Ethics and method of pack dropping

[tnhgmia]

I’m doing a mostly solo long off trail route with various opportunities for peak bagging. Sometimes this will involve ascents and descents in side trails where dropping 30lbs of weight would greatly ease the side trips. This would all be above 10k in the high Sierras. My worry is mostly bears and marmots trashing my gear and further incentives for human interactions. I use a bear can and wouldn’t leave any scents or food. Any perspectives on this? Despite backpacking for a few decades I’ve never done this prior and am hesitant.

[Wandering Daisy]

I have done that quite a bit both in peak bagging and fishing. Take the bear can out of your pack and set it about 20-50 feet away in shade. Be sure all things that smell are in the bear can. Put your pack up in a tree high to protect from marmots. Trekking pole handles are also marmots favorite (anything with your sweat on it will attract marmots). Then put something colorful to mark the site. I have come back a few times and not found my pack (not good) One time I set up my tent and threw the pack inside and did a 3-hour side trip. It was double purpose since I had to pack a wet tent that morning. Again, bear can was outside in the shade of a rock about 50 feet away.

I have also left snow climbing gear several days if I do a loop and will not need it until I return. Mainly ice axe and crampons. Also stashed gas cans. I hide these off the trail but make a small cairn or marker and tear it down when I pick the stuff up.

The problem with leaving gear in the bear boxes, is that many people depend on room left in the bear box. Rangers will also remove stuff.

There is never an 100% guarantee that your stuff will not be damaged or taken. I have never had any problems. It is a small risk. I hide my stash from the trail mainly not to mar other's wilderness experience. A tent set up (in a legal campsite area) is OK, even overnight. Not sure what the regulation is about a gear stash. I think a ranger would just leave you a warning note.

[tnhgmia]

Very helpful. Thanks!

[erutan]

I'll second what WD said - I don't worry about theft in the backcountry, but I suppose it'd be a possibility near the PCJMT or a popular single night in destination.

If you use a near empty pack while bagging a peak to carry food, water, layers, etc having a pack liner to toss everything else into is convenient if you're like me and have loose stuff (clothes mostly) vs everything in it's own stuff sack in the pack.

[bobby49]

My DIY daypack weighs 1.4 ounces. So, along the main trail with a full load in my backpack, the daypack serves as my lunch food bag. If I leave camp and wander off somewhere, the daypack carries food, water, a rain jacket, and my inReach device for the event of an emergency.

[JosiahSpurr]

[...] My worry is mostly bears and marmots trashing my gear and further incentives for human interactions. [...]

How'd it go?- I once left & lost my Kelty external frame pack on the side of Sphinx Crest in the middle of a very steep talus slide. I put it on a large fallen tree, to make finding it easier, before ascending the slide. On the way back down, I couldn't find it. I weaved up and down, side to side, for what seemed like hours (October?) before giving up. I checked all the large, toppled trees I could find. I retreated to Avalanche Pass, where I did find some gear that I took out before the ascent. The pass was my marker to find that gear, but it was random gear. I should have left the gear needed to sleep warmly. I booked down the trail to that one stream crossing and huddled again a downed log and shivered all night.

In terms of ethics, I returned a week later and found the external frame pack. It was exactly where I'd left it. No animal interaction or disturbance. And, definitely no human interaction since it was left at a spot that even I couldn't find, way away from any trail. *

[SSSdave]

I base camp all the time while leaving gear at chosen camp spots or in vicinity of trails to take a detour for photography. Often will arrive at such a location and instead of first making camp, will just leave my whole pack including the Garcia canister in the pack then go off for an hour or three before returning. I suppose for the sake of not having a bear tear into one's pack, there are a few problem bear areas where one ought take WD's advice and remove the canister but really in most cases just leave your gear well away from whatever trail or use route and I'd expect few bears are likely to ever even notice. Why ought they when other visitors make it so easy right along a trail. Might as well put up a neon sign. The usual issue is the majority of backcountry trail users habitually set up camps right next to trails usually in view which is of course also against advised NF/NPS policy. Of course all bears unanimously approve of that human behavior.

[kpeter]

[...] My worry is mostly bears and marmots trashing my gear and further incentives for human interactions. [...]

How'd it go?- I once left & lost my Kelty external frame pack on the side of Sphinx Crest in the middle of a very steep talus slide. I put it on a large fallen tree, to make finding it easier, before ascending the slide. On the way back down, I couldn't find it. I weaved up and down, side to side, for what seemed like hours (October?) before giving up. I checked all the large, toppled trees I could find. I retreated to Avalanche Pass, where I did find some gear that I took out before the ascent. The pass was my marker to find that gear, but it was random gear. I should have left the gear needed to sleep warmly. I booked down the trail to that one stream crossing and huddled again a downed log and shivered all night.

In terms of ethics, I returned a week later and found the external frame pack. It was exactly where I'd left it. No animal interaction or disturbance. And, definitely no human interaction since it was left at a spot that even I couldn't find, way away from any trail. *

I had one scary experience putting down my pack--near Many Island Lake--and then not being able to find it. Eventually I did, so I did not suffer from a cold night as you describe, but I was definitely calculating whether I could hike out to my car before nightfall. From that experience onward I have a rule for myself. I will only leave my pack next to a trail, a stream, or a lakeshore, so I can always find it just by following the feature.

But this year I added another possibility: I can set a waypoint on my GPS. Then all I need to do is set it to return to the waypoint. Not quite as secure but it is the same technique I use when camping in an out-of-the-way spot and then dayhiking without my pack.

[Gogd]

As WD indicated, marmots seeking out salts are actually a bigger issue than bears, provided your food is not stored in your pack. Thus it behooves you to place your pack beyond the reach of marmots. Raccoons can also be an issue, and even birds are known to raid food placed in bear hangs. If you are leaving a food cache, leave it in a properly lofted bear hang. Both food and pack can be placed in hangs, suspended in midair, or dangled over the edge of a rock ledge. Make sure no peep holes allow a curious bird to see contents inside the food bag, as that is an enticement.

Several folks commented on having trouble reuniting with well concealed caches. You should always record the location of any gear you stash beyond camp. Recording the GPS of the location or triangulating the location to reference points well off in the distance are solutions to this problem. RECORD THESE VECTORS on your map or pin the location on your GPS map. So you don't forget them! If you are using the compass triangulation method and you cannot spot two distant reference points from the cache location (e.g. it is in a gully), perform your triangulation from a nearby spot that has such sightlines, mark this spot with a cairn, then sight a vector from the cairn that passes through the cache location. Using your camera or smart phone to take a picture may be useful, but should be considered supplemental information, not a substitute for recording location coordinate data.

Ed

[tnhgmia]

How'd it go?- I once left & lost my Kelty external frame pack on the side of Sphinx Crest in the middle of a very steep talus slide. I put it on a large fallen tree, to make finding it easier, before ascending the slide. On the way back down, I couldn't find it. I weaved up and down, side to side, for what seemed like hours (October?) before giving up. I checked all the large, toppled trees I could find. I retreated to Avalanche Pass, where I did find some gear that I took out before the ascent. The pass was my marker to find that gear, but it was random gear. I should have left the gear needed to sleep warmly. I booked down the trail to that one stream crossing and huddled again a downed log and shivered all night.

In terms of ethics, I returned a week later and found the external frame pack. It was exactly where I'd left it. No animal interaction or disturbance. And, definitely no human interaction since it was left at a spot that even I couldn't find, way away from any trail. *

That seems like something I would do! It went well. I ended up modifying heavily my route due to insane storms so had to mostly lug everything with me all the time. I did end up essentially leaving my tent, bear can, and some other things unharmed. Thanks!