Backpacking Food Storage - How I Store My Food On Trail

hey guys it's darwin and today we're talking about the different types of backpacking food storage and what i prefer to use on the trail [Music] all right so today i'm going to be talking about a topic that i've never actually covered here on the channel but i get a lot of requests for and it seems to be a pretty common question and that is proper food storage while you're out on the trail now there are a lot of different ways that you can store your food to protect your own grub but also to protect the wildlife that's out in the back country but today i'm going to be mainly talking about what i've used over the years over the five years of my trail experience how i've stored my food when i've stored my food and why i've stored my food that way so maybe it can help you make a decision on what you need for your next backpacking trip before we jump into the video i am by no means an expert on this topic i just know what's worked for me and what hasn't worked for me make sure that you're always checking the regulations of where you're going to be backpacking and hiking whether you're in a national forest in a national park or in a wilderness area different places have different suggestions on what they want you to store your food in so don't be a jerk do your research and don't screw it up for the rest of us all right so the first food storage method that we're going to talk about today is the one that's probably the most common for most hikers and backpackers and what i prefer to use on the trail and what i've used for most of my career and that is a food bag and hanging system so what i typically use is a dcf food bag this one is made by hilltop packs i use a dcf one because it is waterproof it's nice and lightweight and a small rock bag also made out of dcf with 50 foot of slick line cord the reason i like this system is because it's easy it's lightweight my host system for the rock bag the line and my entire food bag only weighs 3.1 ounces and well i got my uh logo printed on here which is pretty cool but most hikers will use this system and the main reason is because you want to get your food off of the ground when you're in a heavily trafficked area what i mean by that is if you're camping in very well established campsites take the at for example if you're at a shelter chances are animals are used to food being around the shelter so they're going to tend to come back to the shelter whether it's a mouse a raccoon a squirrel or even a black bear to rummage for food so doing something like a bear hanging system is a pretty good way to make sure that you're protecting your own grub and nothing is eating your food while you're out in the back country so you know you don't go hungry but also protecting the wildlife in a lot of cases animals like black bears can get into people's food which makes them aggressive and in some cases the bears can be put down because they are a threat to people in the back country which is pretty unfair because you know that's the black bears home not really your home i usually use something like the pct method which i'm not really going to explain in this video but i will put a link down below to an awesome video showing you how to do a proper pct method bear hang and there's a lot of different methods that you can learn typically to sum it all up you want to get it about 12 feet off the ground six foot away from a tree and about a hundred to two hundred feet away from your camp that way just in case a black bear some other type of animal comes to rummage for your food because they can smell it in the middle of the night at least it's away from your tent at least it's far enough off the ground and far enough away from the tree to where they can't get out to it now there are some cases where people have had their bear bags taken out of trees by bears in my experience and all the backpackers that i know and hikers that i know out of all the thousand miles i've ever hiked i have never seen that happen i've never heard of that happen but there are exceptions to every rule and it does happen now people ask me all the time do i always hang my food and the answer is no i don't always hang my food i typically will only hang my food from a tree again when i'm in a heavily trafficked area when i know that there's going to be a lot of wildlife when i know that i'm in heavy black bear country right when i'm in an established campsite or in a national park where animals are used to humans having food but if i'm in a place that's not well established if i'm kind of making my own campsite if i'm out in the middle of the wilderness or in the desert what i typically do is take my bear bag put my food in it just like i always would and then i set it outside of my tent now there are a lot of people that actually sleep with their food which i think is a horrible idea not really because a bear is going to come into your tent and get you but because i personally know people that have had mice chew a hole through their tent to get to their food so what i will typically do is take my food and set it right outside of my tent door next to my trekking pole or tent pole that's holding up my tent that way for some reason a mouse or a small rodent does come to get into my food in the middle of the night i can hear it i can wake up and kind of scare it away in the 7 000 miles that i've hiked over five years i've never had a problem with doing this but again there are exceptions to every rule and please check the regulations of where you're hiking now speaking of putting your food just outside of your tent or in it which i think is a horrible idea another option would be something like an o o.p sack so these things are made by a company called locksack and basically what it is is a giant ziploc bag made out of an odor proof material it's basically like a very thick plastic ziploc it has the same type of closure now i have personally used one of these in the past in 2017 out on the arizona trail this was my storage method of choice because i didn't want to hang my food because i was going to be in areas that weren't well established because i didn't want to carry something heavy and i didn't want rodents eating into my food so i did carry one of these and in my experience i didn't really dig it just like any other ziploc bag that you're going to take out in the backcountry eventually they break and i've had these little zipper things break a lot that being said again exception every rule i know through hikers that have used these over thousands of miles have never had a problem and have had them last multiple hypes but in my experience of what i've used in all the food storage this has probably been my least favorite just because it doesn't last it is very awkward once you get food into it and how you got to jam it into your bag but that is another option for food storage in the backcountry next up for food storage while you're in the backcountry is one that's become pretty common one that is definitely a necessity in certain places that you backpack and hike and one that most through hikers have come to loathe and that is the bear can so there are a lot of different bear cans out on the market whether it's the bv 450 which is what i used on the pct the bv 500 which is like the common bear can most people have or a super expensive carbon fiber bear cans bear cans have proven to be one of the safest and best storage methods while you're in the back country simply because it's made out of a hard polycarbonate or carbon fiber so something like a black bear or even a grizzly bear cannot get into it when it's properly used that being said it is very cumbersome and super heavy just this bv450 just this small little guy alone weighs two pounds one ounce now i did have to use this on the pct in 2018 because i was going through some sections of the trail that required me to use a bear can and that goes back again to just because i don't like it doesn't mean that i'm not going to use it if i am hiking or backpacking or camping in a certain area that requires me to use one of these i'm going to use one now there are some hikers out there that actually prefer to use a bear can number one because it's simple right you don't have to hang a line you don't have to worry about rodents getting into it just outside of your tent you don't have to take those chances you can just open it up you can store all your food in it some people use it as a seat or a table or something and you just take it away from your tent you set it upside down to make sure that nothing can crack open the lid and get to your food so a lot of hikers do like using these in my experience again they are bulky they're heavy i've never found a good way to put a bear can in my pack whether it was the bigger bv 500 or the 450 either got to strap it to the top or fit it around everything else for everyone that is constantly asking me yes i can fit this small bv450 and the pack that i currently use but i rather not and you don't have to buy a bear can if you're going to be hiking in most places where you can just use a bear bag but say once out of the year you're going to go hike in a place like yosemite national park you can rent a bear can from the back country office or some independent outfitters but again the bear can is another great option for food storage just know that it's going to be a little heavier and it's definitely going to be kind of a pain to put in your pack and the last option for food storage while you're in the back country kind of strikes a balance between the old heavy bear can and the bear bag which is something like the ursac so basically what an ursac is it's just a stuff sack it has a big cord on the top to where you can you can cinch it once you put all your food in there and it is made out of a kevlar-like material there's a couple different models this one in particular is made for bears it has been certified by the people who certify things that are bear proof that bears cannot tear into this grizzly bears cannot tear into something like the ursek however i think on this model which is the ursac major apparently rodents can eat into this which still kind of blows my mind that if it's made out of a kevlar material that a rodent can get into it but a grizzly bear can't but i digress this would be a really good option for someone looking to strike that balance between both and i actually picked this up for my through hike of the great divide trail up in canada mainly because i've never tried one before i know a lot of people that prefer to use an ursac and i was going to be in grizzly country which kind of makes me want to protect my food a little bit more basically you put all your food in it and then you can put it up in a tree or because of this long cord you can tie it to the trunk of a tree that way if something does come to get it if a bear does come to get it they cannot get into the bag now i have heard that bears can still smell the food in there and they can crunch things up so using something like the op sack inside of here would definitely guarantee that rodents wouldn't smell into this bag and eat into it because apparently they can and it would give you a little bit of extra protection from bears if you're in something like grizzly country and i guess the biggest advantage to using something like this over the bear can is where that bear can comes in at just over two pounds this guy is only over eight ounces so still a nice lightweight option that helps protect your food helps protect wildlife and gives you a little bit more security than the old dcf food bag so as you can see there are a lot of different options for food storage while you're out on the trail but again it really comes down to checking the regulations of where you're going to go hiking and backpacking and making sure that you're following good leave no trace principles i gotta stress yet again please play by the rules while you're in the back country don't screw it up for the rest of us and do what the place is requiring you to do whether that is a big clunky heavy bear can which again i loathe whether you can get away with just hanging a bear bag you're willing to take that chance with it or doing something like an ursac if the place that you're hiking in says that you can use these it's all about checking those regulations folks and it's all about making sure you're playing by the rules because at the end of the day it all comes down to protecting your food to make sure you don't go hungry while you're out on the trail but also protecting and respecting the wildlife that you're sharing the back country with so what backpacking food storage do you prefer to use on the trail or what do you have to use depending on where you typically hike leave me something down below and let us know your thoughts if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching [Music] you

Channel: Darwin onthetrail

Views: 167,447

Rating: 4.9399848 out of 5

Keywords: UL Backpacking, Backpacking Gear, Backpacking Food Storage, Bear Cans, Bear Bag, UL Hiking, UL Hiking Gear, Appalachian Trail, AT Thru Hike, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT Thru Hike, Great Divide Trail, GDT Thru Hike, Colorado Trail, CT Thru Hike, Gear List, Backpacking, Hiking, Adventure, Hiker Trash, Long Distance Hiking

Id: k7yIxxLxGrA

Length: 14min 17sec (857 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 02 2020