LOTS of posts on this subject...

Here is a link that might be useful: Altitude canning

None of them answered my question (not that I found, anyway) - will the seals on my canned goods handle the altitude change without failing? I've certainly noticed in the past that other things are affected by the altitude change.

Once we're there we cannot run to a store to buy more food, so this is actually rather important to know.

The canned goods would be just fine, provided you keep a ring on the caps. I doubt if they would explode or leak. In fact, I think that the higher altitute gives a stronger vacuum.. Dried foods like jerky is also good. I've seen freeze dried things sold in camping outlets.

Thank you very much - that is what I was hoping to hear. :-)

My daughter lives at 8,700 ft. Sometimes the contents (mostly jams) will leak out under the seal just a little.

She puts the leaky jars in the fridge and uses them up first. (doesn't take her long to use them up)

I always make sure the bands are on tight. This has happened a few times.

When we ship her anything, we always put the jars in a storage bag just in case.

Lynn

Robin, the lower air pressure at higher altitudes would make the seal more likely to fail, not less. The difference between inside and outside the jars is smaller, but if you're effectively vented most of the air, they should stay sealed.

The strongest seals will be safer than the weaker ones (some products always seem to turn out only borderline-sealed for me). The pressure-canned stuff should be safer than the BWB because the air in the jars was hotter, and therefore thinner, at the time they sealed.

If you want to go foolproof, I would bring enough fruit and vegetables to give you a meager ration every day. That way if every jar opens, you can eat meat for as long as it's safe, but still have enough food to get by. I think you'll be fine, I'm just proposing this as a safety net if you're worried.

Scientific note...the longer processing time at higher altitudes is due to the lower temperature of boiling water, not directly due to the lower pressure. When it comes to pressure, differences are the only quantities that have a practical effect on our lives; absolute pressures don't really matter.

Melissa

Bring along lots of pepperoni. It needs no refrigeration and is a nice snack even if you chew off a whole chunk from a foot long sausage.

Good advice, all - thank you very much. We're quite practiced at packing for this vacation (been going every summer all my life) and it's really only the last few days that we need to get into the canned food; in fact, often times we bring much of it back home with us. This time, though, we want to eat it there. And if the fishing's good, we'll have fresh trout, yum. :-)

Thanks for the clarification re: altitude and pressure, Melissa - my memory of those lessons from waaaaaayyyyy back in school are obviously... nonexistent, lol.

I will put the home-canned goods inside plastic produce bags for the trip, just in case they leak.

Pepperoni and jerky are always on our list - they are great to munch in a boat or float tube. :-)