What to do with big pack while out on da yhike?

“Another newbie question:

Where and how should I store my big backpack and base camp supplies & provisions while I'm out on a dayhike using my lumbar pack?

I'll have a tent, and will be staying in country where there aren't any bears, but there will probably be rodents, raccoons, possibly some coyotes, and of course people since it's peak hiking season right now, and I don't want to lose my supplies to any of these.

Thanks!”

“usually hikers won't mess with other hikers' stuff. There is an unspoken code. You can always stash stuff in the woods. You can let the tent set up. Make sure your food is in a canister or hung up or in an ursack.”

“Your big pack can be hung from a tree as well or left inside your tent. As ENS said make sure to hang your food away from camp or have a bear canister and place it away from camp. Even if you don't have bears this is a good idea.”

“I hang mine from a cord with the rain cover on it.

When I do leave it on the ground, or in the tent, I leave all the pockets open a bit so the critters can see there is no food inside without having to eat a hole in the pack to find out. When I was using a conventional tent (floors) instead of my Kiva, I would leave a way in for the critters too. I have seen too many holes in tents from critters trying to get in. If you store your food properly, they will get in, find there is nothing to eat and leave.....usually.
last edited: 10/21/06 1:50:38 PM”

“LOL! What a cool idea mtnsteve! Duh! I never thought of actually leaving them a way in.

I have kind of been wondering about the same thing Bess. Last weekend on a TT hike we were on our way out when we bumped into a kid about 16 or so going after a dear he had just killed. A short way down the trail we came across his bow, two packs, and one really sweet boat. None of us touched a thing but the whole time I was thinking "that kid was probably messing his drawers thinking about us walking off with his stuff". I would have been. Another thing about it though is if you are deep enough to be backpacking, then probably anyone else there has already carried all their junk in too, why would they want to carry double back out?
Just the thoughts of another newbie...”

“For several years I thought I had one of my ski poles stolen while I was out hiking.

I had hiked in with a pair of poles, set up camp and left one behind while I went on a day hike. It wasn't until we were on a 10 day with the kids that I realized what happened.

We were off getting water when my partner noticed a deer had one of my poles in its mouth and was wandering off from camp with it. I ran back to camp, scaring the deer off and realized that both wrist straps were covered in slime. It turns out that he was sucking the salt out of the straps. I rinsed the straps off in the creek and found them to be nice and soft again. We had noticed the same behavior on a couple other trips after that. I was always careful to biner my straps to something so they would run off with them again.

I'm now sure that if I had spent a little more time looking around the camp site I would have found my missing pole.”

“I always leave mine on the ground with all pockets, and the top, wide open.”

“Thanks everyone!”