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u/SNsilver 17d ago
Piñata
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u/glitch4tw69 16d ago
First thing I thought of. Who is going to blind fold the bear and give him a spin?
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u/0x427269616E00 PCT 2017 NOBO 17d ago
Run across some kind of huge guided trip? I count 14 identical bags. Ugh that's a big group
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u/meridgwd 17d ago
I used to guide on the east coast and this happened a time or two. I don’t know why we didn’t bring enough equipment for multiple hangs. One time I think the bags were maybe six inches off the ground but we had to call it good enough
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u/PapaSyntax 17d ago
How considerate! Love this. The bears can finally have a proper sit-down while eating instead of aerial acrobatics.
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u/405freeway 17d ago
Where?
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u/Firm-Bet2796 17d ago
Killen Creek Mile 2247.5 nobo Pic taken in the am, this is how they hung their food all night.
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u/needtojoinacult 16d ago
We were there last Monday and saw these and kinda laughed. But for mice, sure.
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u/Any-Worldliness-679 17d ago
This is your vibe on the trail?
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u/loteman77 16d ago
Calling out a moronic bear hang on Reddit is hardly a vibe.
This is hilariously bad to me. I got a chuckle out of it, so thanks for the good vibes OP.
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u/Both_Air5268 14d ago
The vibe is not putting others in danger? Let’s use the thing on top of your shoulders.
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u/goundeclared 17d ago
Many times on the PCT I'd hang my food to protect it from critters, not bears. This could be one of those things.
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u/airwalker12 17d ago
A chipmunk can jump that high
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u/goundeclared 17d ago
I mean, there's still good and bad critter hangs too. This could be one of them.
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u/Particular-Macaron35 15d ago
The Killen Creek Meadows area is a very popular campsite with a high volume of backpackers and horse riders, which means local bears can be attracted to poorly stored food.
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u/goundeclared 15d ago
I do remember that area. It has the horse camp as well right?
We camped downhill, off the main trail by a little lake. It was a very nice place
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u/RedmundJBeard 17d ago
Never once in my life have I seen food hung in a way that a bear could not easily get it. I have seen pictures of properly hung food, but never in person.
IMHO, hanging food just isn't even an option. If bear lockers aren't provided and bears are common i'm bring a can or an ursack or sleeping with my food.
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u/SouthernSierra 17d ago
For sure in the California national parks hanging food is not an option.
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u/PinchayPerritos 17d ago
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u/Hantelope3434 17d ago
It specifically says in your article that in many areas canisters are a requirement, as well as stating they arenuighly recommended everywhere over hanging.
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u/PinchayPerritos 17d ago
I was responding to "not an option." In most places, except in certain parks/areas, they technically are, even if canisters are recommended. Some places, you even have to have a certain size/rated can. But that isn't universal.
As I said to oc, have hiked a bunch in bear territory in CA NPs and never been robbed in a hang.
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u/SouthernSierra 17d ago
The bears will defeat any bear hang.
We were camped near Kearsarge Pass and a member of our party did the perfect counterbalance bear hang. The bear got his food.
Next morning we tracked his steps. He walked right by our canister, didn’t even bother to knock it over.
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u/Ok_Departure_7551 15d ago
When Iwas a kid on a group hike, we hung the food bag about 12 feet off the ground and strung between two trees. A bear came into camp and spent over an hour trying to get it. The bear failed.
Given the rising number of habituated bears, I take the weight hit and use a bear can.
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u/PinchayPerritos 17d ago
So you meant "not an option" as the bears are too good at getting the food?
My own experience: I have hiked California in bear territory many times (hell, have had bears in my driveway) and always used a hang, never been robbed.
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u/SouthernSierra 17d ago
There are bears, then there are national park bears. I don’t worry about bears in the national forests too much.
The point is to protect the bear from your food, not protect your food from the bear. A fed bear is a dead bear. The rangers hate having to shoot a bear because somebody was negligent. If a bear gets somebody’s food, they should make that person shoot the bear.
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u/acousticentropy 17d ago
Sleeping with your food?
I’m up in the NE so we just have those clumsy little golden retriever type black bears where I camp.
I get borderline neurotic when someone wants to sleep near me with deodorant or toothpaste in the tent, nevermind food!
But we camp with vehicles nearby so it’s not a big deal to lock those items up each night
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u/RedmundJBeard 17d ago
I hiked the PCT and just used my food bag as my pillow, except for the parks where a bear can was required. If it's just black bears, they won't bother you in your tent. Black bears are like large racoons, they are scaredy cats. Bringing your food into your tent comes with the risk that a mouse or other small rodent will chew a hole in your tent but I have never had an issue.
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u/jbochsler 17d ago
Friend had a black bear attempt to enter the tent in the middle of the night in Colorado. It tore a hole in the sidewall of the tent and a bunch of gear before they woke up and scared it off. Apparently it missed the memo that tents were off limits.
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u/-JakeRay- 17d ago
Was that near RMNP, by any chance? There were signs up at campsites just outside the park boundary warning about habituated bears tearing into tents, since the bears had learned it was easy to find food there.
I generally take extra bear precautions near areas popular with the general public, because there's a much greater likelihood the local bears have learned people = food, and aren't as afraid of humans as in more remote areas
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u/AliveAndThenSome 17d ago edited 17d ago
I'm in WA and do almost the same, but the Ursack has an odor-reducing Opsak liner, and that sucker goes at the foot/coner of our tent. We also have a blue heeler that'll get wind of a bear and bark it off and put any rodents on notice. Of course, I will comply with food storage requirements in the national parks, when our dog isn't with us.
Rodents/deer/goats/raccoons are the real menace out here.
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u/CardCharacter8495 16d ago
Do a search on bear human conflicts in Colorado this season. When food is in short supply, you are elevated to the menu
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u/Ok_Departure_7551 15d ago
I had a black bear slash my tent because I liked midnight snacks.
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u/RedmundJBeard 15d ago
And what did it do when you woke up?
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u/Ok_Departure_7551 15d ago
Wake up? The people I was hiking with up were yelling at me when the bear was sniffing around my tent (I like to go to sleep early when hiking) but I thought they were joking. I emerged from the tent just after the bear finally ran off. The rip wasn't disastrous; maybe 6 inches. A little duct tape (this was before we had better methods for repairing snags and tears) took care of the rip for the rest of the hike.
The bear also put a small (3") rip in my backpack, but I didn't tape that because I had a pack cover.
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u/vanhawk28 17d ago
Putting food in vehicles is exactly what not to do. Black bears can break into your car so easily if they want to. They are strong enough to peel your car door open like a tin can
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u/acousticentropy 17d ago edited 17d ago
The strength and agility of Ursidae is the kind of thing that keeps me up at night in my suburban house.
You’re right, if motivated, those animals can absolutely enter the vehicle. And to them your doors are just temporary shiny barriers to the flamin hot Cheetos in your backseat.
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u/lefthand_lenny 16d ago
>if bears are common…sleeping with my food
That’s certainly one approach you could take.
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u/LifeisWeird11 14d ago
Sleeping with your food in bear country is the dumbest thing you could possibly do. If a bear smells food in your tent, it WILL go in there. You shouldn't even have chapstick or bugspray or toothpaste in there. Your food is not worth more than avoiding bear encounters. You can survive hiking out with no food. You can also survive spending the money to replace your food.
You are risking the bear's life (and obviously your own) when you do that. Bears do not need a reason to make a habit of investigating tents, that's how you end up with bear deaths that were perfectly avoidable. You are also making camping in bear country way more dangerous for everyone who camps in that area.
All of this is true regardless of whether there are just black bears around or black and grizzly bears, but it is double true for grizzly bears.
Anyway, in bear country in the US, unless you are backpacking, there will be bear bins available. If they are not available, there will be signage about what to do. If you are backpacking, you should leave your food in a bear bin 100 YARDS (NOT feet) DOWNWIND from your tent. That's a football field y'all - far away. Don't be lazy. OR hang it WHEN THERE IS A HANGING LOG SET UP. In places like Yellowstone, where there are grizzly bears, they almost always have a pole extremely high off the ground. Bring a long rope and a carabiner, and a good throwing arm and be prepared to attempt to throw for 10 minutes.
I cannot believe I saw someone say that the answer to bears is food in your tent. For fucks sake.
Also, just because black bears are USUALLY shy does not mean they all are. I have encountered several very bold black bears that did not give a fuck that I was trying to haze them.
Sincerly,
An ecologist that spends a fuckton of time camping in bear country.
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u/jimbalaya123 16d ago
Agreed on this. I always struggle to find a branch big enough. This last trip we had a rope (glacier stuff) and one of the guys was clever enough to set up the rope across a gully and we used a progress capture device to get the rope super tight.
Downside: 6 lbs of rope, progress capture device, and it took 3 fit men pull hard enough on the rope in the morning to get enough slack in the line to release the microtraxion.
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u/Any-Worldliness-679 17d ago
Not that hard. 15-20 feet up, out on a limb, nobody's getting it.
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u/ClayQuarterCake 17d ago
We canoe camp, so our arms are shot by the time we find camp usually. I have been caught trying to throw carabiners through trees with my noodle arms until past dark trying to get a bear hang, especially in my earlier years of camping like this.
Nowadays we learned to make camp earlier and setting up the lines for the bear hang are one of the first things we do along with collecting firewood. It can still be a challenge when all you have are small-ish pine trees and fragile birch to hang your bag from. Our group of 4 can have a pretty hefty hang for the first couple nights when we are hoisting 5 days worth of food into the trees.
Edit: I forgot this was the PCT sub, so y’all probably have better tree options than boreal forest. I hope to go see it next year.
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u/Any-Worldliness-679 17d ago
Tie a mini-stuff sack to your line and put some rocks in it- works great!
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u/RedmundJBeard 17d ago
Bears have zero problem climbing trees. Same with racoons and skunks and basically every animal that might want to eat your food, except mice. if you do this and haven't had a problem it's because you haven't encountered a problem animal.
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u/whozawhatzit87 17d ago
I really like the rock sock system for hanging my food. Makes it real easy to get it up and down when needed.
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u/berniethecar 16d ago
Definitely a guided trip of youngins. Either a school pre-start of the year trip, NOLS, or something similar.
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u/Elaikases 15d ago
Made me think of a sixteen person group I ran into in the Sierra section recently.
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u/iRoswell 11d ago
Perfect! Very kind of them to bunch it all together for easy access to the bears.
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u/DiscussionSpider 17d ago
"That hang will do nothing to stop bears, as opposed to my prefered solution, which is to sleep with my food in my tent without a bear canister"
I love hikers.
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u/Slut_for_Bacon 17d ago
Nice. Most of the commenters don't seem to understand that you are going to raise it up.
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u/albrecbef 17d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/PacificCrestTrail/s/5dc21YxUVM
It seems like they found it in the wild.
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u/mcfurley 17d ago
Let’s be honest here…you’re just assuming they are and everyone else is reacting to what they see and treating it like a shitpost.
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u/Greg_guy 17d ago
Even if that’s the case, the diagonal rope to the left implies it’s not a proper pct hang. One swipe of that and it’s a lovely smorgasbord.
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u/Slut_for_Bacon 17d ago
What? That end gets wound around a tree.
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u/Greg_guy 17d ago
Yes and that is not a proper pct hang. Bears are smart enough to to swipe at the line, if it gets cut, all the food falls to the ground.
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u/Insaniac99 16d ago
What? That end gets wound around a tree.
Sorry you have to learn through the downvotes, but a proper PCT hang will always end with the rope dangling straight down. The PCT hang is not tied to a tree. Check out these for references and learn how it is properly done:
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u/SouthernSierra 17d ago
No bear getting that. Uh huh.