Storing Food After Dark

[Bob Ellenberg]

I always stop before dark but often read of others who hike past dark. I can imagine setting up camp and cooking by Photon light though I think it would be a PITA. However, do you after-dark hikers find a high tree limb and rig your food bag in the dark as well? To me it seems that could be rather difficult to achieve.

[Vick Hines]

Yes, it can be difficult to find a good limb and throw a line in the dark. Headlamps help, even if the headlamp is nothing more than a photon type with an aligator clip attached clamped to an elastic band or cap brim.

It may take a little more looking to find a good limb in the dark and the chance of bad throws goes way up. That's just something one puts up with.

[Linsey Budden]

My Ursacks shine at this–they need only a wrist sized branch that's four feet off the ground. The first generation ones weigh much less than the more bear resistant green ones, something like 4.5 instead of 8oz plus whatever the OP sac weighs, and they're my choice for critters in general although I'd bust out my green one (and possibly the heavy liner) for habituated bear country.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

+1. It takes a couple seconds for me to tie off the Ursacks and go to bed. My older one (first gen) weighs about 5 ounces, the newer one weighs at about 7.5 ounces :-)

I don't use the OP liners for the most part.

[Dave Weston]

Do you use the alum. protection? I would imagine I would not need it since I take all boil meals.

[Keith Selbo]

My Princeton tec EOS headlamp bores a deep hole in the night. We usually make a hot drink just before turning in, so we almost always hang the kitchen after dark. Never had a problem.

[Mark Verber]

If

1) I have stopped after dark
2) the moon isn't bright
3) was hanging my food
4) I only had a photon

it would be a pain. I can vaguely remember all four being true maybe once or twice. Part of why this isn't frequent is that I mostly use a canister when bears are a problem, and generally sleep with my food where there aren't bears so I am not hanging my food most of the time.

As others have noted, a brighter flashlight / headlamp makes this process a lot easier. The photon is great around camp when I don't want a lot of light, but if I think I am going to want a long throw (especially if I am planning to do some serious night hiking) I would bring a flashlight with a Cree bulb, or maybe my old EOS headlamp.

–mark

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Dave, I don't use the metal insert.

Having said that I hike only where there are Black Bears (not Grizzlies). I keep a clean camp as well.

For my garbage, it is in a gallon freezer bag, shoved down the side of the Ursack. The rest of my food is another bag. I put my spoon, cozy and cup in there as well.

[Dicentra OPW]

Ursack for me too.

I don't use the liner, but I use lots of zip lock bags and (usually) a couple of cloth stuff sacks. Garbage goes in a zip lock bag, sometimes doubled, depending on how liquidy the garbage is.

ETA: "cooking" at night, but headlamp would be a pain, but I've boiled water or made noodle dishes plenty of times in the dark. I have a self-ignighting stove – that helps! I don't need to see where the fuel is being poured or where to stick the lighter. I just click the button.

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