The Garden Hose Hack for Barbed Wire
The hose instantly covers the barbs, giving you something safe to grab onto…
No, this isn’t a clever trick for hopping fences where you don’t belong.
This one’s for landowners, guides with access to private leases and anglers who occasionally find themselves needing to cross a barbed-wire fence while wearing a pair of waders that cost more than they’d care to admit.
I suspect this hack isn’t new to a lot of folks, but when I watched our guide, Ives Barrientos, pull it out a few weeks ago at Magic Waters Patagonia Lodge in Chile, I was dumbfounded. How in the world had I never seen this before?
The solution couldn’t be simpler:
Cut a two-foot section of old garden hose.
Slice it lengthwise down one side.
Roll it up and toss in your daypack.
When it’s time to cross a fence, pull it out and slip over the wire.
The hose instantly covers the barbs, giving you something safe to grab onto, while also protecting your waders from an expensive and potentially trip-ending puncture.
If you’re dealing with multiple strands, you can move it around as needed.
Simple, lightweight and free.
After crossing into one of Magic Waters’ many leased rivers just outside of Coyhaique, Chile, we picked our way over a handful of barbed-wire fences before the valley tightened into a dramatic canyon.
At its head was a spectacular waterfall pouring into a pool filled with fish–a destination well worth the effort.
