From: Johnlebl@aol.com
Date: Sat Nov 09 2002 - 00:01:11 CST
> I'd like to buy a few (maybe 3-5) bear bags, as similar as possible
> tot eh ones Philmont has (August 2002). A couple local grocery stores
> didn't have anything like them - can anyone suggest a source? Where I
> can get them before this weekend's campout?
>
> --
> -Marty Galligan
Marty et al,
First off I want to say that I plan on posting a lot of comments this year
based on actual use and observations at Philmont in 2002. Please do not
perceive this to mean I am a know it all because I am not, nor do I want to
be. If it sounds bossy or anything other than a willingness to share, just
chalk it up that old John at 57 is still tired from 63 miles on the PhilTrail
following 14-17 year olds.
Based on an experiment last July at Philmont, I'd not try to buy the same
bear bags Philmont uses. I'd buy better ones. The ones Philmont uses are
the white woven polypropylene feed sack / grass seed bags found in most feed
stores.
Naturally, Philmont uses new, unused ones.
The reason? They are cheap for Philmont to purchase.
We bought three nylon mesh bags like soccer balls are stored in (about 2' X
3') for about $3.00 each and added these to the ones Philmont issued.
Right after a commissary pickup, we used these three plus three Phil Issue
bags for a total of six bear bags including the oops bag.
We bought a red, a white and a blue mesh bag. Quite patriotic. Color coding
made it easy to open the right bag for the food you are looking for.
Breakfasts in one, lunches in another and suppers in the third. Two PhilBags
held personal ditty bags and the third PhilBag was the oops bag.
All crew members agreed that "next time" we would bring 6 nylon mesh bags.
They are lighter, stronger, pack easier in a pack and the color coding is a
Mountain Godsend.
You can get these anywhere soccer balls or sporting goods are sold.
One other suggestion is take along a small mountain climbing or river rescue
type aluminum pulley to tie in your bag ropes to run the oops bag rope
through. Running it through a loop in the rope like your ranger will show
you or a carbiner created too much friction and the oops rope actually
melted.
Many crews had this trouble last year.
Something else that my daughter and I did worked out superb. We each carried
a 8" X 15" tall nylon roll top dry bag. It's the type river rafters and
canoe and kayakers store stuff in to keep it dry. They cost $12.00 and weigh
a mere few ounces.
We used these for our personal ditty bags. Mine stored my Glucometer,
medications and special sugar free food supplements also. It rained 8 of the
10 days on the trail and the dry bags worth their weight in gold.
I'd even consider using some like them to store the food bags in after field
stripping them at a commissary to lessen the weight and keep the food
perfectly dry. The plastic bags Philmont issues are good, but have air hole
in them that must be taped up to keep rain out.
If you don't open the food packages then you don't need this extra, but if
you do field strip them to reduce weight and get rid of unneeded items (you
definitely won't need all the Gatorade mix) then you will be carrying about
5# extra weight in food that you will not eat (or drink) per person.
Just another $ 0.02 worth of hard earned experience.
John LeBlanc
Eagle Class of 1959
Phirst Phil Ptrek 1959
PhilTrek 2002 630H2 Trek 16
My latest adventure was yesterday,
Today is not over yet!
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