[pct-l] Sleeping with food

[Steve McAllister]

I carry an Ursack on all backpacks, but only partially because of bears.
I don't believe in sleeping with food after experiencing rodents
chewing holes in tents and raccoons keeping me up all night.

I like the fact that I can easily get at my food as I don't have to
hoist an Ursack up high on a tree branch like I would with a bear bag.
few weekends ago, we were camped near the top of a ridge with a view
of NYC in the distance, not far from the AT.
I was serenaded to sleep by a large pack of coyotes that were howling
and yelping further up the ridge.

My hiking partner woke in the middle of the night by what sounded like
a violent boxing match between some horrible creatures.

I guess I had hung the Usack a bit too low and the coyotes were taking
turns jumping, grabbing and trying to rip it open. The sound of
huffing, growling and slapping horrified my hiking partner to the
point that he didn't sleep much. He didn't know I hung the Ursack
about 50 yards up the ridge from where he was sleeping.

I slept through it, I am a sound sleeper and was little further away.

The food survived, but there were some teeth marks in the bag.

We've had problems with critters, birds I think, that will rip open
bear bags hung high in the trees in the area.

The Ursack has allowed me to relax more on my backpack trips:-)

On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 1:34 AM, Stephen Adams <reddirt2 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> I think Mathew, the problem with getting the Ursack approved is that one needs to be able to use it properly and that just isn't the case.  I know people that own boats that can't sail or tie knots and I certainly would not trust them to secure an Ursack.  The canister is far more foolproof.  When I got my Ursack I even changed the draw and securing line with stronger line and longer.  I wnet from wht they gave me, double braided polyester, basic cheap yacht line, to super strong Spectra core with a polyester cover.  Probably about eight times as strong.  I'm a little surprised I the bag came with only the polyester cored closure line when the bag itself is spectra cloth.  Which also leaves me in suspicion regarding the stitching.
> On Dec 6, 2009, at 10:14 PM, Matthew Edwards wrote:
>
>> I carried a Bear Can out of Kennedy meadows and ditched it at Echo Lake. The rest of the hike I put all my food into my inner Garbage compactor bag(used to keep gear dry in the Pack) and used my food as my pillow.
>> Like others have stated, the point is to protect the bears. Having done most of my hiking in the Yosenite backcountry, I am used to carrying a bear can. The man habituated bears in Seki and Yosemite will absolutely walk right through your tent and take the food out from under your head. Interestingly I have only had one Mother Bear and her cub attack my bear can but that was over 10 years ago(I have the original Garcia Bear Can 4.5 LBS!)
>> I always set the can upright about 50 feet from where I sleep but nothing has touched it since!
>> Maybe I camp "cleaner" than I used to or maybe the bears are accepting the Can as impenetrable.
>> I will tell you one thing I don't miss; The old days of bear hanging food and being awakened at 1,2,3,4 and 5 am to the sound of claws om bark.
>> I think some of our "immunity" to bear problems as PCT hikers stems from Not camping in impacted areas,not cooking where we sleep,moving to a diffent site each night, and not camping next to lakes.
>> The most common thing I heard about as far a food being raided this year was done by rodents.
>> When is Ursack gonna come up with an Sbbig approved bag for us ultralighters?
>> Till then carry a Bear Resistant canister for Seki and Yosemite. You would not want to ruin a part of the very reason you are out there right?
>> A Fed Bear is a Dead Bear.
>> -Iceaxe
>>
>> Sent from a Peek email device
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... when your feeling blue, and you've lost all your dreams, there's
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