Re: [pct-l] Hello to list...and a few comments

["Karen Elder" <bluesky@rt66.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Joanne Lennox <goforth@cio.net>


:I hang my food, often just by the long strings of my foodbags, at least 3-4
:feet off the ground out on a limb (away from the tree trunk).  usually in a
:tree that is 20 feet from my camp so that if a bear does come by, I am not
:right there.  I do this because I do not like rodent damage, and I hate
:mice climbing over me while I sleep.  I have seen lots of bears.  I have
:never had a bear get my food.  I  am generally out and away from trails.  I
:think this is the best protection you can get from bears: get away from
:areas that have bears habituated to human food.
:One trip, I got up one morning and there was a large hole in my pack: it
:went from the inside to one of my outside pockets.  I had forgotten and
:left a small package of peanuts in the pocket, and the top was open
:overnight.
:I now also hang up my ice ax(because of the wrist loop) and if possible my
:boots , because  I have had these badly chewed as well.
:In addition, marmots have chewed the shoulder and waist straps  and the
:zippers on my Kelty during daylight hours.  So during the day, I hang my
:pack as well.  Often, I will just put it in the crook of a tree.  For some
:reason, marmots do not seem to climb trees at all, although
:characteristically they perch on and climb rocks.

I hang my food, to keep it away from bears and rodents. I know there are
plenty of anecdotes where bears got hung food, but so far bears have never
gotten *my* food.  :-)  When we hiked the JMT, we saw six bears: one was
*in* our food tree and my husband chased it away - flashlight, rocks, and
shouting worked. We had a mama bear and two cubs walk through the area as we
cooked dinner one night. And we saw two bears at the campground at Reds
Meadow -- one *in* a dumpster and the other strolling through the campground
with a bunch of little kids following it (!).

We did meet a couple who had lost most of their food to a bear -- they had
searched far and wide for the "perfect" food-hanging tree, several hundred
yards from their campsite, only to find their food mauled and scattered the
next morning. We prefer to camp very near -- 20 feet sounds good, sometimes
even closer -- to where our food is hung, so that we can here any intruder
and defend our food (before the bear actually gets it -- after is too late).
We would also tie our pots and metal cups to the outside of our food bag, or
even sometimes around the trunk of the tree our food was hanging in, so that
we would have an "early warning system" that would sound to alert us to a
bear.

When camping by myself or with my daughter, I bring my pack into the tent,
because I would really hate to have it nibbled. (Since we never bring food
into the tent, mice, etc. don't try to come inside.) When hiking the CT this
summer, I left my hiking stick (with webbing wrist loop) outside under the
tent fly, and one night a mouse or some such chewed through the webbing, so
next time that comes inside or gets hung in a tree.

We've had marmots try to steal food from our packs while we were sitting
eating lunch, and so learned to keep a close watch on them. I hate to think
of trying to hike with a pack that had one of the straps chewed through.

Karen


* From the Pacific Crest Trail Email List |  http://www.backcountry.net   *

==============================================================================