Bear vault - Pacific Crest Trail

imported
#1

some parts of the p.c.t. they say you need a vault. I plan on carrying mine the whole trail. good or bad please help me decide thank you (LUCKY)

_dwayne _

#2

Lucky,
IMO, not a good idea unless you are more comfortable thinking that it makes your food “bear proof”, which it does not. It takes up a constant amount of room in your pack, plus the extra weight of it all. You will need the room for water (especially while down south). Here is an option, you can mail the thing forward without the need for a box to put it in. The PO will take it as is and place the postage on the lid, be sure to have the ability to track it though. Carry it for a while if you wish, if you opt to take this advise, mail it forward to where you first will actually need it (KM if I recall). After all a few pounds is a few pounds. WB

WB

#3

I concur with WB. It would be very difficult to carry the amount of water needed to survive in the Southern Desert, Mojave and also in Northern California (Hat Creek Rim section) if you carry a BV. BVs are difficult to pack, they take up a lot of room, but they do make a fantastic seat around a nice warm fire up in the Sierra. I sent my BV to Kennedy Meadows (south) and then after the Sierra I continued to use it as a bounce box all the way to Canada.

As far as I recall, you only need your BV from KM (south) to Tuolumne Meadows.

Good luck and enjoy your hike!

lil’ buddha

#4

I used the larger bear vault and had it shipped to Kennedy Meadows store. I ditched it as soon as legally possible. I didn’t see any bears where it is required to carry one but I saw 16 bears on the whole PCT. I also got stopped by 2 rangers and checked for permits while in the area where it is required to carry a BV. I rarely cooked within 2 miles of my camp and I slept with my food by my side more than not(when I wasn’t carrying my BV). It’s a personal preference to carry a BV or not and will be determined by your comfort level traveling in bear country. When I didn’t have my BV I felt more comfortable sleeping with my food than risk having my foodbag stolen by a bear in the middle of no where. I only had a few run ins with rodents or ants on the entire PCT. The average pack base weight of a veteran PCT thru hiker is probably 8-10 lbs. and a bearvault would add on another 25% on to that number if you carried it the whole way. For me it doesn’t fit in my system. Good luck and have a safe hike.

Spigot

#5

After thinking about it I did see 2 seperate bears a couple of hours north of kennedy meadows eating manzanita berries right on the PCT. #'s 5&6 out of 16 total.

Spigot

#6

"As far as I recall, you only need your BV from KM (south) to Tuolumne Meadows. "

What is it with some hikers sending their bearcans home at Tuoulumne Meadows? Some people were apparently doing it last year when I hiked but I didn’t understand it. The rangers in Yosemite are the strictest in the Sierras about enforcing BearCan regulations so if you are going to carry one somewhere, it should be there. I ran into a ranger hiking south on the PCT about a day north of Glen Aulin, so they are out there.

You are required to have a bearcan until you leave the northern boundary of Yosemite which is a few days further north of Tuolumne. There are ways of cheating the bearcan requirement south of Red’s Meadow, but not in Yosemite. And as there is no way to get ride of it until at least Sonora Pass assuming you make the 30+mile hitch to BridgePort. Or for most people, you keep it to Echo Summit by Lake Tahoe.

But I would not carry a bearcan for the entire trail. It’s too heavy and bulky and it isn’t needed in most places. Though there was a bear that kept raiding the Church lawn in Sierra City where many hikers camped last summer.

Miner