Bear canisters?

imported
#1

Are they absolutely necessary? I’ve read some folks say they are mandatory on Yosemite and Kings Canyon but Yogi’s book says many folks didn’t carry one. Is this outdated info? What is the real deal?? Thanks

A-Train

#2

When I was in Yosemite last summer working for the park I spent a month in the park and saw no bear. We had cans but we never saw a bear. Do you need a can? I guess not but you can get a ticket if you don’t have one. It is also about where you camp but you know that. The way I see it is if you got a carbon fiber can which we had. It is not that bad and it makes sure you have breakfast in the morning which is nice. So I did not mind carrying it. I could have done with out the shove though.

boy who wanders

#3

Quotes from the current edition of my book:

"In 2001-2002-2003, I never saw a bear in the Sierra. I did see a Ranger each year. Each time, the Ranger stopped to talk to me, asked what I was doing for food storage, and went on his/her way. Every time, I did not have a bear canister with me. Perhaps I was lucky to not be issued a ticket. Other hikers I knew were not so lucky.

Bears were very active in the Sierra in 2004 and 2005. Rangers are becoming very aggressive in issuing tickets. My advice to hikers who choose not to carry a bear canister is this: Choose your campsites carefully. Double-bag your food bag with a couple garbage bags. If you see a Ranger, DO NOT show any thru-hiker attitude. Be polite and friendly. Ask them about trail conditions (people of authority LOVE the chance to be the person “in the know”). When they ask what you’re doing for food storage, begin by stating that you never camp where you cook. You cook dinner a couple hours before camping and then look for a stealth site — a place where it appears nobody has camped before.

Bears are creatures of habit. They will return to locations where they have obtained food in the past. The Rangers are trying to protect the bears. A fed bear is a dead bear. If you can show the Ranger that you’re doing everything possible to NOT attract bears AND that you are aware of the regulations, he/she may show some leniency."

“The previous few pages of this Handbook have told contradicting stories. First, I outlined how to properly store your food in the Sierra. I even encouraged you to carry a bear canister. Then I presented quotes from 16 hikers stating they didn’t use canisters and only 2 who did use canisters. The fact is that most of the quotes were from 2002 and 2003 hikers. Things were different back then. In 2004 and 2005, bears were a problem in the Sierra. So, if you get information from former hikers regarding Sierra food storage, be sure to find out what year they hiked. Things have changed.”

yogi

www.pcthandbook.com

yogi

#4

About two years ago I got tired of rumors and looked up the law on the web pages for SEKI, YOS, Inyo. What I found was that, according to the feds info, you do not absolutely have to have a bear cannister, except in a few settings. I posted the info to the PCT-L, but don’t have a copy of the email sitting around. You might try searching under my email address at the time, chwillet@indiana.edu

The only place where you had to have one was the Ansel Adams wilderness. All other restricted areas could be crossed in a day.

Suge

#5

Sequoia & Kings Canyon:
www.nps.gov/seki/snrm/wildlife/food_storage.htm

Yosemite: www.nps.gov/yose/bears/#wilderness

Bear canister requirements are on those websites. The Yosemite website used to state “this requirement does not apply to food that’s being transported or eaten”, but last year they removed that statement.

It’s not as easy to cross through the can-required-areas as it used to be. Bear activity in 2004 and 2005 (especially the Rae Lakes bear activity) seems to have prompted a tightening of the regulations.

yogi

www.pcthandbook.com

yogi

#6

and the bear that can open bearcans between kearsarge pass and forester pass. see notice here from the onion valley trail head. and again here at tyndall creek.

jerm

#7

Read the notes closely. The bear can open Bearikade and BearVault canisters. Apparently the bear hasn’t learned how to open Garcia canisters yet.

These notes remind me of ranger notes posted at Rae Lakes in 2000 telling that hanging food, even in the best trees, was not a good storage solution. That was when bear canisters were the new thing. Now the bears have continued to learn as fast as the backpackers change methods.

Those California sierra bears sure are smart! Especially the Rae Lakes bears.

Ken

#8

we figured out that it wasn’t even a bear at all. we discovered that the owner of garcia lives in the sierra’s and it is him going around dressed up in a bear suit and opening bearvaults and bearikades. see here for an older discussion.

all joking aside. the note at onion valley was dated on the 20th of august. our permit was issued on the 15th in yosemite valley and had no problem with our bearvaults. but we talked with others that were issued permits after the 20th from SEKI that they were not allowed to use there bearvaults but were rented a garcia for free.

jerm

#9

I donno if the '89 bear fell on my tent or jumped on it to get my ziplocked chocolate in the dwarf treed Charlotte Lakes; but it were very scary, especially since my flashlite were dead. The gourmet gals & me had to throw stones after my bloodcurdling screams scared it 50 yards away where it was pacing back & forth. We hung our food bags from the tiny tree where it was pacing & it didn’t came back… the grizzly in Glacier I saw just went back to eating roots & shoots as I passed by (it were small).

Gingerbreadman

#10

The Adirondacks High Peaks area requires bear canisters now. They started that regulation in 2005 (I think). I hiked the Northville-Placid trail last summer and did not carry a canister but that trail only touches the outside edge of the High Peaks region. Never saw a bear but saw some sign of them. I hung my food and it was never touched. There were some other hikers with the EMS Bear Vaults, so I got a close up look at those style of canisters. I think the smaller one wouldn’t be too bad to carry. I am not totally sold on them yet but would carry one if the regulations required it.
The other thing to consider is convenience. Providing the bears cannot get into them, you don’t have to hunt around for a suitable tree with a good branch to hang your bag from (some places this is almost impossible, unlike the pictures in the books of a perfectly hung bear bag). Simply put the canister on the ground somewhere away from your sleeping area.

WoodBadge

#11

Them blackies in California are some mean bars. They often rip a car door off to get to food inside, like opening a can of sardines.

Bar hunter

#12

Hiking on the John Muir trail last September, I was carrying most of my food in a can. About 1/3 of it wouldn’t fit so I hung a bear bag. The bear made short work of my bear bag and had a go at the can too.

You can rent a bear can at one ranger station and drop it off at another. This it seems would be a good compromise if you’re not wanting to carry a bear can for the whole trip.:boy

jalan

#13

Jeff and I carried bearvaults in the Sierra in '04. We were very glad we did, although we still made an effort to camp in unused sites when possible. There were too many bear around to comfortably do anything else. In mid June '04 no ranger stations were open, so renting a can was a nonstarter. We bought ours and had them shipped to us.

With careful, totally retentive, packing, we could get a full week’s worth of food in our canisters. Thruhiker quantities. It usually meant repacking at least once and sometimes twice, but if you choose your foods carefully, it can be done.

I can’t speak to '05, but our year lots of people carried bear cans (actually most people we met did), despite the lower bear activity of '03. What’s a couple of pounds if it helps you sleep better at night? Ditch a luxury item before the Sierra and pick it up again afterwards if nec. As for the bears that can get the bearvaults open - scary. I wonder if they were closed properly and which version lid they had? Early vaults had a different lid that seemed easier to open.

Chipper

#14

I ran into Billy Goat a number of times on the PCT last year. He had a couple of fun bear stories. Many of you know Billy Goat - for those that don’t, he’s a perennial PCT thru-hiker & a true mountain man.

At an AlDHA gathering, BG was asked to do a bear bagging demonstration. Quite a few hikers gathered around for this instructional demonstration & BG did a fine job demonstrating the proper bear bagging technique. All was well, until BG started taking questions. Someone asked how many times BG had bear-bagged. He responded, “Never!” to the amazement and laughter of the crowd. You see, Billy Goat has always slept with his food.

I asked him last year if he has ever had any problems sleeping with his food. He reponded “I’ve never lost my food to a bear!” with that glorious twinkle in his eye.

Last year as BG was walking through Yosemite, an enforcement Ranger stopped him near Tuolumne Meadows. There were other hikers standing around as the Ranger started interrogating BG. The Ranger asked him whether he was carrying a bear cannister. BG admitted that he wasn’t. The Ranger then asked how BG was protecting his food. BG thought that he was in deep trouble at this point, and so he boldly declared the truth: “I SLEEP with it!” (they say the best defense is a good offense…) The Ranger took a step back and hesitated - he was obviously caught off guard & the ball was in his court. Finally, the Ranger said, “That’s good, otherwise if you bear-bagged you might lose your food.” At this point, the Ranger sheepishly walked back to his cabin.

freebird

#15

The bears in the Sierra can be broadly categorized as campground bears or backcountry bears. The campground bears have it all figured out and will get your food if you bag and hang it. They may even unilaterally decide to become your tent guest if the food oder is enticing enough.

To neutralize these guys, either carry a bear container, carefully stealth camp, utilize bear boxes or get the hell out of Dodge and hike through the popular day hike / campground / bear acclamated (sp) territories (Kearsarge / Vidette Meadows / Rae Lakes, etc) asap without camping.

Backcountry bears want nothing to do with you - but will capitalize on any “life is harder when you’re stupid” food mishandling episodes. I’ve never used a bear container - but will use bear boxes if available, sleep with my food, but most importantly, stealth/dry camp (I hike solo). I carry bear spray, keep pot and cup available as noise makers in the tent, have treking poles available to joust with Smokey (admittedly, probably as something to do to keep busy as the critter destroys my tent), and ample sized rocks near the tent entrance to keep his attention if he backs off.

It’s all about risk - acceptance and management. In 19 years of solo Southern Sierra hiking, the only two bear encounters I’ve had (encounters - not sightings)have been the result of my stupidity in improperly hanging a foodbag.

booger

#16

I got a Bear Vault 250 with a 433 cu. inch capacity, but now I afraid it is not going to be big enough to hold all my food through the longer resupplies. What do y’all think?

Doug

Doug Smith

#17

I saw three bears and heard one playing with my cannister on the JMT in 2002. Admitedly, the three bears were encountered at the Little Yosemite Valley campground, a regular bear hangout by all accounts. However, I did stealth camp the rest of the way, cooked my dinner a few miles before making camp, all the sensible stuff. Found myself a good unused spot but still had a bear toss my cannister downhill, even though I’d tried to lodge it under a log. Thankfully I’d taped some reflective material to the thing to make it easy to find.

I heard many other stories about bears taking food that had been hung. In this area, I think they are worthwhile. Maybe I’m just one of the unlucky few.

Cheers

Cheers

#18

doug–from my experience, you might want to get the 300. you can only get about four days of food in the 250 vs. about 7-8 days in the 300, depending on how you repackage your food. the longest stretch, could be from kennedy meadows to vvr. but there are several places to get off the trail and resupply: lone pine via horseshoe meadows, independence via kearsarge pass, muir trail ranch and then vvr. and remember mammoth lakes is not that far past vvr.

jerm

#19

We got 20lb of food into each big bearvault. With 2 days of food in a separate bag (for the 1st 2 days out of KM) that was just enough for us to do the Sierra straight from KM to VVR.

dave