Set up a triangle: your sleeping spot, your cooking spot and your food storage spot, each well apart, with the tent upwind. Never keep food or anything that smells in the tent.
Camp and wildlife · Camp and wildlife course
Keep animals out of camp: food hang and cat hole
Bears, raccoons and mice follow their noses. Keeping food and smells away from where you sleep protects you and the animals. The same rules keep camp clean: cook, store and go to the bathroom well away from your tent and from water.
Why this matters
Animals that get human food lose their fear of people, and the Park Service often has to remove them. Mice and raccoons chew through tents and packs for one granola bar.
A clean camp is also a healthy camp: most stomach sickness on trips comes from dirty hands and dirty water, not from wild food.
What you need
- A bear canisterbear canister A hard, bear-proof container with a lid a bear cannot open, for storing food and anything that smells. where required, or a waterproof bag and 50 to 100 feet of cord for a hang.
- A small trowel, toilet paper and zip bags to pack it out, and soap or hand sanitizer.
About 15 minutes to hang food before dark; a minute for a cat hole.
Step by step
Store everything with a smell together: food, trash, cooking pots, toothpaste, sunscreen, bug spray, lip balm and soap. A good rule is that anything you put in your mouth or on your skin goes in the bag.
Use a bear canister or a food locker where a park provides them, and follow each park's rules. Where hanging is allowed, the Park Service guideline is at least 12 feet off the ground and 6 feet out from the trunk and from any branch.
To hang a bag: tie a rock in a small sack to the end of a cord and toss it over a sturdy branch. Tie on the food bag, hoist it up, and tie the other end off around a different tree. Do it before dark.
Clean up as soon as the meal is over. Wash dishes away from camp and scatter the dishwater widely. Pack out leftover food; burning it in the fire leavesdebris Dry leaves, pine needles, grass and ferns. Piled deep they trap still air, which is what keeps you warm. smells behind.
Go to the bathroom in a cat holecat hole A small hole you dig to use as a toilet outdoors: 6 to 8 inches deep and 200 feet from water, camp and trails.: walk at least 200 feet (about 70 big steps) from water, camp and trails. Dig a hole 6 to 8 inches deep, use it, and fill it back in. Pack out toilet paper in a sealed bag.
Wash your hands after the bathroom and before handling food. In camp, most sickness comes from dirty hands, not wild animals.
Tips from survival instructors
- Pick your hanging tree and throw the line while it is still light. In the dark it takes three times as long.
- Use a separate small bag for trash and smelly items, and hang it with the food.
Common mistakes
- Keeping snacks or toothpaste in the tent. The fix: everything with a smell goes in the bag.
- Hanging the bag too low or too close to the trunk. The fix: at least 12 feet up and 6 feet out.
- Cooking right next to the tent. The fix: cook and store food well away from where you sleep.
- Burying toilet paper. The fix: pack it out in a sealed bag.
Practice it safely
In the backyard, practice tossing a rock bag over a branch and hoisting a bag of cans to 12 feet. Measure with a tape so you learn what 12 feet up and 6 feet out look like.
Quick check
How far should a cat hole be from water, camp and trails?
- 10 feet
- At least 200 feet
- It does not matter
Show the answer
At least 200 feet
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