How Do You Hang.. Your food, in the backcountry?

[Logtec]

If I'm solo or with one other person, I use para cord to pull my food bag(a dry sack) up into a a tree., its easy cuz the food bag is light.

If I'm in a larger group, 3-6 people (where I'm sharing food/cooking responsibilities)our food bag can be heavy, I use this method:

I have 2 ropes:
Rope A- is a 50' length of 1/8" cord with a small 3/8" pulley tied to one end.
Rope B- is a 50' length of 3/8" rope.

How to hang heavy food loads:
1- Throw rope A over a branch- which is at least 25' high.
2- let the weight of the pulley(over the branch)lower itself to the ground.
3- thread rope B through rope A's pulley.
4- pull rope A, to raise the pulley- with rope B up to "branch level" and tie off rope A to the base of the tree.
5- tie food bag to one end of rope B, then pull the other end of rope B via the pulley(on rope A) up into the tree.

Its as Easy as that...
This system works really well with heavy food bags and doesn't harm the tree(or your hands) with rope burns from heavy bags.

How do you hang your food?

[Mike]

Re: How Do You Hang.. Your food, in the backcountry?

Hey Logtec: Your method sounds interesting, but I am having a hard time envisioning it. Can you post a pic or a drawing?

[Joyous56]

Re: How Do You Hang.. Your food, in the backcountry?

I can see it; rope A is to get the pulley over the branch, and rope B is to utilize the pulley.

I suppose you could forgo the pulley, and just use rope A to hoist your food up.....but if you want to use a pulley system, this seems pretty rational...thanks for the idea.

[Mike]

Re: How Do You Hang.. Your food, in the backcountry?

I think what is most impressive is Logtec being able to throw a rope over a branch 25' in the air. I don't know what Logtec does for a living, but he would probably make one heckuva cowboy!

[Logtec]

Re: How Do You Hang.. Your food, in the backcountry?

I can see it; rope A is to get the pulley over the branch, and rope B is to utilize the pulley.

I suppose you could forgo the pulley, and just use rope A to hoist your food up.....but if you want to use a pulley system, this seems pretty rational...thanks for the idea.

The pulley is great for heavy food sacks and doesn't harm the tree with rope burn or your hands.
It also adds some weight to the end of the rope making it easier to throw.

[Logtec]

Re: How Do You Hang.. Your food, in the backcountry?

Haha,
I'm a plumber, I've done my fair share of heavy lifting and labour over the last 20 years.
The pulley adds enough weight to be able to throw the rope...
It takes a few attempts before success!

[terasec]

Re: How Do You Hang.. Your food, in the backcountry?

A lot of places I camp this wouldn't work. You can't have a rope tied off anywhere near ground level or the bears will get to it. The only method that works is the PCT method.

Now with that said, I would absolutely love for someone to figure out how to incorporate a pulley into the PCT method. That would be awesome and then I could hang a heavy cooler and not damage the branch it's hanging from.

how high off the ground do you want it?
for eastern black bears, 15' is generally sufficient,
for that height can use a pole or downed slim tree,
persons reach is say 7-8 feet? pole would need to be say 8-12 feet or so?
can use a large hook on pulley and use pole/tree to hang the pulley.
never tried it, but might work