Sunrise Lake TH Caching

[wmclemore01]

Working out some logistics for a multi day North Rim route.

Question is -

First, Can you cache 3 days worth of food at the Sunrise Lake TH for pickup?
Second, if you are allowed what is proper edic and regulations?

Appreciate any help

[AlmostThere]

Generally they do not want you to leave caches in bear lockers. Sunrise is a really busy trailhead and the lockers are quite impacted. You're running the risk of it being stolen or inadvertently taken, or thrown away by a ranger.

[Phil]

I've never had my food taken from a locker, although Sunrise Trailhead is one of the busier ones. If it's there for a long time, maybe the rangers would eventually clear it out, but in the time it's going to take for you guys to get to it from Tamarack Creek it's not going to be a problem...a few days/week isn't going to be a problem at all. The lockers are crowded, but there are lots of them, and it's usually easy enough to jockey things around and make room. The one thing you don't want to do is store your food in nice stuff sacks, and coolers might get a little sketchy if the wrong person takes a liking to them, but again, I've left some pretty nice Igloos in lockers all over the place and never lost one yet, but then again I do have my name stenciled on them in paint. Use shopping bags, and if you leave things like fuel canisters in those bags, bury them. Also don't be a jerk and try to dominate all the space, and try to get your nondescript stuff toward the back. And if you put a lock on the latch at any trailhead, it's going to get cut off pretty quickly., so don't even bother.

Caching food and smellies is what the lockers are for. Most people are honest and understand that having food they rely on being there when they need it works both ways, so they leave stuff alone that's not theirs.

[AlmostThere]

On the rare occasion I do leave stuff in a trailhead locker, I use a dirty trash bag with the date of return on a piece of masking tape on it.

Stuff goes missing -- especially if you make it attractive. Someone got a used Starbucks cup in the place of their very nice stainless steel coffee travel mug at the Chilnualna trailhead. Fortunately the time some stuff vanished I was in Tuolumne Meadows and the store has good stuff for backpacking.

[Phil]

I know. Things are different these day in so many negative ways. I can think of a lot of words to describe some of the new breed of people taking to the trails. But if you need 10 days of food and can only carry 5, you gotta do what you gotta do, the trunk not being an option.

[AlmostThere]

It has to be a really long trip for me to take the risk of leaving stuff somewhere -- I just rent a bigger bear can. I can pack a week inside a Bearikade Weekender -- which is lighter and larger than a Garcia that the park rents, and can be rented by mail, by the by.

A couple of guys also tried to get into my food, in the bear can, inside a bear locker, along the JMT -- they ran out of food and tried to resupply from ME. So you know, it's not likely something that happens often. But the busier the place...

Yosemite is simultaneously the most crowded place where people can get away with shenanigans, and the least likely place to get away with shenanigans. They police things heavily -- invalid or no permits, dogs on the trail, no bear can -- but it's the only park I'm aware of that has its own jail, and judge, inside the park boundary. Also the only place I know of where backpacking gear has actually been stolen out of campsites (Little Yosemite Valley).

Consequently it is the last place I would push my luck. YMMV.

[Phil]

I do like my Bearikade.

Since I've got you here, what was the site you used for your freeze dried recipes?

Times are changing, but you know how I feel about LYV. Nothing surprises me there at all. It's the only place I've ever been ripped off within minutes of realizing I left my sunglasses on a rock over by the river.

[AlmostThere]

Freeze dried stuff can be picked up at Harmony House (ingredients and soup mixes).

I make stuff like at trailcooking.com, the recipes don't usually require anything you can't find at a grocery store. And I dehydrate leftovers for the week prior to the trip -- dehydrated tuna casserole tastes better than Mountain House and I know exactly what's in it. It won't last for ten years in the bag, but it also doesn't give me constipation or make me gag... and it only needs to last for a couple weeks.

I experiment sometimes with bar recipes as well.
https://communitytable.parade.com/36623 ... kind-bars/

The result is more like nuggets than bars, but still edible and tasty.

[Phil]

Thanks AT. Vegetarian. Perfect.

[Justin-T]

Check this site out too, lots of recipes you can modify at will.

http://www.theyummylife.com/Backpacking_Food

[Phil]

Thanks for that one too, Justin. I was being lazy about finding the thread where you guys were talking about the recipe sites. I've been dehydrating a good amount of my backpacking meals for years, as well as eating whatever sounds good, prepackaged (the sodium is what gets to me) or not. My usual backpacking partner, "the kid", who would also eat anything, is now stationed in Korea, so the new "kid" is my daughter. Even at home she gets upset when I do meat, and I have problems with the food she makes not being filling enough or not what I'm looking for in taste (we prepare and eat together, but not the same things) so I'm faced with having to come up with a whole new set of flavorful vegetarian dishes that I can make all at once, that I can also eat [stand], and that will keep her happy and fed. We tried it at home, and coming together is a lot harder than it seems like it should be.

[Justin-T]

You could probably replace the freeze-dried chicken in all the yummy-life recipes with freeze-dried tofu and they'd taste just as good... As I mentioned in the other thread, if you do it this way you should really get an insulated bowl so it can sit for 10 mins in the boiled water without getting cold. If you want to try any of these recipes I can give you some tips about some things we felt needed changing.

[wmclemore01]

Thank for responding to my thread question about caching food.

Was looking for park policy or recommendation about leaving a couple days worth of food at Sunrise TH.

My plans were to pick up within 4 days

Looking like this has gotten off-topic

[AlmostThere]

Off topic, somewhat.

The bear lockers at trailheads are for people to move things out of their cars parked at that trailhead into the lockers. The bear lockers in the backcountry are for people who are backpacking to store their food in. None of them are for caching food, or leaving trash in, and rangers discourage caching because all too often, plans change and people never pick them up and the cache becomes trash. So yea, you can do it, but realize that it is not encouraged and you run the risks as described of seeing it gone for various reasons. It is in fact ILLEGAL to leave a cache in a bear locker. There will be signs on the inside of the locker door telling you just that.

Using the right food can mean the difference between needing a cache and not needing one. It is entirely possible to get ALL your food in a bear can -- if you repackage everything into ziplocs. Using the bags the Mountain House meals came in makes them bulky. Using the cups that cup a soups come in, throwing in canned goods, attempting to bring breads of whatever kind and keep them from getting smushed, bringing whole eggs or fruit -- all wastes of space in a bear can. Use couscous instead of pasta shapes like bowties or spirals. Don't bring apples, bring dried apples. I've seen folks bring food from the kitchen and waste a ton of space, turning the HUGE bear cans into kegs of heavy, bulky food. If your trip is less than seven days you can manage even with the Garcia.

http://sierrawild.gov/bears/how-pack-bear-can

So no, it's not off topic exactly.

Google the Wild Ideas Bearikade and you can avoid caching altogether.

[wmclemore01]

Thank for taking the time to provide your insight into caching at Yosemite. This have been very helpful in my planning.

Currently there are two of use and both are using the Osprey Expos 48 and the Bearvault BV450. Our equipment does not leave much room for expansion so being able to cache food half way through a 8 day trip could be very helpful. Your cautions have me thinking about other alternatives but this could end up being our only option.

Thank again for providing this great forum and sharing your expert knowledge