Suggestions for caching food

[kwhowell]

Heading out on a trip long enough that I don't want to carry all of my food, and unfortunately there isn't any convenient places to stop along my route to resupply or pick up a package from a post office. I'm considering finding an access point that is close to my halfway point and caching food, but this isn't something I have done before and was hoping to get some suggestions for best practices. 

If you have cached food before, how did you do it? Did you hang it or bury it? How did you protect it from critters and such?

Appreciate any words of wisdom. Thanks!

[PaulMags]

A few years ago, I attended a talk on The Colorado Trail. The couple used surplus ammo boxes to cache their food.  It is what the NPS/USFS/BLM will use in popular sites to critter proof popular campsites, make a weather proof seal  and (needless to say) are rugged as hell. Not expensive either.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/productlist/military-surplus/ammo-cans-military-storage/ammo-boxes-cans?d=122&c=407&s=199

The .50 caliber seem to be the most popular size.

The other option is to use bear canisters, but these are more expensive if you need to acquire more than one. (If you only need one cache, a bear canister is something good to invest in. More and more park units are requiring them). 

DO NOT use a 5 gallon bucket or similar. Bears can get into it...and so can other critters.  

Write on the cache the date when placed and the approx date when you plan to pick it up,

Burying it is probably overkill (unless you expect "curious people" around) ..but do have it off-trail a little bit. And remember where you placed it.

Good tips from Buck Nelson:

http://bucktrack.com/Desert_Trail_Thru-Hike.html

Edited March 29, 2016 by PaulMags