[pct-l] sealing - re cheese - consider odors

[Jereen Anderson]

MendoRider here. I ate lots of cheese during my ride on the PCT - Mexican border to that of Canada. Since I'm a skinny guy I needed the calories. I used Babybel brand. They are available in three flavors and each cheese is encased in wax. As long as you are careful not to crush them too much when packing they last very well - even in heat. Since I went "solo" on just one horse my most efficient and dependable approach to resupply was to drive ahead and cache at road crossings and trail heads. I purchased all of my food, including the cheese, prior to starting the journey. For my caches I usually pre-packed five cheeses per day. For a typical three-day to five-day part of a Section this would be 15 to 20 cheeses. I ate them as part of lunches and as part of dinners. I stored my food in individual double Zip-Lok freezer bags and these in OpSaks to seal in the food odors so as not to attract bears and rodents. I discovered early in my ride that
 the OpSak bags did not stay sealed very well when I was riding on the trail (due to the constant motion) but proved to be very effective in buried caches and in camp. No bear or other critter ever got into my OpSaks. 
MendoRider