Hello again everybody. Gotta start this by saying I've gotten some great information from everyone so far, this will all make my trip much more possible. I have another question for you guys....So here's my question:

In this Blue Ridge Mountain region, we have black bears. I'm not worried about them, they have no natural fear or aggression toward humans(unlike Brown (Grizzly)Bears), unless I were to get between a mother and her cubs or something........... But black bears are the "Raiders", of the bear world- They'll go after food if they smell it. Any suggested methods of hanging up supplies? Should I bring some rope to suspend them in an open area out of reach, or should I just climb a tree and stick my bag between some branches? I've heard that these guys can climb trees pretty well...

Bear cannister for all that stuff. Best apparently a BearVault (sp?): pricey but it works, as opposed to the others that fail from time to time. Hanging bear bags has apparently just trained bears to get them down. Others emphasize cooking / eating / relieving yourself a very long way from your sleeping camp.

Ditto on the doing food prep / latrine away from where you will be sleeping. As many have suggested, cook, eat, move on and camp for the night.

A bear bag will probably be your most viable solution when being concerned for weight.

A few years back I was camping with the scouts. One troop was told to put a garbage bag at the end of their cots for their wrappers and such. Well, a bear came into one tent, pushed a kid out of the way (giving him a pretty good gash on the side of their head) and grabbed their footlocker that had food in it. Tons of things were done wrong in that scenario.

Sorry, I meant Bearikade:

http://www.wild-ideas.net/b_faqs.html

This is actually SOP in many bear places, and I think its a good idea. Marginal extra effort, in my opinion.

I've heard recommendations that you should eat, cook, relieve yourself, and store your smelly food/gear a mile away!

Personally I don't go to that extreme but if you do hang your stuff in a tree leave it hanging from a length of rope, don't just get it wedged up the trunk...all bears can climb trees and will if it suits their fancy. My favorite trick is to tie a carabiner to a rope and use the weight to easily throw that over a high branch. I lower it, loop another rope (which is tied to my bear bag) through it and then haul the biner up before there is any tension. The rope slides easily through the 'biner and it's easy to get your stuff up and down with no snags and no damage to the tree. Leave it hanging and away from any largish branches so a climbing bear can't get to it. A smart bear will likely get it anyhow but if it's out of camp a ways at least all you've lost is your food and a bit of gear which would likely be salvagable.

Also use waterproof bags as they help keep the smell in. Most roll top dry bags have a D-Ring which works very well for this.

Don't forget to hang clothes and cooking gear that have food smell on them as well. I know a guy who had his tent destroyed by a grizzly after he ate an apple on the way to camp and wiped his hands on his pants. When he got to camp he changed and left his pants in his tent.

"A smart bear will likely get it anyhow "

Bear cannister. By all accounts, after a while the bear will give up trying to get into a cannister and you still have your stuff. No reason you couldn't hang your cannister in a tree or between trees if you thought it best.

That's true. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I've never been able to justify the cost of those things when a tree has always worked for me.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/bear_bag_hanging_technique.html

The PCT hang is fool-proof, even in areas with problem bears. To be honest, I don't use anything but a standard hang in the Appalachians. The only place you have problems are in well-used (and abused) campsites, usually near roads, where the bears are used to a steady supply of free food from dumb people.

Many of those spots have been identified as problem areas and supplied with steel bear bag cables, poles or lockers to keep your food safe.

There was a lighter version of bear cannister made just for black bears. Now that I check their webpage (bearvault.com), it's rated for grizzles, too. I have one sitting in my gear closet, but I've never used it because it's: a) overkill, and b) ten times heavier than a nylon bag and 50' of cord.

Wow. The PCT method is very sililar to mine. I'm totally stealing the stick stopper technique. That's brilliant.