How do you store your food?

Thanks so much Gary. I havn't had any critters get through the Outsack using a 7OD silnylon stuffsack, but I'm glad to hear the 1.0 cuben is durable enough for the job. I'll use an HMG CF11 drawstring cuben bag instead. That should knock off one good ounce of weight.

I suppose the 1.0 cuben is tougher than I realize (I'm one who always uses a GG Polycro under a 1.0 cuben groundsheet). You hear about how cuben is "not abrasion resistant", but perhaps that's overstated regarding the 1.0.

There's really nowhere in Washington that isn't bear country. For those familiar with eastern Washington, a black bear was found in an orchard in Benton City a couple years ago. Benton City is well over 100 miles away from any real forest.

I use a Sea to Summit eVac dry bag. Only hole in it was self inflicted and easy enough to repair. Hanging it properly off of a tree is usually a PITA as I rarely can find a tree that has long enough branches that would allow for me to do a proper PCT hang that's far enough from a tree.

More often than not, I have to do a reverse PCT hang (stick on top side of caribiner) to pull the food bag away from the tree and then tie it off. A couple of my friends carry bear bells; yes I've seen the sign. When available, we'll attach the bells to the food bag as an alarm. I'm a light enough sleeper that it should wake me up but have yet to test that theory..

Rainier NP has bear poles in some campsites, I prefer these to bear wires as they seem to have fewer issues with rodents. I've heard of birds getting in the bags but not sure if those were Ravens or robber jays.

Other hikers had mice crawl across the bear wire, down their line, and chew holes in their food bags. Not sure what it is but my cordage is some sort of nylon line that's pretty slippery. I hung my food as low as I could so it was still protected from the bears but with the hopes that the mice would slide down fast enough that they'd bounce off of my food bag upon impact. Don't know if there's anything to the theory but I didn't have a rodent problem and other people did the same night.

I've used a clean, empty cat food can with a small hole in it placed upside down on the bear line above the food bag to keep rodents off. They climb down the cord, then onto the can and then fuss around a bit and fall off.

Usually I sleep with my food. Something to keep in mind is one of the most common ways for a bear to get food is a poor food hang. I commonly see food hangs that are so poorly done that a determined bear could get it. A poor hang is one of the very worst options.

Where there are specific regulations, I try to follow them. They are usually in place for a reason.

I often sleep away from food in grizzly country, but usually I sleep with my food if I'm armed. Contrary to popular belief, it's far from a death sentence.

In campsites frequented by campers/backpackers, I take food storage much more seriously, because there are probably animals tuned into stealing food. For example, in certain stretches of the PCT in Washington there are a limited good campsites, and those that exist are frequently used over and over. They are often loaded with very determined mice.

Monte, I use the 1.0 oz. cuben for my liners inside the Outsaks. The cuben roll-top bags that I did beta for were made from 1.43 oz/yd cuben. 2.5 times the dyneema over the 1.0 oz. cuben, so much stronger. Keep in mind that those tests were done with the bags in stand-alone mode, with no Outsak or anything.

I placed an open can of Fancy Feast cat food inside an open freezer bag to keep the cuben a bit cleaner, and I put it into the cuben bag (dual use can–at least I would get a stove out of the deal when the test was over). I tied the bag to a tree so the the racoons wouldn't carry it off, and I let them have their way with it. After 2 nights of noisy, intense attempts at getting to the food, fighting over who's it was, etc., I checked the bag out. There were three tiny pin-point holes in the bag, critter slobber all over it, the bag had been twisted and creased, and it was moved 40 feet from where I had placed it. Obviously it had been aggressively chewed on and otherwise abused. I'm not sure if 1.0 oz. cuben would have withstood that sort of treatment. However, I think it will perform well as a liner inside an Outsak. The Outsak is the first line of defence, and the 1.0 oz. cuben is a light, waterproof backup. The mylar is a lark, it weighs very little, and maybe next summer I'll find out if it keeps the chocolate from melting. Who knows, maybe a rat will see his reflection in it, realize how ugly he is, forgets why it's there, and flees the crime scene in fright?