[pct-l] Section hiking - no place to hang food...

[Jeffrey Olson]

I have been using a bear canister while section hiking through Oregon. I 
am finding it to be a bulky nuisance that sucks up room and adds a lot 
of weight. However there seems to be a distinct lack of trees with 
horizontal branches in this section. What are most of you using to 
protect your food?

Bears are not a problem in Oregon. Just seal your food and dirty dishes 
in odor-proof bags, and place them in the tent next to you. Frankly, 
this is the best option for almost all of the PCT, where allowed by law.
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Another view - There is no reason to ever have dirty dishes, or carry 
odor proof bags, which I've not found work very well anyway. Unless 
you're uber-civilized, you only need to heat water.

Put your food in quart zip loc bags (at home or at the store if you're 
buying as you go) and pour boiling water over the food in them.  AFter 
you've dined, if you're near water, rinse the zip-locs out and seal 
them.  If not, just seal them.  Lick the spoon.

Don't go for the gallon bags - they're way more than you need.  Two 
pints of water and dehydrated food mix well in a quart zip-loc.  A 
week's worth of garbage fits in one quart zip-loc...

Use your food as a pillow.

Again, just an opinion...

Jeffrey Olson
Rapid City, SD