rock bag recommendations

Avoid mesh bags. I have lost a couple in trees.

Actually it is not a dedicated bag. It is a small ditty bag.

I've always used my tent stake bag. Usually some kind of nylon or heavy plastic. Never had issues with it ripping, and if it had, it wasn't a critical piece of gear anyway.

I still just use a heavy stick.

I use a rock

No bag. I wrap the cord around a baseball-size stone. It takes lots of wraps to keep the rock from escaping, but then, I use a 50' cord. I've also used a 1' long, 3" diameter stick, which works well too. I'm wondering who came up with the idea of a dedicated rock bag, and why he/she thought we needed one.

and sometimes it comes undone from the rock so you do it again, maybe with a better rock or maybe a few more turns…

I'm not a rock bag user either. It's just another thing to carry and keep track of. I'm not totally against the idea, but for me I prefer to just keep it as simple as possible and tie the rope to the stone or rock.

One nice thing with a dedicated rock sack is that you can also use it to store your bear bag cord so it doesn't get tangled up with other stuff.

+1 on the tent stake bag plus a S-biner. Easy and multi-use.

Tie a rock on naked, or use a chunk of light plastic bag or a small bit of cloth. It doesn't need to be a *bag*. If it gets too big it will hang up or have a lot of wind resistance. Then again, it might feel better if you miss and it hits your head :)

Ya I have always just used a plain rock and tied the rope directly to it. But I have seen rock bags mentioned before so I was just looking into it. I guess ill just stick with tieing it directly to the rock. haha

If you do use a bag, I've read on here recently (I think) that you should use a few small rocks in a bag instead of one large rock – it's easier on the bag.

Good tip, Doug on a few small rocks vs one big one……

I use a MYOG silnylon sack that is approximately 3" by 4". It is tied to 35 feet of grip tease with a zpacks mini biner at the other end for attaching it to my food bag. The entire setup weighs .95 oz.

I have found a rock bag is extremely helpful. I always have trouble tying the rock. If there are no large rocks I can fill it with small rocks. Since it is tied to the line there is nothing extra to keep up with. I store the line in the bag and put the little bag in my 550ml pot along with alcy stove.

Right before dark I find a tree and toss the line over a branch. Since the bag holds a rock I just hook the biner to the bag and the line hangs down until I store my food. I usually cook dinner as dark approaches. I just flash my light around and it is easy to find the grip tease at night to hang up my food.

Here are some pics.

Jamie

Jamie: A little off topic but where did you get that biner? I think MLD carries a similar one but can't bring myself to pay so much for them.

Larry,

Try this… http://www.mountainfitter.com/Micro-D-Carabiners-p517.html

Biners at MountainFitter.com

That's just 5 cents off the MLD price and I'm already paying shipping there. I may just have to have Ron amend the small items on my order… again.

EDIT: Just noticed that's a 2 pack! Not bad!

Larry,
PM an address and I'll send you one.
Just pay it forward when you can.

Don't worry about it. I need at least 4 of them and, in case you missed the edit, I saw the similar prices but not the double quantity for the price earlier. I'll pick some up when the Mountain Fitter curly fry looking stakes go on sale. I appreciate the offer though.

I thought the price was decent (especially if you're buying more than two), and I think Mountainfitter ships them free, though I've never done any business with them (yet), so I don't know how that works. Obviously, Greg's offer is better still.

To the original poster, sorry for taking this off topic. To bring it back… On one occasion when I didn't have a stake bag, I used a sock for a rock bag. I don't like using sticks as they have a tendency to get stuck in other branches, and you have to tug pretty hard sometimes to get break the stick free and get your rope back. When the stick finally breaks loose, a footlong club whipping back at your face hurts like all heck.

I just use a stick as well, that is if I am not at a nice site with bear cables already in place… However, I have been contemplating using a dedicated rock bag and doing like what has already been said and storing the rope and the biner in it. I may just make my own out of a small piece of sil, but I have also been eyeballing the small cuben bags at ZPacks. I will probably get the large Blast (cuben fiber) Food bag as well…

http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/stuff_sacks.shtml

0.05 oz 3"x4" Cuben Fiber bag @ $3.95

0.85 oz Rectangular shape 11" wide by 5.5" deep by 12" tall @ 20.95.

They also carry the tiny little biners too…

http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/carabiner.shtml

0.1 oz in blue or green @ $1.95 for a single or 6 for $10.95

Shipping is $3.95.

So, that is $30.80 for both bags and a biner and counting the 1 oz of rope that comes to a grand total of 2 oz for a bear bag set-up. Currently my food bag weighs a little more than that…

Why not just get a cuben bear bag kit that includes everything (including an OPSAK) from either Ron Bell or Lawson Kline?

I like to be difficult… :)

No really, I think I just get stuck on whomever I order from last…Also though, going this route would be cheaper for me and just as effective…and just a snap lighter…of course though this route would not feature the roll top closure…

I got my biner from http://www.zpacks.com. Joe also sells cuben rock sacks.

Jamie

I think Lawson is working on some cuben tent stake sacks- they would obviously double nicely for a rock bag

I can attest to the large rock vs several small rock scenario, but a little hole in my MSR stake sacks w/ a large rock