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The bear bag fail at Glacier that sent me back to a hard case
Last October I was up in Glacier National Park, and I hung my food bag about 12 feet up on this thin branch, thought I was being clever. Around 2 AM something that had to be a black bear clawed through the bottom of my pack to get at a granola bar wrapper I missed. I woke up to the whole bag torn apart and my camp smelling like a dumpster. Park ranger told me the next morning that the bears there are so used to scent bags they just rip them down, and she suggested I switch to a bear canister over 20 years of hanging. Ngl, I fought it for years because of the weight, but after that night I spent $85 on a hard case and tested it at home with bacon grease smeared on the outside. The thing sat outside my garage for 3 days and never got opened. Has anyone else ditched the hang method after a close call, or am I way too paranoid now?
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barbara_kim1mo ago
so actually the 12 foot hang thing is kind of a myth at this point, most parks say you need 15 feet or more and even then bears have figured out how to grab the line and snap it. plus that thin branch thing probably flexed enough to let the bear get a paw on it, i did the same mistake once in yosemite and woke up to teeth marks on my stuff sack. the ranger was right though, once they learn that hanging means food theyll just work at it all night, canisters are basically the only thing that stops them for real. you also might have missed that the wrapper was the trigger not the bag itself, so even a clean hang can fail if you skip one tiny piece of trash. glad you made the switch though, the weight sucks but sleeping through the night is worth way more than a couple pounds.
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