bear bag on the A.T.?

[mainebob]

I was wondering what most people do with their food at night. Both times I hiked the A.T. i always slept with my food in my tent without issue (I have done this for 35 year hiking in the eastern U.S. and have found mice to be the problem, not black bears) It was my experience that almost all the thru hikers i was with stopped bear bagging by the time they were in Damascus. I do not want this to be a debate on the merits of bear bagging, I just wanted to know what is common practice when using a hammock. Thanks.

[fiveonomo]

I still use a bag and hang it a good ways out from camp.

[Dog]

Last fall my wife and I hiked the 30 miles between Mount Rogers and Damascus. As we got started a park ranger asked if we had a bear bag or can. Apparently, there was recently a situation were a bear took a hikers backpack when we stopped for some personal business. The ranger also told use the night before a bear tried to got in a tent after food.

I bear bag, no reason to take the chance on the southern part of the trail.

[Dutch]

I bearbag the whole way. Dang mice still found a way to jump to it twice. Mice prefer Hershey kisses and snickers to power bars.

I like the peace of mind when I am sleeping. Really not too many bear attacks in the East but I don't even want one investigating and smelling food.

[Cool breeze]

Hang not about the bears so much but raccoons ( had a buddy lose a boot to a raccoon one night just something else to worry about)

[Lorax]

Bears, mice and other critters are used to poor camp practices along a lot of the AT. It is best to hang that food bag, every time, all the time.

[old4hats]

Perspective. If you have never had a bear problem, it doesn't seem like a big deal.

If you have had a bear problem, then it is an issue that you make a big deal
of.
Guess which camp I'm in.

[Mustang]

I have never hiked where there were bears, so I can't speak on my practices. I have watched many YouTube videos of thru hikers on the AT and other trails, and in nearly every video a bear bag or canister was used. I think that if I were to hike the AT, I would probably bag it. Mostly for the reasons "Dutch" had stated.

[2ply]

Never had an issue with bears or mice but the darn flying squirrels can be a pest if the bag is not hung right. The little buggers are more acrobatic than Shug on espresso.

[QiWiz]

In bear country, I either do a decent hang or use a canister. In non-bear country, I use an Ursak Minor critter-proof bag and just tie it to a tree at head height. If I think there could be a random bear around, I'll hang the Ursak Minor bag. In many areas of AT with bears around, there are bear cables or bear poles (if staying in a shelter or shelter area) you can use to hang a bag.