Bear Can in a GoLite Jam 30?

[LeftyHikes]

Getting ready to Hike the PCT next Spring and I was wondering if anyone has had any success with finding a good bear can that will fit in a GoLite Jam? I am also thinking about getting a ULA pack for this trip and letting my little brother Use my JAM. I probably wont use the Bear can the entire trip but where it is neccessary I dont want to mess with Brown bears. AT Black bears are one thing but an aggressive Grizzly doesn't sound like my idea of absorbing nature!

[Snowleopard]

There are parts of the PCT where bear canisters are required. From what I've read, it probably takes a bear canister per person to make it between resupplies where the bc is required. I have an older Golite Jam that is, I think, 50L; a Garcia bear canister is a tight fit, a little too wide to go in and out easily. Go to REI with your pack and try fitting a bear canister into it.

In case you ever get to the Adirondacks High Peaks (recommended), the bear vaults are not legal there because a genius bear has taught her cubs how to open them.

[Feral Bill]

No grizzlies on the PCT, except possibly near the Canadian border.

[CarlZ993]

The California park bears (Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, etc) are pretty crafty about getting food. Even if you hang your food in text book fashion. The Rangers will check you if they see you have a canister in your pack. I've heard that they cite you if you didn't have a canister and hike you to the near TH (what a Ranger told a thru-hiker last summer who relayed that to me; unsure if it's true or just bravado).

I have a Jam pack (old one). You could use a canister in a vertical configuration. Not much room afterward, tho. The Pinnacle pack (larger Golite pack) can handle a canister horizontally.

Remember: If the bear doesn't have your food bag, it's your food. If the bear has your food bag, it's his food. My excess food (didn't all fit in the canister on my longest JMT resupply) was hung - PCT style - in a tree. I set up empty pots, cups, hiking poles, etc around the base of the tree. I had a supply of throwing rocks near the front of my tent. I was prepared to try to scare off any bears that tried to get to me food. Fortunately, none did and I ate my food supply down to where it all fit inside the canister.

If a CA bear tries to get your food, it will not quit. A buddy of mine had such a circumstance arise in the Sierras. He was his wife and another hiker. The three of them had to rotate guard duty on their food bags throughout the remainder of the night. I met another thru-hiker (in 1998 when the requirements weren't so stringent) who slept w/ his food in his tarp. When a bear came for his food, he'd wake up. He'd shoo the bear away, pack up all his gear, and hike for another hour in the dark and then set up camp again. He said he'd never lost any food that way (saw him @ Vermillion and he was going SoBo).

Good luck on your PCT hike.

[frisbeefreek]

To indirectly answer your question, all canisters will fit vertically in your pack, but it sucks, and doesn't leave much room for anything else. I used a Bear Vault 500 in the mandatory area between Kennedy Meadows (mile 700) and Echo Lake (mile 1100) (actually, you can ditch you canister at Sonora Pass around mile 1020). Plan on strapping stuff to the outside of your pack, and wrapping your canister with your sleeping mat.

I loathed my canister - 2.5lbs of hard, unforgiving plastic. The only thing that made it tolerable is that I was able to put in horizontally in the bottom of my Granite Gear Nimbus Ozone, so it was more comfortable than having it run up my spine.

It was a $500 fine in 2009 it you got busted not using a canister. I had a Ranger check my pack and permit just south of Tuolumne Meadows.

[staehpj1]

I don't know it it is approved there or if it is large enough for your needs, but the Bare Boxer is pretty small and packs more easily in smaller packs than any other canister I have seen.

[konradchen]

You're cutting it extremely close if you are only bringing the JAM 30. I did the JMT with an ULA catalyst, which was a bit overkill in hindsight. My base weight was 10lbs with the bear canister. If I were you, I would look at the ULA circuit or ohm. But back to your original question...you could fit a bare boxer contender in there (vertically) but that's only good for 3-5 days of food. The next step up would be the bv450, but you would literally have no other room in the Jam 30.

[russb]

The famed Adirondack Bear who solved the BV lid, Yellow-Yellow was her name, was recently taken by a hunter this season. The reports that she has taught her cubs to also open the BV are premature as it is not known whether this is the case.

[Wise Old Owl]

Ahh there are no absolutes when dealing with wildlife.... interesting read gentleman.