Food and bears - Pacific Crest Trail

imported
#1

I was wondering how former PCT thru hikers handled food and bears. When I hiked the AT it was bear bag hanging from a tree or pole where supplied or in bear box in the shelters that had them most of the time it was just with me in my tent or under my hammock.

Is the PCT similar do you just really have to look out in certain stretches like Yosemite? Do you just hang from a high branch or is something like an Ursack truly necessary?

Thanks for the advice, really looking forward to my planed 06 thru hike attempt.

runnoft

runnoft

#2

I hiked on the JMT South of Yosemite and had a bear can. I believe Bear cans are required in that area but can be rented at one point amd dropped off at another.

I had some extra food that I ended up hanging in a tree and it was taken by a bear.

I was a little concerned because the bear ate a bunch of my chocalte covered coffe beans that I had inadvertently left in my backpack side pocket. Not sure how bears get when they’re caffeinated.:boy

jaln

#3

Bears are primarily a problem in the Yosemite area. Hanging your food is not effective in that area. The maker of Ursacks is always optimistic about the latest model and one day he’ll hopefully be right, but their track record is at best mixed. If you fail to use a bear can or fixed cabinet, you may well get lucky and keep your food. Or you might not, inconveniencing yourself and advancing a bear one step closer to execution. Don’t think you get a free pass as a super-studly thru-hiker either: bears don’t care.

Eric

#4

I hiked the JMT this past summer. I carried a can per regulations but hung my trash and extra food when there was not room in the can. I NEVER had a problem.

I took the following precautions: 1) Never ate food in camp. 2) Cooked dinner about 2 hours before arriving at camp. 3) Always hung the bear bag and placed the bear can away from camp.

I believe that if bear bags are hung correctly they can be affective. But I rarely see people do it right and that is why we must now carry cans. Check out these instructions. I have never had a problem hanging my good this way.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/bear_bag_hanging_technique.html

Bob

#5

Bears make great food, if you don’t mind the darkness of the meat. I’m having Bear Burgers for supper thursday night in
Ashe county, NC. It frys up pretty good with all that fat in it. It does help to marinade it a little while in “Game Tame” marinade if you have any and aren’t to fond of the “gaminess” often found in wild meat. But to each his own, i just love living off theland as much as possible.

DEE

Big Dee

#6

I’ll pass on the Bear Burgers,I’ll settle for chicken or fish thanks.If your hanging your food it helps to be smarter than the Bear.
P.S.:Bear Cans now required in the Eastern [High Peak region] of the Adirondacks :bawling

old&in the way

#7

My wife and I just hiked the PCT sobo and we had no problems with bears at all. Everyone has their own method for dealing with the “potential problem” so you need only figure out what is comfortable for you! We slept with our food near our heads or used an ocassional bear box when they worked out. I see some folks cringing at this. The fact is…it worked for us. We employed the same methods as Bob but add that we didn’t cook odiferous foods, nearly always picked camp sites well of trail (animals use the trail too!), and never camped near water (missed out on a lot of beautiful spots doing this though). As a JMT/PCT thru-hiker, you are not required to use a bear canister but you are required to camp at a site with a bear box…same for Yosemite. If you leave either of these trails to venture to other areas in the sierra or Yosemite you could get in trouble w/o a canister. We heard many stories, several first hand, that make hanging food, especially in “park bear” areas, a very poor choice. For a thru hiker, unless you eat like a mouse, I find it hard to believe that one could carry all their food in even the largest of canisters unless you’re leaving the trail every few days. Some hikers said they hung there over-flow food but, what’s the difference if the bear gets some or all of your food…sure you’ll be a little more hungry getting to town the one way but the real damage done is that you have just conditioned that bear to associate food with hikers. If you do decide on a canister, stay away from the “bear vaults” as they have been proven to fail in the high Sierra. Good bear canisters, properly used, WORK as do the bear boxes. Stay safe…as for eating bear…I’ll try it!

Little Bump

#8

Contrary to popular belief, ursus americanus, also known as the American black bear, in fact, does not exist in the Sierra Nevada range of California.

Due to studious research on the topic during August and September of 2005, myself and a trio of research assistants assessed the 216-mile length of the John Muir Trail. We concluded that there is no evidence to support the existence of bears in the High Sierras, an area that many consider to be the most remote and wild backcountry in the lower 48 states.

After three weeks of carefully planned observation, statistical analysis, and food-baiting, we reached the irrefutable conclusion that these “claims” of bear existence are, in truth, actually trumped-up fairy tales propogated by the bear canister manufacturers. Makers of the Bearvault and the Bearikade canisters, among other corporate giants, seek to make an easy buck off the naive American public, using such dirty scare tactics as fabricated bear encounters and false advertising.

During our only “bear encounter” on the research expedition, we managed to get a somewhat grainy photograph of the bear that had aims to raid our camp early one morning. You can see it here:

http://trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=127084

Though the image quality is somewhat lacking, it is clearly evident how truly nefarious these “bears” are, paid by corporate cronies to intimidate hikers into purchasing their wares.

So be “bear aware,” and support these corporate magnates no longer. The American public deserves better.

Cap’n

#9

What Cap’n forgot to point out is that we were also working closly with the Cowboy Campers Association, otherwise known as the CCA. Here we are shown using some of their bear baiting techniques.

jerm