What is a Bear Cable?
LyttleBryan June 10th, 2009
One of my (very few I’m sure) readers, Emily, asked the question “What is a bear cable, and why would I want my hammock far away from it?” A very good question, so here’s the answer!
Bear cables are a series of pulleys connected to high strength air craft cable that are hung from trees in order to keep things like food out of the reach of wilderness critters, most notably bears. Animals are smart, and in the Smokies and other popular locations are trained that where there are humans, there is food. So in order to keep a bear from tearing up your pack and eating anything you’ve got, you hang it from the bear cables. it’s not just bears though, and some animals are known to have mastered the ability to climb the cables and still get in your stuff, but this generally negates the problem.
As for why you would want to hang your hammock away form the bear cables, well, I prefer to put my bed as far away from where the bears will be as possible! Wouldn’t you?
- Backpacking
- Comments(3)
It seems so simple now. Thanks!
I used to think bear cables were for hanging your food. Well when you have a lot of bears roaming about, it is for everything with a smell! Yes, that means toothpaste as well as your minty lipgloss. Someone told me this weekend that they had a friend, sleeping in his hammock, who had gotten food on his clothes that evening while eating. He got to wake up with a bear thinking he was a “people burrito!” Do be aware, if you are a messy eater, your clothes will smell like Shoneys to a bear! As for myself, no more minty lipgloss in the backcounty….
If we’re packing in Krispy Kreme’s, you’re packing in your minty lipgloss. The chocolate covered donuts after you’ve had a bite with that gloss on is the greatest thing EVER!