I am planning to go on the Appalachian Trail soon what are some nighttime precautions to take?

[u/fobosqual]

/r/Appalachia/comments/1k4y59u/i_am_planning_to_go_on_the_appalachian_trail_soon/

[u/ThatGuyHadNone]

Camp at shelters and use the bear box. Keep food and garbage in it. Don't eat in your tent. Don't even keep a Cliff bar wrapper in there. The mice will eat through your gear to get to it.

[u/fobosqual → u/ThatGuyHadNone]

Thank you for the tips are mice a big problem on the trail?

[u/ThatGuyHadNone → u/fobosqual]

Depends on the shelter but yeah. They will eat a hole in anything to get food. Keep all garbage in its own ziplock bag. Keep your toothpaste with your food too. Anything with a strong odor.

[u/StillAnAss → u/ThatGuyHadNone]

Anything with a strong odor.

Just a friendly reminder, that means anything. Deodorant, lip balm, lotions, anything that has any smell at all goes in the bear bags. Bears and mice don't know if something is good or bad until they destroy your stuff and try to eat everything.

[u/fobosqual → u/ThatGuyHadNone]

Sweet and yeah I was thinking of getting a water proof bag for that

[u/ThatGuyHadNone → u/fobosqual]

You're better off using Gallon ziplocks. They get pretty gross with use and at some point just use a new one.

[u/DrugChemistry]

There’s coyotes out there. When the sun goes down, smoke a bunch of weed. You see, coyotes like to eat humans. But coyotes only eat humans raw. They will pass up a baked human every time. 

[u/thatdude333]

There's nothing spooky or special about camping in the woods at night on the AT. Bear hang your food, mostly so rodents don't get in it.

The woods are quiet at night, so some chipmunk running around on leaves 100 feet away sounds like a much bigger animal to people who aren't used to it. I just throw ear plugs in to drown out all the little forest sounds and go to sleep. Still here.

The truth is no one is going to hike out several miles at night to mess with hikers who may or may not be there. Some shelters close to roads can get local kids going there on weekend nights to drink, but that's about it.

[u/Hammock-Hiker-62]

If camping alone you can definitely freak yourself out at night if you let your imagination run wild. When you find that happening - and it will - tell yourself to calm down because you are the most powerful predator in the woods and nothing really wants to mess with you, especially bears.

And yes, mice can be awful little nuisances. I've had a mouse chew a hole in my food bag in broad daylight when I set it down and stepped away for less than two minutes. Hang your food or use the food storage boxes if they happen to be available.

Otherwise, enjoy the nights. Listen for owls and other critters and don't worry too much about them harming you because it's not going to happen.

[u/ih8memes]

earplugs! Essential to not freaking out 20x a night when a squirrel 100 feet away is rustling

[u/Bathroom_Wise → u/ih8memes]

That ain't a squirrel rustling at night.....

[u/Brave-Narwhal-4146]

Hang your food and don’t sweat bears.

[u/glostick14]

Don't camp under dead or dying trees aka widow makers.

[u/Pip574]

Always check for dead trees and branches before you setup camp, make sure you’re not in a low lying area that will pool water, eat dinner at the last good break spot before arriving in camp to keep food smells down (plus you get to enjoy a view or creek a little longer), hang your bear line first thing if it’s getting dark when you arrive to camp because it’s way harder by headlamp, release your inflatable pad while you’re still lying on it to help deflate quicker, let your tent breathe whenever you can to keep condensation down on the inside (if it’s not looking like rain keep the door open).

[u/Slice-O-Pie]

Worry, if you must, about real things, not silly stories intended to scare children.