View Full Version : Bear Canisters?
All, not sure if this is the correct area to post, sorry, if not. Are bear canisters required on any area of the AT? And if so, what would one do?
Would you purchase a can and just use it for the one section? Mail drop it, and then discard it?
Thanks.
nice signature..............see ya in santa clara and chicago......
anyways...
there is a section in georgia that has restrictions....
http://www.appalachiantrail.org/hiking/trail-updates
to answer the other questions-----for a section hike of that area----i would maybe rent one or try to borrow one......
however, i am looking to purchase one in the near future........
Five Tango
05-29-2015, 20:07
Who tells the bears when its June 1st and the canister is no longer required?Seriously curious on this one.
Sarcasm the elf
05-29-2015, 20:09
The section in question if only 5 miles long and you only need a canister if you are camping there, not if you are just hiking the trail. Just make sure to hike through that section without spending the night and you will be fine legally. Alternately just hike that section during the part of the year the requirement is not in effect.
No Directions
05-29-2015, 20:42
Who tells the bears when its June 1st and the canister is no longer required?Seriously curious on this one.
I also wonder what makes this particular area any different from the hundred other places on the AT where bears frequent.
Not sure how the date of June 1 came about but I would imagine that possibly those months showed higher activity because the bears have not yet recovered from their lower food intake during the colder months and other food options such as berries may not be as plentiful until after approximately 1 June. Just a thought anyway.
Sarcasm the elf
05-30-2015, 00:04
Not sure how the date of June 1 came about but I would imagine that possibly those months showed higher activity because the bears have not yet recovered from their lower food intake during the colder months and other food options such as berries may not be as plentiful until after approximately 1 June. Just a thought anyway.
I suspect it also has to do with the large number of thru hikers and spring breakers that pass through this easily accessible area.
MuddyWaters
05-30-2015, 11:15
I wouldnt object if everyone was required to use them all the time. Really not an issue, and they work . habituated bears get destroyed many times.
nsherry61
05-30-2015, 11:58
. . . what makes this particular area any different from the hundred other places on the AT where bears frequent.
If I understand it correctly, the eastern High Peaks area in the Adirondacks has bear canister requirements and is the one place where bears have even learned how to open the Bear Vaults. Yet, a long day's hike west into the western High Peaks area, well within a day's walk for a bear, and bears are almost not an issue. It is regularly noted that camping in frequently used camp sites is a practice that leads to more bear encounters than "stealth camping" in the same area. Maybe the majority of problem bear behavior can be narrowed down to individual campgrounds or even camp sites where bears have become habituated to human food at places and times of year when "problem people" are the most prevalent.
MuddyWaters
05-30-2015, 12:06
A few years ago, the bears were having a field day with hikers food right there in the Blood Mtn area. Staff at Mountain crossings kept a tally of hikers food lost to bears.(they all purchase new food there) It was about quite high, about 100 in just a few weeks. Hence the cannister rule in that 5 mile stretch. Basically since no one carries a cannister, no hikers camp there now before June. The bears just likely went across the road to the other side of neel gap where there was no cannister rule.