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Re: food storage in the tahoe/desolation area

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 4:48 pm
by maverick
What's a Sierra black bear going to do, eat my tent?
No, but I have seen a friends tent get torn open even though all food and items with smells were in the canister, this happened in Yosemite near Clouds Rest/Sunrise Creek Junction.

Re: food storage in the tahoe/desolation area

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 4:58 pm
by longri
I'm not surprised. I've had my car broken into by a bear even though there was no food and it looked clean. I'm not sure what I could have done about that besides take a bus. I mean, I'd used my car to transport food so it no doubt had some low level of food odor. It probably always does.

Oddly enough, the car right next to mine was left alone by the bear even though there was food clearly visible on the front seat. Go figure.

In the backcountry, unless you cook down wind and change clothes and wash with soap and water before bed you'll have some food odor. And even then, what if you belch up something garlicky in the middle of the night?

I just don't think it's a big concern.

Re: food storage in the tahoe/desolation area

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 5:27 pm
by maverick
We had that happen to our car too at Lodgepole, 5 or 6 cars got sardine canned that night by the same bear, we had nothing in the car, but the bear associated the cars with food because it has been previously successful at obtaining it from someones car.

Re: food storage in the tahoe/desolation area

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 5:37 pm
by longri
maverick wrote:We had that happen to our car too at Lodgepole, 5 or 6 cars got sardine canned that night by the same bear, we had nothing in the car, but the bear associated the cars with food because it has been previously successful at obtaining it from someones car.
So if it's not by smell, just past association, then what's the point of smell-proofing your tent?

Re: food storage in the tahoe/desolation area

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 11:27 pm
by wildhiker
A suggestion for carrying all the gear when backpacking with an infant...

The way we did this was that we packed all the gear into two regular backpacks (we had external frame Keltys, which could really carry a lot), plus, we had a separate baby carrier that could also hold a few essential clothes, diaper change, etc. My wife would take the baby carrier with baby and I would take one of the full backpacks that had at least the tent, more clothes, and some food. We would hike in 3 or 4 miles to camp. After setting up camp, I would head back to the car and get the other full backpack with all the other gear and bring in it. Reverse when leaving. This method meant I had to hike 12 miles, which I didn't mind when I was young. But we could bring in a lot of stuff. It works best if you stay more than one night at that same location and day-hike around. Then you feel like you "got your moneys worth" from all that effort.

-Phil