Anyone who hikes very much in the Grand Canyon knows that rodents, squirrels, and ravens will try their best to get a free meal from your food. Their tenacity and ingenuity is truly amazing. Once while camping at Hermit Creek, we tied a thin plastic bag to a tree branch to serve as our trash bag. That night I kept hearing a rustling noise. When I got up to inspect, I found a mouse had apparently walked out on the limb and either crawled down the thin bag loops or dropped from the limb into the trash bag, but was unable to climb back out due to the bag's slick sides. On that same trip, I set my day pack down for only a few minutes with some cashew nuts inside. When I next looked over at it, a squirrel was sitting on top of it, had ripped my pack open, and was eating my nuts. Ravens are renown for flying into camp, picking some food item up, and flying off with it. They also will land on food bags or packs hanging from trees and tear them open to get at what's inside. There are numerous home-made protection devices such as cookie tins. Some of these methods work better than others. Two commercial products I have tried are the Ursack and the Ratsack cache bag. The Ursack is a bag made from from a high tech material called Vectran, the same stuff used in the Mars Rover landing air bags. It is virtually impervious to biting and gnawing animals. It uses a metal drawstring to close the bag, comes in one size only, 8" x 13" or 650 cubic inches, weights about 5.9 ounces, and costs $59.95. The Ratsack is a stainless steel mesh bag that comes in three sizes:
I found the Ursack to be a little small for anything but a one or two night hike. I also did not like its closure system. I felt a mouse could crawl through the opening even after pulling the metal draw string tight. I personally use the large size Ratsack. It has ample space to hold all my food, even on lengthy hikes and it rolls up nicely around my tent. The Velcro closure system is fool proof and easy to use. BACK TO MAIN INDEX | BACK TO TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS
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