Figured out after 8 years I was hanging my food bag wrong the whole time

I was up in the Smokies last spring, just north of Clingmans Dome, and a bear got my food bag on the third night. I always thought I was doing it right - throw a line over a branch, tie it off. But a ranger walked by the next morning and pointed out my bag was only 8 feet off the ground, not the 12 you need. Turns out I was using too thin a rope and it was sagging under the weight. Has anyone else had a moment where a ranger or another hiker casually showed you a basic mistake you'd been making for years?

2 comments

2 Comments

maryadams9d ago

I remember reading somewhere that bears will actually memorize where a food hang is if it's in the same spot for more than a night or two, which really made me think about how we do things in the backcountry. I had a similar wake-up call a few years back out in the Sierra Nevada when a friend showed me the PCT method with two trees instead of one. My hang looked fine to me, but it was too low and too close to the trunk, and I had been getting away with it for years because I camped in areas where the bears weren't as bold. Turns out I was using a carabiner that was too heavy and it was dragging the rope down, so the bag sagged like yours did. It's funny how one little detail like the thickness of your cord can make all the difference between keeping your food safe or losing it to a hungry critter.

lindaw299d agoTop Commenter

My buddy Jake had the exact same thing happen to him up in the Cascades a couple of summers ago. He was so proud of his hang until a black bear just walked up, stood on its hind legs, and swiped the bag right off the branch like it was nothing lol. Turns out he'd been using the same spot for three nights and the bear had been watching him the whole time. Now he carries an Ursack instead of even bothering with a hang in areas where bears are smart like that.