Tarp on the Colorado Trail?

“and perhaps the ultimate examination for any food bag; the mice-infested shelters of the Appalachian Trail!”

I can promise an Opsack is only marginally effective in this test environment. Ask me how I know.  :(

Ryan

I prefer the steel mesh sacks like Outsak, Grubpak or Ratsack. I’ve seen ultra smart Utah ravens tear apart two Opsaks and devour the contents that a backpacker buried in hopes of using the food on the return trip.

Knowing that bears have been observed detecting things at incredible distances , ie many miles, i give them a bit more credit.   If they dont come after your food, its not necesarilly because they dont detect it because of an opsak.  Use it if it makes you feel secure…dont give it too much credit. Without using opsaks ive never had any issues in many nights in bear prone areas.

Hi Drew, exactly, and what I proposed would still be primarily barrier oriented. The activated charcoal/carbon placed between two barrier type bags, would only need to absorb a little bit of the odor to make it more effective. Nowhere did I say or imply that one should rely solely or even primarily on activated charcoal/carbon to reduce odor diffusion.

I just returned from the Colorado Trail.  I used the tarp with great success!  I only had to camp above treeline or in otherwise exposed locations about half a dozen times.  There were a couple of times I was worried about the tarp blowing away in storms but it held up well.  I did experience some spray coming in a few times, but not bad enough to get me wet.  I had condensation a number of times and frost inside and out one morning.  The mosquitoes and biting flies were a non-issue as it was later in the season and a drier year.  As far as keeping the food away from the wildlife, I opted to bring a bear bagging line which I found utterly useless, except in the first few sections, because the Spruces and Firs are not at all appropriate for hanging.  So I just slept with my food and was fine.  All in all, it was a spectacular trip that I thoroughly enjoyed!  Thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions.