November 2020
Time to make: 3 hours
Finishing: 1 hour
Original design: Bill Macfarlane
When camping in bear country, or other critters, one method of food storage is "bear bags". In Philmont this is the only acceptable method of food storage. The larger of the bags typically contains most of the food (sometimes 4 days worth) and requires several folks just to hoist up the cable. The smaller "whoops" usually contains the things that needed more frequently or are last minute forgotten items hence the nickname.
There are a couple of methods I could have used here with the first being to glue two large dowels to a flat piece of wood for the trees. Instead I decided on a stock removal method of carving the trees by removing the wood around them. I painted the slide with hobby paints which on retrospect was a mistake because I should have waited until I drilled holes for the cable and ropes. (Always learning, sigh). The cable is a piece of stainless steel wire super glued in place. The bags were made from some left over material and the ropes are some thick thread. I used some crazy glue to secure both my knots and the position on the cable as well as the positions on the tree. A couple of coats of poly finish it off.
