How much rope to bring for hanging food?

Gary, I have a Grubpack. http://www.grubpack.com/

Is this what you mean? If so, then a bear would have NO problem getting into one of these. They're tough against rodents, but a bear could easily shred that mesh.

A bear would destroy a metal bag.

Here is a plane that a bear visited.

I believe that the photo that Cameron posted was the damage by a grizzly bear. Black bears are smaller, and the mouth is smaller, but the teeth are just as sharp.

Yes, I would bet on the bear.

–B.G.–

Yes, that's the sort of bag I'm talking about. I'm figuring that you're right, Travis. But I would also think that the mesh would be somewhat better protection than simply placing food in an OP Sack and then into a stuff sack. I was just wondering if anyone tried it and failed. Or if the bear had trouble with it.

By the way, what sort of hanging bag will you use while in GNP?

Rodents and bears are different issues. What's effective for one is ineffective for the other. Here is a video of a grizzly in a zoo failing to get into an ursack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf67hadozA8 But ursacks are actually not very rodent-proof, because rodents have smaller, sharper teeth, which can get between the threads of the kevlar. Conversely, the grubpack web page portrays it very clearly as being anti-rodent, not anti-bear.

Not trying to belittle the power of a bear but as a pilot I can tell you that particular plane's exterior is fabric not aluminum or any other metal.

I just had an e-mail dialogue with Jeff of GrubPack. He reiterated that they made no claim that their mesh bags are bear proof. He did think, however, that the velcro seal of all of these types of steel mesh bags would be the weak link, and perhaps not the mesh itself. But he didn't say that the mesh itself was inpenetrable.

I think SIBBG or IGBC should put an open can of cat food in one, on a slow day, and toss it into the bear cage. You know, and see exactly what happens…

Gary wrote: "I think SIBBG or IGBC should put an open can of cat food in one, on a slow day, and toss it into the bear cage. You know, and see exactly what happens…"

SIBBG no longer exists ( http://www.ursack.com/ursack-update.htm )

But ursacks are actually not very rodent-proof, because rodents have smaller, sharper teeth, which can get between the threads of the kevlar. Conversely, the grubpack web page portrays it very clearly as being anti-rodent, not anti-bear.

I disagree. I left my Ursack hanging for two weeks and rodents weren't able to get any of my food. They got a couple tiny holes in the bag, but I think that's pretty good considering all the time they had to get into it. Granted, there's a chance that the rodents didn't find it until just before I got there, but it's not like I was using an opsack to make my food harder to find.

Btw, the bear Ursack is not made out of kevlar. The rodent bag is kevlar.

Thanks for the corrections, Eugene. I was repeating stuff that I remembered from the ursack web site, but it turns out I remembered a lot of it wrong. Here is the actual info: http://www.ursack.com/ursack-faq.htm (scroll down to Is Ursack resistant to rodents, marmots, wolves, etc?).