Hanging the Pack

One of the tasks you must deal with at each campsite is identifying one or two trees which you can use to hang your food pack. This must be done to protect it primarily from black bears, who are voracious scavengers, but also from other critters such as chipmunks and squirrels. This is always a difficult chore because you must hang the pack at least 10 feet off the ground and at least 6 feet from any tree. The area is loaded with trees, but not many of them are good bear trees. The outfitter provides you with two ropes, one with a metal pulley attached to one end, which you can use for this project. Paul and I were able to hang our pack the first night by having him climb on my shoulders against one tree to wrap the rope around a high branch and the trunk and then eventually through a stick with the other rope attached over another tree, high enough so we could get the pack elevated. It was more than 6 feet from either tree, but we not quite 10 feet off the ground. Paul, who is 6 feet could just touch the bottom the pack with his fingers stretched high, so it was probably about 8-9 feet high. But it worked and we had no problems that night. The next campsite was on an island about 100 yards from shore. The water was very shallow between the island and the shore. Nevertheless, knowing a bear could probably get over to the island if it really wanted to, we did not hang our food the three nights we were on this campsite. We took this risk primarily because we absolutely could not find a decent tree to use. There were trees, but either they did not have large branches, or they were way back from the campsite area in the woods. So we closed everything up tightly, covered it with the tarp, and prayed. Again, we have no problems. The final campsite we did find a pretty good tree to use by throwing the pulley over a thick branch, lowering it to the ground and running the other rope through the pulley and then tying both ropes off to another tree. This time the pack was much higher than 10 feet. But, it was also right up against a lower branch of that tree that looked rather dead and I was trusting it would not hold the weight of a bear. Again, we had no problems. This rather lengthy post illustrates the amount of concern this chore elicits in me. The above pictures illustrate the two different times we got the pack hung.