are smart enough to have rounds to all the regular camp sites.  
> I saw no evidence that they made rounds to remote, dispersed sites.  
> All evidence showed me that outside Yosemite National Park, bears  
> were terrified of humans. I accepted the risk that my presence alone  
> would serve as adequate deterrence against bears should one stumble  
> upon my remote site one night. The gamble paid off and I would do the  
> same next time.
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l