You’ve set up camp for the night and cooked dinner. Now what should be done with the Snickers, salami, peanut noodle dinners, and the other calories that will sustain you for the remainder of your backpacking trip?
Protect from what?
Most backpackers seem to protect their food overnight because they’re worried about bears. In places like the High Sierra, that concern is entirely warranted.
But proper food storage is important in other locations, too, even if the bear population is low or non-existent, and even if there are few or no reports of bears obtaining human food.
Why? Because of so-called “mini-bears” — the mice, rats, squirrels, rabbits, marmots, pikas, racoons, porcupines, gray jays and other small animals that reside in popular frontcountry and backcountry campsites. Mini-bears may not run off with your entire food bag or give you nightmares, but they definitely can ruin a few chocolate bars, sometimes after first chewing a hole in your food bag, backpack pockets, and shelter.
Protect what?
Anything that is supposed to go in you or on you should be properly stored overnight. That obviously includes food, but also lip balm, sunscreen, toothpaste, etc. The thinking is that wildlife may not discern between cherry-flavored Lipstick and a bag of Craisins.
I don’t protect my stove and pot, which I clean thoroughly after dinner. While they may have some residual food smell, most of my other gear does, too, and this isn’t the threshold for what should or should not be protected overnight.
How to protect your food overnight
I rely on and recommend five techniques to protect food overnight in the backcountry:
- Permanent infrastructure,
- Hard-sided canisters,
- Soft-sided sacks,
- Rodent hangs, and
- Sleep with it.
The exact method I use is determined or informed by local regulations, personal familiarity, local guidebooks, online forums, trip reports, and informal conversations with rangers.
Video: Overnight food protection
I’m no longer with Sierra Designs, but this video nicely summarizes my recommended methods:
In-depth: Food storage pros & cons, and best practices
1. Permanent infrastructure
High-use areas and campsites may have permanent food protection infrastructure. For example, Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park has installed large bear boxes in 55 backcountry locations. Elsewhere, I have seen cable, pole, and cross-beam systems.
If this type of infrastructure is available, I use it. It’s effective, convenient, free, and weight-less — and it was probably installed for good reason.
2. Hard-sided canister
Permanent infrastructure has downsides. It’s:
- Expensive to install,
- A contributing factor to concentrated use; and,
- Undermined by dispersed camping.
So an increasing number of land agencies require that backpackers carry hard-sided bear-resistant canisters, including in Yosemite, Sequoia-Kings, Rocky Mountain, Olympics, Adirondack High Peaks, Canyonlands, and more.
When canisters are required, I carry one. Personally, I use the BearVault BV450 or BV500, because they offer the best volume-to-weight ratio and because I’m too frugal to spend $300+ on a carbon fiber Bearikade.
3. Soft-sided animal-resistant sack
Hard-sided canisters are effective (well, mostly — they’re not idiot-proof) and they keep me compliant with local regulations, but of course I don’t like to carry them — they’re heavy and they don’t pack well.
I would rather carry a soft-sided animal-resistant food sack, which is ideal for an area where:
- Bears and/or mini-bears are a potential problem; and,
- Hard-sided canisters are not required.
You might think of these products as inexpensive and lightweight insurance. Two companies serve this niche: Armored Outdoor, which makes the Ratsack; and Ursack, which has rodent- and bear-resistant sacks:
- Ursack Minor ($65, 5 oz), which is for mini-bears only;
- Ursack Major ($80, 8 oz), which has been certified by the IGBC and is suitable for bears only;
- Ursack AllMitey ($125, 13 oz), which is both rodent- and bear-resistant.
4. Rodent hang
As a substitute for a Ratsack or Ursack Minor, food can be successfully protected from rodents by hanging it. Keep it a few feet off the ground, a few feet from the trunk, and a few feet below the limb.
This is not a bear hang. An adult should be able to hang it and take it down without throwing a rope or standing on someone’s shoulders, and it can be set up a few feet from your shelter. To suspend it, use the drawstring on the food sack — or, better yet, add a length of heavy-duty fishing line, which rodent’s can’t climb.
5. Pillow or knee rest
If I’m not required to store my food in a hard-sided canister and if I’m not concerned about bears or mini-bears, I will sleep on my food. I think I can get away with this because of where I backpack and where I camp — in big wilderness areas and at low- or no-use campsites. Surely, don’t try this at a Yosemite Valley campground, a designated backcountry site in Rocky Mountain National Park, or an established camp on the Appalachian Trail.
A food sack makes a decent pillow, though I prefer a pneumatic model like the Sierra Designs Animas Pillow ($25, 2 oz). As a back-sleeper, I prefer to put it under my knees, which helps to reduce pressure on my back.
To store my food I use OPSAK Barrier Bags 12″ x 20″ (long-term review). These bags are odor-proof, at least when new — within a few days, I bet the exterior smells like food. I still like them though: they are tough and see-through.
Discouraged: Bear hangs
You may have noticed that the classic bear hang does not make my list of recommended protection techniques. I discourage bear hangs of any variety, including the counter-balance and PCT Method. I have elaborated on my rationale, but in general I find them to be:
- Time-consuming, frustrating, and dangerous;
- Infeasible where trees are spindly, short, or non-existent; and,
- Largely ineffective against a determined bear.
I think bear hangs are akin to triangulation: they’re old-school techniques that are taught by some programs as if it’s still 1970. If you’re really serious about finding yourself, stay found, or use a GPS. And if you’re really serious about protecting your food from bears, use one of the first three methods I described in this post.
Questions about food storage techniques, or have an experience to share? Leave a comment.
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Saw your instagram post and came here – thanks for explaining why you feel triangulation is outdated, using GPS instead. Even though I use trail apps on phone, I still use the concept of triangulation all the time on trail – identifying landmarks and keeping a good idea that I’m still on track.
My son & I each had our own Ursack for our thru-hike of the PNT in 2017, and rented a canister on the Olympic Coast where it was required – not for bears, but for raccoons. Mini-bears destroy LOTS more food than mega-bears! The bags saved tons of time at night.
I don’t sleep with food because about the most embarrassing situation I can think of is to explain to my family/friends why my tarp/quilt/body got shredded one night… 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hike On!
To clarify, where do you recommend storing a soft sided sack if it isn’t hung? Keeping it in a campsite seems less safe/effective, but I’m concerned that I might lose it when I hide it further away.
I don’t hang the soft sided sacks in bear country. That’s not effective, and they’ll run away with the whole bag.
Instead, tie it to a tree, as close to you camp as your comfortable with. I want to be able to hear a bear messing with it, and frankly if I’m willing to use a soft-sided sack I’m probably not too concerned about bears coming right into camp (and might even think that my camp is a deterrent) — for that kind of bear, use a bear canister.
What would you use in doing the Pacific Crest Trail?
It seems there’s no good answer.
I’d guess at least 80% of the hikers just sleep with their food. (of course Yosemite/Seki excluded)
Is there any part of the PCT in NorCal/Oregon/Washington you’d say is safe from bears?
It seems it’s like saying, “the parts that have no deer”. There was a GutHooks comment on NorCal Section O where the hiker was saying that he “Saw a bear while walking into camp and was going to keep walking to a place that didn’t have any bears.” I thought, “Where’s that? Downtown Redding?”
I think all that’s left is just “bear avoidance” that you talked about here (https://andrewskurka.com/2011/food-protection-techniques-in-bear-country/) and what Cam Honan talked about here (https://www.thehikinglife.com/2018/05/tips-for-backpacking-in-bear-country/)
At this point I don’t bother trying to cook anything. I cold soak everything. And the food I carry has almost no smell. Not terribly satisfying, but that makes the food in town just taste that much better.
Once you hit the High Sierra, it’s continuous bear habitat all the way to Canada. So your next question is: Where and how often are bears stealing food from PCT hikers? If it was happening, I think you’d hear reports, because of how quickly word spreads along these trails.
Like most thru-hikers, I’d probably send my canister home north of Yosemite and start sleeping on my food, until I heard reason not to. If you can’t handle that, then think about a Usack Major XL. It’s big enough to store all your food, strong enough to fend off a bear until you can run it off, and weighs only 9 oz.
Mini-bears are probably going to be a bigger issue on the PCT. There’s a lot of camping and food along that corridor, and I’m sure the rodents around the most heavily impacted campsites are pretty comfortable around smell thru-hikers nowadays. An Ursack Minor would be a good insurance option for these types of campsites, and weighs only 5 oz.
Lassen Volcanic National Park has been requiring bear resistant containers in the backcountry for a few years now.
If you’re on the pct people hike right on through Lassen. It’s not very far.
So far I’ve sectioned 1/2 of the PCT. I’ve never heard of any PCT hiker’s food being stolen.
I HAVE heard about people on overnighters having problems, especially in Yosemite.
But Yosemite is mobbed with people.
To clarify about the regs at Olympic National Park – it depends partially on which part of the park.
The main reg to know there: they don’t recognize Ursack in place of a hard-sided containers, but in some parts that elusive perfect hang is theoretically w/in regulations. There’s also permanent infrastructure—hang wires—on some popular areas including Hoh River Valley and Enchanted Valley. But then you’re limited to camping there.
And so, I bring the BV.
my regional area for most of my back country camping/backpacking is full of black bears but canisters are only required in the national park. I am simply not comfortable with bears coming into my camp nor sleeping with my food in this area, so it seems my best choices are always carrying a bearvault or using an ursack + a proper pct hang when I’m not in the national park. would you agree or disagree?
If the black bear density is as high as you say it is, I can understand your sentiment.
In the park, I would use a hard-sided canister, per regulations.
Outside the park, I would use an Ursack Major, but I would tie it off to a tree as Ursack recommends. I would not hang it — for a determined bear, that’s usually a gift. If the bear manages to get it down, it’ll run off with your Ursack.
thanks for the reply. what would be the advantage of tying the ursack as per instructions vs. a pct hang?
The “drawstring” on the Ursack is made with 5-mm spectra rope. When flush with a tree trunk or branch, a bear can’t chew through it, and its too strong for the bear to snap it by pulling on it (unless the bear breaks the entire tree).
The vulnerability of the Ursack when it’s tied off to a tree is that a bear could gnaw on it for hours, eventually maybe getting an opening. It’d also crush all your food and slobber all over it. But the Ursack has been certified by IGBC, so it has to be tough. Even so, maybe it’s best to think of the Ursack as buying you time — time to get out of your shelter and run the bear off. If you’re dealing with bears that don’t “run off,” then it’s probably time to bring a hard-sided canister.
An Ursack Major is supposedly not as good protection against mini-bears as an Ursack Minor. So if an Ursack Major is tied to a tree trunk or heavy branch, what is to stop a mini-bear from crawling up there and gnawing a hole in it? After all, raccoons do live in trees so you are essentially dropping the Ursack on it’s front porch. Mini-bears are practically everywhere so it would seem like the best protection in bear country would be an Ursack Minor inside an Ursack Major. That is fifteen ounces or so. Ugh! May as well just go with a full-blown bear canister.
If you’re worried equally about bear and rodents, then get the Ursack AllMitey. I think it’s 14 oz, and it’s essentially a Major and Minor in one. But even at 14 oz, it’s still about one-third the weight of a bear canister of similar volume, and more importantly it’s soft-sided so it’s much more packable than a hard-sided can.
I’m planning an A.T. thru-hike but have never hiked in the US and have little experience with wildlife stealing my food.
Hard sided canisters are not required along the trail and it looks like regular hanging is the most popular way of protecting food on A.T. I’m going to use established campsites most of the time, what would be your recommendation?
I don’t recommend traditional bear hangs, ever. Other methods are more effective (e.g. hard sided canisters), or equally as effective but easier (e.g. Ursack).
Camps/shelters with high bear activity usually have food protection infrastructure. For example, a few shelters in Georgia have a cable system, and in the Smokies the shelters are protected with chain link fencing. If you find infrastructure, use it.
Elsewhere on the AT, I think it’s standard practice to hang your food from the shelter rafters. That was the case in 2002 was I thru-hiked it, and I don’t think that’s changed. Maybe someone who spends more time on the AT or who has thru-hiked it more recently can confirm.
Mini-bears will be your biggest problem along the AT. An Ursack Minor at just 5 oz seems like it’d be a pretty good insurance option if there’s no easy way to hang it just out of reach from mice and other rodents.
I know this post is old, but I think you’re using outdated personal experience regarding the AT.
The idea that bears are not a serious issue on the AT is seriously misguided. The Smokies have major problems that are well documented, like you said, and require the use of shelters. Early in NC, Carter Gap and Betty Gap both had at least one bear coming through nightly this year. When I passed Betty Creek Gap this May, a bear had torn apart the register box the night before and shredded a warning about, well, itself.
Then there’s this account, also from this year. https://thetrek.co/appalachian-trail/i-survived-a-bear-attack-on-the-appalachian-trail/ The highlights of their lessons learned: Never store food wrappers in your pockets, not even from use until evening; they go directly into a bag. And toiletries go in with your food. Paper and sanitizer are all that stay with you for overnight bathroom needs.
Exposure to poor practice is what encourages bears. That is the only reason that a proper hang (PCT hang, not “traditional”) would not be sufficient — that bears already know what there is to gain.
I have one of the first generation Ursacks. Do you think I should replace it with one of the current models? Secondly, do you see any value in doubling up with two Opsaks inside an Ursack?
The original Ursacks were not IGBC approved. I think the problem was the stitching — if a bear could get into it, game over. If I had a first-gen model and thought there was a real risk of a bear chewing on it, I’d upgrade.
Doubling up on Opsaks sounds like a marginal value-add to me.
You don’t mention ratsacks. Why not?
I did. Read technique #3.
I really like these for the desert-well anywhere that the mini-bears are a problem: https://bit.ly/2VyCXhD
At the Fontana Hilton shelter on the AT, I encountered someone using the pillow method . About 4am he bolted out of the shelter with his food bag, swatting the mice from his head.
Definitely not the place to use that technique. Guess he got what he deserved.
ROFL
There are more subtle benefits of a canister. For me the beauty of the canister is that I can sleep peacefully at night, in confidence that I won’t be rudely awoken. The canister allows me to leave camp for a day hike, and not have to take all my food with me. So I use a Bearvault which I leave out of earshot of my tent. My clean pot goes alongside the canister with lid separated – that way a interested bear/minibear won’t wake me with clanging in the night. I’m paranoid about the bear walking away with the pot, so I use a lanyard. I’ve seen a bear actively move large objects (5 gallon buckets 200 yards) some distance, so I tend to wedge the canister between logs/rocks, that way it can’t roll away and is unlikely to be moved far.
Super smart! I like the way you think and we’ve been using the same method. It’s just nice knowing that the bear cannot get to your food in the Bearvault and you can sleep well at night knowing you are doing the best for bears and leave camp for a day hike without having to take everything with you.
Curious if you have an opinion on the Ursack aluminum liner. I’ve had the Ursack for a few years and typically try to hang it about 6-8 feet up a tree trunk and haven’t had issues. But that likely means I haven’t had a determined bear pawing at it and probably crushing everything inside. Do the liners work in that situation, where a bag is hung close to the trunk? It is listed as 0.65 lbs so it better be very effective for that additional weight and cost.
The liner serves only one purpose: to help protect your food from getting crushed. But the liner is not as solid as, say, a hard-sided bear can. So if a bear messes with your food for a while, it’s still going to be “compacted,” which I suppose is one notch better than crushed.
If it’s any indication, I don’t own the liner. It doesn’t advance the primary mission of the Ursack, which is to defend my food from the bear, and it comes with additional weight and cost. I would also say, normally when I use an Ursack it’s because there’s a low chance of a bear coming into my camp. So the Ursack more of a “just in case” insurance plan. If I need a full-fledged defense, the BearVault is coming with.
Thanks Andrew, I never really thought purchasing it was necessary so I’m glad to know you don’t use it.
andrew, would you choose the ursack major over the ursack allmitey? I want to pick up one or the other for general 3 season hiking across the US.
mostly wondering if the extra weight and price of the allmitey is worth it vs. the lighter and less expensive major. seems to me that if I were to correctly use the major and tie the knot tight enough, it should be rodent proof, correct?
thanks
The debate of Major, Minor, or AllMightey really hinges on where you are backpacking.
If you are normally in areas with mini-bears but no bears, get the Minor.
If you are in areas with bears but don’t need a canister, and can keep it away from mini-bears, get the Major.
If you are in areas with bears and mini-bears, but no canister regs, get the AllMitey.
I mostly hike in the mountain west area (so the usual forest critters and all the alpine critters). seems like the allmitey would be the best choice for all places that do not require a hard canister, but I’m wondering if the major would be good enough if the top knot is tight enough so critters cannot get inside. I havent handled one in person, so I’m not sure.
It’s not a matter of them getting inside. It’s that they can chew through the fabric — their teeth are sharp enough. The Minor is made with a different fabric, and they can’t chew through it — but bears can rip it apart.
I’m also in the Mountain West, and rarely have issues with mini bears (although I stay away from impacted sites). I’d get the Major, just as insurance against the random bear.
Seems to me that rodents are everywhere so you’ll always want to be on guard for those pesky varmints. In areas that also have bears, how about using a Zpacks “Large Roll Top Food Bag” as an inner liner to an Ursack Major? The Zpacks bag is heavy-duty DCF and they claim it is highly rodent-resistant, and it weighs only 1.5 ounces. Ursack Major combined with Zpacks bag comes out to about 9 ounces as opposed to the 14 ounces for an All-Mitey. The Zpacks bag can only be bought as part of their Bear Bagging Kit that includes cord and a carabiner (http://zpacks.com/accessories/bear_bag.shtml).
I normally hang my food, but your approach makes sense and I’d like to try it. My difficulty comes from the criteria “Bears and/or mini-bears are a potential problem”. I do not know how to judge this. Do you have any guidance?
Does the mere presence of black bears in the area qualify them as a potential problem?
Does camping at a prior used site make this a potential problem?
Do there need to be reports of aggressive or camp-wandering bears to qualify?
Much appreciated
Great question. I would:
1. Look for information (or lack thereof) in online trip reports, forums, agency websites, etc.
2. Ask for reports (or lack thereof) from other backpackers, trail associations, and rangers.
Any use in making small smoky fires in the established fire ring at designated campsites? Recently, (North Cascades, WA), I worried about the steam from my pot of beef stew settling onto my insulation fabric. I figured woodsmoke would mask this. Winds were light and breezy into all directions.
Doubt there’s much data on this, but I suspect that the bear can smell your smoke and your dinner, and differentiate whether it’s just dinner scent in your insulation or whether you have tomorrow night’s dinner in a bear hang 100 feet away.
Curious about the use of heavy duty fishing line with the rodent hang. Do you cut the line the morning after or try to untie it and reuse it? Is there a particular tying technique that works best? Wouldn’t the line cut into the tree branch, violating LNT? I’m assuming you tie the line first and then tie your bag to the line unless you want your fingers to get sliced off
If you’re using fishing line, by implication you’re in a really high-use area, probably a shelter.
In the shelter and in most campsites, you can normally find a nail or broken-off branch that serves as a hook for the fishing line. So it’s unnecessary to cut or untie the line each morning.
Andrew, you’ve mentioned a method to avoid bear contact is to “avoid encounters” in the first place. I assume this means to avoid areas where bears are likely found. Can you briefly list the type areas bears are commonly found?
Where can you find trash pandas?
Front country campgrounds and high-use backcountry campsites.
I found the 1.2mm cord from Z-Packs. I use it for guy lines on my Lunar Solo (thanks for the knot tutorial) and I think if would work to hang as well. I can see myself having a tough time keeping the fishing line untangled.
Back in September of 2000, I was on a solo backpack trip through the Smokey Mt. National Park. I was using a MSR Whisperlite stove. On the first night out I hung all of my smellables on the bear cables. The only thing I left outside my tent was my fuel canister. Unfortunately, sometime during the night a bear strode into my camp and bit my canister. There were three perfect puncture holes in it. I never heard a sound! The next day I ran into a Backcountry Ranger hunting hogs. He advised the bears in the Park are very visual and will take bites out of objects laying outside of tents and laying against the inside walls of tents – to include arms and legs! Fortunately for me, the Ranger was kind enough to give me an extra fuel canister (with fuel) so I could continue my trip.
I was on an overnight trip in the hill country of Texas and decided to hang my food in a tree to keep it away from rodents and other critters. I hung my food bag a few feet below the branch and several feet from the trunk of the tree. A raccoon actually got into my food by crawling out onto the branch and pulling my food bag up by the cord and chewing a hole in my bag. Not sure what I did wrong. I want to invest in an Ursack but they are pretty expensive. However, my experience with rodent hangs has so far proven unsuccessful.
I’ve used a rat sack for a while now. No issues with the small critters. They aren’t super heavy either. About 8oz for a large (5 days 2 people) one. They’re stainless mesh. Bought a large Ursack and will put it in the rat sack when needed. That’s still less than half the weight of my small Bear Vault and twice the capacity.
do you recommend an odor proof bag inside a bear canister?
No, I don’t think that’s necessary. When you have a canister, you have the ultimate food storage option, and I don’t think you need to make it any more bear-resistant. Don’t put your canister at the top of a cliff or slope, don’t let a bear work on your canister all night long, and make sure to lock your canister before you turn in for the night, but otherwise you’re almost always good to go.
Was the rodent-bitten Lopsak you mentioned in the photo a new and sealed one? I’d think that a new Lopsak would prevent rodents from smelling food inside; combining that with an Ursack would prevent them seeing food and thus be largely effective against both rodents and bears. I usually carry a BearVault though, so I haven’t tested this very much and am curious about your experience with new Lopsaks and rodents.
I’m relatively new to backpacking and thus far have used a bear hang. But I have a Bearvault and later this month will be hiking an area that requires bear containers. My question is that in areas with dense undergrowth (my last hike it was waist high and very thick anywhere off the trail) how can I make sure I can find the container after a bear has pushed it around during the night? Perhaps they don’t push it as far as I fear they might.
looks like black bears are learning how to defeat the ursack along the Colorado Trail: https://www.reddit.com/r/coloradotrail/comments/ijy9tx/ursack_warning/
I recently went on a backpacking trip in the Alpine Wilderness Area (Black Bear country) in Washington, and noticed the “Bear Country Warning” sign at the trailhead included a warning to put water bottles in bear canisters as well. I’ve always figured water was not odorous enough to attract black bears.
Do you include water bottles on the list of things to put in a canister in black bear country? What about water filters?
Thanks!
I think that may be geared towards bottles that people have used for drink mixes
I keep getting the bite valves of my hydration bladder chewed up by mice, as traces of food from when I eat will remain on the silicon part. Getting annoying, need to remember to put the plastic cap on at night. So if you are drinking and eating at the same time, your water bottle can have traces of food on it too
If mice (or any rodents) are chewing on your bite valve, and then you are putting the bite valve in your mouth without disinfecting it, you’re at a high risk of getting a serious disease.