I will soon be purchasing a bear canister for a mid july JMT thru-hike. I am from chicago, so i have no idea when it comes to bear canisters. THere will be 3 of us hiking. What is the best size, and the lightest canister that would best suit our needs?
luke
I bought a bear vault and am happy so far. You can squeeze 6-7 days worth in no problem. It’s clear, great for searching for your last snickers. It’s light, great for your packweight (2.6 lbs.). It has a large opening for easier access. And it only costs about $100 compared to the ridiculous carbon fiber variety. It’s what I’ll be using on the JMT in August.
Happy hiking!
Cap’n
2.6 lbs is a lot of weight for a food container. With all the durable synthetic plastics out there, can’t they make a tuff bear can that weighs under a pound?
Walkingstick
I rented one of the huge monstrosities from the ranger station. Still managed to squeeze in 14 days of food at Vermilion, lot’s of rice combination food packs down pretty small. It even gave us the chance to take three zero’s camped off trail next to the San Joaquin.
In my opnion, you only need the cannister for yosemite anyway, good judgement camping the rest of the way will avoid bear encounters. I’d be interested to know what PCT hikers do about the cannister regime.
Cheers
Cheers
Be sure you know where along the JMT there are bear boxes. It will help greatly in planning how much food you have to get in your cannister. Obviously, the food you eat the 1st day out does not go in the cannister. If you have access to bear boxes for the next night or so, those days food do not go in the cannister. For a list of bear boxes,
http://www.climber.org/data/BearBoxes.html
For example, 3 of us hiked from Onion Valley, over Kersarge Pass and then on the JMT to LeConte Canyon and out over Bishop Pass - 6 days - with one cannister. We had bear boxes the 1st night at Kersarge Lakes and the 2nd night at Woods Creek Crossing. So we only needed the last 3 days of food for 3 people in the cannister. That is not difficult if you follow the packing regimen described by Tom Reynolds.
For tips on how to pack your canisiter, read The Care and Feeding of Your Bear Canister by Tom Reynolds. You can download that document from this pcta webpage:
http://www.pcta.org/planning/before_trip/health/bears.asp
There are great little tips the make a big difference: like not using ziplock bags, but instead using bags with twist ties and then putting the twist tie at the top of the bag so you can then squish the bag into any shape and fill little pockets around bulkier foods.
Turtle Walking
Just keep in mind that bear boxes don’t keep mice out and other small animals out of your food.
Bob
bob is right. when we use a box and have food outside a canister, i’ll inspect the box for holes (typically bolt holes that for whatever reason didn’t get closed with a bolt). then i peel a wee bit of duct tape off, seal the hole, and place a rock over it to prevent mice from nibbling & pushing through. the bolt holes are always on the bottom of the box, so the box can be bolted to the ground. any time i’ve forgotten to do this, i’ve ended up with holes in my food bag. every time i’ve remembered to do this, i’ve had no problems whatsoever.
tarbubble