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| Bear proofing your camp and hike |
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Bear, mountain lions and a host of other critters will make short work of breaking into your tent ...if they smell anything in there. The best preventive tactic is to only bring into your tent only what you need to sleep with ...period. Never ever bring anything that smells in to your tent including toothpaste (bear gum), sun tan lotions, food, candy, soda, etc, etc, etc. I.E. No smell low risk. Make a triangle with sides at least 100 yards long. Place your food (hang it or cannister) 100 yards from your tent and cook at least 100 yards from both where you hang your food and pitch your tent. The critters will go for the smells and not you! |
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Hanging your food and clothes you cooked/ate in was recommended until bears started climbing the tree, chewing the rope and having a feast! I covered mine with a plastic bag just in case it rained. |
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As of my Rocky Mountain Continental Divide trip, the rangers recommended counter-balancing two bags at least 5 feet out on a branch from the tree trunk. The only problem with this was that it took about 1.5 hours to find a tree branch 5 feet long, strong enough and low enough for me to get a rope over. The lower branches of the Rocky Mountain trees must have already been broken off by the bears trying to get to food bags. That is one of the two problems with this method as bears in the California parks either break the branch or dive out from the tree and tackle the bags. |
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The latest recommendation is a bear canister. It takes human fingers & thumb that oppose each other to hold a coin to open the latches. It is made of hard plastic and titanium and its shape makes it impoosble for the bear to do anything with other than play soccer until it gets bored. Put it in a low place so it will roll back down when batted around or wedge it under a tree or rock. Use the plastic inner liner for additional smell protection. |
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