cyccommute 

Stop right there. I won’t tell you what you are afraid of and I demand that you don’t tell me what I’m afraid of. Nothing I have said can be interpreted as “fear”. Taking precautions isn’t “fear”. I don’t fear bears in the woods because I know that encounters with them are rather rare. But I’d rather not have one snooping around my camp either. As I pointed out above, a bear that is comfortable with (or depends on) humans is a dead bear. I’d rather not be responsible for a bear’s death because of my irresponsibility.

Huh? You are way over complicating hanging food. Why would I need 100 feet of parachute cord? I’m not hanging the food up that high. I doubt that I could find a 50 foot tree in Colorado much less throw a rope that high. I kind of understand the rescue pulley but it’s really not needed nor is a second guy line to pull the food away from the trunk needed...especially not one that needs to be attached to a tree 50 to 100 feet away. A branch that will hold 30 lbs of food...which is a lot of food...won’t hold a 200 lb bear. Bears are going to reach out from the trunk but they aren’t likely to try to walk out on the branch. As you said, they are smart.

As for a rock, well, the world is full of rocks. I don’t need to carry a special one with me. There aren’t many places where there are no rocks.

Carbonfiberboy 

You're supposed to thread one 50' cord through the rescue pulley, tying the ends together. Then attach the other cord to the pulley's 'biner hole. That latter is the one you throw over the branch. The extra length is just in case. The pulley is because if you have much stuff to hang, you won't be able to pull hard enough on 1/8" line to get it off the ground. See, I have hung stuff more than once, hence the addition of the pulley, 1 oz.. And had it eaten, too. Rodents are like, "Love strings! Food at the other end of string! Yes!" I'm not scared of bears, it's rodents. Don't want my gear ruined and food eaten with many trail days still to come. I could carry several ursacks, but the weight and bulk! and for what? I don't have a problem that needs solving.

You forgot to comment on exactly where in that photo you'd do your bear hang . . . See, I came prepared for not being able to do that. Do you? Boy Scout motto and all that.

Tourist in MSN

I suspect he is doing something like I do, as shown in post 48 above.
https://www.bikeforums.net/21496440-post48.html

Get one line over the branch, tie a bowline on one end and put a caribiner with rescue pulley on that. The second line runs through the rescue pulley. You use the second line to pull the food up to towards the pulley and tie that line off somewhere. Very simple.

In the photo at post 48, I was solo backpacking, only had a few days of food left when the photo was taken. And had light duty line, as you want light weight when backpacking.

In the photo below, we were on a canoe trip, carried much heavier food and probably had about 18 person-days worth of food on the line, thus used heavier line and a better pulley system with two pulleys.





It is really quite simple and those of us that use that method find it to be quite convenient.

cyccommute 

I’ve never had any issues with rodents of any kind. Ever.

I can also string up something without a pulley and I only need one length of rope that has been split in two.

Any of about 10,000 trees shown in the photo. Even the spindly one in front of the tent would work. No bear is going to climb that tree.

Carbonfiberboy 

I see now.

robow

Preventing theft by bears is easy, it's the clever raccoons that are difficult to dissuade . They probably designed that pulley system as intelligent as they are.

Tourist in MSN

Not a rodent but was cute.




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greatscott

I'm another who can't sleep in a hammock, my back can't stand a hammock for more than an hour, not alone all night; plus with a hammock you have to find a place that has trees to tie both ends to...so what happens if there are no trees around for miles?

You also didn't say if you wanted to spend a lot or a little on a tent, I spent a little on a tent, ended up with a Marmot Tungsten 2 person tent so I can put stuff inside without feeling cramped or have to leave it outside. I got mine on sale from REI for $145. It's not the lightest tent on the market but for the price I would had to spend 4 times that amount to get a appreciable lighter tent, plus it comes with a footprint; the whole thing weighs almost 5 pounds.

You need a sleeping pad, self inflating tend to be more comfortable than foam pads; their more durable than inflatable pads but not as durable as foam; they're more comfortable than foam but about the same as a inflatable; self inflating pads have more ground insulation than an inflatable but not as much as a foam pad; inflatables are the lightest option. I chose a inflatable in the interest of saving weight and ended up with a Therm a Rest NeoAir Camper, I chose this one because it has 3 inches of padding and it is comfortable which is good for a back with fusion.

Sleeping bag, ended up with a Alps Mountaineering Fusion because it too was on sale for half off, the bag is a summer bag rated for 40 but with sleeping bags you have to add 15 degrees so it's really a 55 degree bag, but I'm going to get a Sea to Summit Thermolite Reactor Extreme liner, this will add about 25 degrees to the bag, and I can use the liner alone on top of the sleeping bag on warmer nights or inside the bag for colder nights.

I also carry a very small blow up pillow made by Klymit called the X Pillow.

That's it for sleeping gear, I could go on and on about other stuff like cooking stuff, panniers etc, but not sure if you wanted to know more so to save myself from banging on the keyboard any more tonight, you can ask more questions if you want to know more.

clayton c

Really like how you've incorporated your bike into the tent system. I noticed it double duties into a low tech bike thief alarm as well. It's a great idea you've developed here.