Bear can placement.....

[saltysack]

Curious how far you put your bear canister away from your shelter? I'm used to sleeping with my food bag on the AT.....also usually have my bear/rodent deterrent(dog) with me...I'd rather fight the bear than loose my food! Seems you would want fairly close so you could hear it before it was lost...was thinking ear plugs may not be a good idea...recommendations??


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[MuddyWaters]

Put some reflective tape on it so you can see it in dark with flashlight , especially if its pretty far away.. Stack some rocks on top so it will make noise if something plays with it.

Often, you will need to find a place it cant roll away downhill, especially into a creek or river, that will dictate where it goes. Might be close, might be far.

Most of the time mine was less than 20 ft away.

[imscotty]

Salty, My Bearikade came with the recommendation that it be placed in a depression and some bushes to keep it from moving too far. It would suck to watch a bear swat your food supply down the mountain. I want mine to be close enough to keep an 'ear' on, but far enough away to keep a safe distance. I'm thinking at least 100', maybe more.

[MuddyWaters]

Yosemite used to say put them 100 ft away, but today i think they say 30 ft, close enough you can drive a bear away.

The bear knows where you are, regardless. You arent hiding by placing cannister a long ways away. You are giving bear unfetterred access to it.

[Lyle]

We placed ours about 30 to 50 feet from our tents. Never had a problem. In Dusey Basin we watched a bear lumber about a few hundred yards away while setting up our campsite, but he/she never visited our campsite. As already stated, pay heed to where it will go if batted about for a while.

[saltysack]

I pity the fool that touches my can!!!!
http://youtu.be/3kf79Uqmo68


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[HooKooDooKu]

I'd rather fight the bear than loose my food!

That's the whole point of a bear canister. In theory, the canister is strong enough the bear can't get into it. If he can't get into it, he's not going to bother with trying to haul it off for any reason. So once the bear has given up and moved on, you simply have to locate the canister (hence MuddyWaters' suggestions).

[saltysack]

That's the whole point of a bear canister. In theory, the canister is strong enough the bear can't get into it. If he can't get into it, he's not going to bother with trying to haul it off for any reason. So once the bear has given up and moved on, you simply have to locate the canister (hence MuddyWaters' suggestions).

Y I realize that...just don't want bear rolling it down mtn.....


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[colorado_rob]

Yeah, as has been said, a nice depression works to contain the canister in the unlikely event a bear finds it. Our first JMT was with a group, and we stacked our canisters in a nice little pyramid so we'd hear the crashing down if bothered by a bear.

In 3+ total weeks on the JMT we saw one bear, and he/she never bothered our canisters, but he did rip my wife's pack wide open! Quite an exciting night. Always use the canister for everything; we made the mistake of leaving some Gatorade powder in a baggie in her pack, supposedly an OP sack, right. The red stain is bear-slobber from chewing through the red-Gatorade powder sack.

[saltysack]

Holy ship! I always keep my pack inside my tent....maybe not good idea....what about scent in pack from the days food in a stuff sack....


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[Deadeye]

I have some hunter orange duct tape on my canister to help find it if it's been molested... I think I'll try the reflective tape, too. But in all the years (10+) that I've been using canisters to carry or cache food, it's never been touched. I put it far from the campsite (100+ feet), and try to find a spot where it can't be sent on it's merry way. There always seems to be a downed tree nearby to snuggle the can near.

[Spirit Walker]

If you're in open country, one thing we learned to do in Alaska was put a hiking pole nearby so we knew where to look for the can. We'd usually find a bush to put it under, at least 100'-- usually 100 yards-- away since it was grizzly country.

[MuddyWaters]

About right:

14110049639340.jpg

[CarlZ993]

Placement of canister? Just be sure it isn't near a creek or cliff. In about 700-800 miles of Sierra hiking, I've never had a bear mess w/ my canister.

My biggest problem was having enough volume in the canister for the MTR to Whitney Portal leg. I still had to hang some food the first few days out of MTR. Me & my buddy had our empty cook pots & cups (titanium) propped up on rocks underneath the food-hanging tree. We propped our hiking poles against as well. We wanted to make sure the bear made a lot of noise if he climbed the tree. We had a ready supply of throwing rocks by our tent as ammo against the bears. If the bear doesn't have the food bag, it was my food. If the bear had the food bag, it was his food.

Note: No bear problems occurred on my JMT thru-hike (2004). On a 1999 thru-hike attempt (injury-aborted over Kearsarge Pass), I had a bear get some food trash that was hung in a tree.

[MuddyWaters]

I believe yosemite had a couple dozen bear incidents on JMT last year. Primarily people not securing containers properly. Out of a few thousand hikers its a low percentage. But its real.

You can expect bears at LYV and backpackers camp in yosemit. There are known backcountry bear areas to stay away from too. Lyell Canyon for instance in yosemite. Several others along JMT route.

[saltysack]

About right:

14110049639340.jpg

Any tricks to using rocks instead if tent stakes...never had to do before..use lhg soling6. I assume cinch guy lines around smaller rock anchored by bigger rock as chalk to keep in place. With all the hard ground do most use a tyvek or poly ground sheet for tent or sleep pad if cowboy camping?


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[saltysack]

Oops....LHG Solong6


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[MuddyWaters]

Any tricks to using rocks instead if tent stakes...never had to do before..use lhg soling6. I assume cinch guy lines around smaller rock anchored by bigger rock as chalk to keep in place. With all the hard ground do most use a tyvek or poly ground sheet for tent or sleep pad if cowboy camping?


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Some will tie a couple feet of mason twine to their guyouts, then you can wrap it around rocks. I just wrap around a small stick, then pile big rocks on. If stake in ground, i put stick on top and then rocks. I have had guylines fray in two by winds before, so keep taught lines away from rock edges. No sc
ience to it

[saltysack]

MW...Good idea about the mason twine..the stake out lines are fairly short on the solong6...u use ground sheet?


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[MuddyWaters]

MW...Good idea about the mason twine..the stake out lines are fairly short on the solong6...u use ground sheet?


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my hexamid has1.0 cuben ground sheet. I wouldnt take another one if had tent bottom though. Just use tent for groundsheet if cowboy camp, lay on top of it.