Bear canisters

[eggymane]

I bought an Ursack to be used along the Divide.
I'll be back with a report later this year.
Thanks for the list of potential problems.
Wayne


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If saving weight or taking up as minimal space as possible is the goal than the ursack is great! I'm hiking the Colorado Trail in July and considering bouncing up to the Tahoe Rim Trail right after-which will require a bear can I believe. Having a bear can I like will set me up to take my pack as is any where at any time.

[Venchka]

Tahoe Rim Trail . Org
Ambiguous at best.
"Bear proofing of all smellables (food, hygiene products, etc.) is required on the Tahoe Rim Trail. The preferred and most successful method is to utilize a bear canister."
Wayne


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[HooKooDooKu]

Mainly for convenience, I hike very few places that legally require it. I've been using an ursack for a while now and I've grown to dislike it on most occasions. Upon waking up in the morning I've found spiders inside, I've had water inside, it absorbs dirt..etc. It will also provide a convenient place to sit around camp. If I'm not mistaken the lid also doubles as a fry pan.
I've been using a BV450, but as has been stated earlier, the lid can be quite the pain when it is cold outside. I just enjoy the convenience, that's all

The Bearikade isn't the bear canister that doubles as a fry pan... that's another bear canister that is very much like the BearVault in construction.

However, I loved how easy it was to work with the Bearikade. You simply need to keep up with a quarter or a nickle, and give the three screws a quarter turn and you're in... temperatures don't affect how difficult or easy it is to open it. By comparision, I encountered a few people using BearVaults that needed help getting the thing open on a cold morning... basically took two people and the credit card trick.
Because I was carrying a Bearikade in the top of my pack, my pack had a pocket under the brain and that's where I kept my coin (with a backup coin somewhere else). So at lunch t

[BuckeyeBill]

Hookoodooku, One hack I have seen for the lost coin/opener is get a proper size washer and put a small loop of cord thru it. Pass one end of the loop thru the other end. Now you can clip this to a place on your pack with a very small carabiner. if you use a bright colored cord it will be easier to find if you drop it.

[HooKooDooKu]

Hookoodooku, One hack I have seen for the lost coin/opener is get a proper size washer and put a small loop of cord thru it. Pass one end of the loop thru the other end. Now you can clip this to a place on your pack with a very small carabiner. if you use a bright colored cord it will be easier to find if you drop it.

I've heard of a couple of different hacks on making sure you have something to open the Bearikade with.

In my case, the Bearikade was stored vertically in the top-inside of my Ospray Volt 75 pack. The pack's "brain" had a mesh zipper pocket on the underside. I simply kept a coin and my 1st aid scissors in a ziplock bag I kept in the mesh pocket (with a backup coin in my wallet). The arraignment allowed me to stop for lunch without having to remove the Bearikade from my pack. The combination of scissors and coin in a ziplock made it a little more difficult to misplace, and the scissors were constantly being used in regard to food because I had custom packaged by food in sealed bags (vacuum sealed bags, and ziplock bags custom cut-to-size and sealed for one time use).

[Zman]

i was thinking of camping on the top of Blood Mountain. I guess that means a canister?

[Venchka]

i was thinking of camping on the top of Blood Mountain. I guess that means a canister?

As I understand the situation, and it's been awhile since I read this, the real problem is undisciplined car campers downhill from the AT. Didn't sound like a good place to spend the night. That problem may not exist anymore or be limited to weekends.
More research is needed.
Wayne


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[BuckeyeBill]

I've heard of a couple of different hacks on making sure you have something to open the Bearikade with.

In my case, the Bearikade was stored vertically in the top-inside of my Ospray Volt 75 pack. The pack's "brain" had a mesh zipper pocket on the underside. I simply kept a coin and my 1st aid scissors in a ziplock bag I kept in the mesh pocket (with a backup coin in my wallet). The arraignment allowed me to stop for lunch without having to remove the Bearikade from my pack. The combination of scissors and coin in a ziplock made it a little more difficult to misplace, and the scissors were constantly being used in regard to food because I had custom packaged by food in sealed bags (vacuum sealed bags, and ziplock bags custom cut-to-size and sealed for one time use).

sounds like you got it covered then.

[Runner2017]

i was thinking of camping on the top of Blood Mountain. I guess that means a canister?

Yes, Bear Canister is required for staying at the shelter or camping on the summit after March 1.

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[Francis Sawyer]

What if you hang the bear canister from a branch maybe 7-8 ft high and watch as the bear plays with it like a piñata. That there would be real entertainment

[Turk6177]

I chose the "Lighter1 Big Daddy" bear canister on my JMT thru hike. The pros are that I left my cook pot at home and used the lid to boil my water to rehydrate my meals. Another pro is that you can see into it so you don't have to empty it to get what you want. My only cons were that while others sat on their bear cans as we ate, I couldn't sit on mine because I was using the top as my cook pot. Also, and this may be my mistake, I thought the handle while dumping water into my freezer bags was a little loose when pouring water out of it. The last, which is really neither pro or con was the cookpot handle/brace for the can makes you have to "tetris" your food at the very top of the container to go around it. More of a technique thing than a pro or con. I had 9 days food in mine and it was packed to the rim. It would be great for a week's worth of food. Here is a link if you are interested. http://lighter1.com/products/

[clusterone]

This is a nice little guy, but pricey. Works well for me as I like to carry a small pan for cooking. https://www.amazon.com/Lighter1-Lil-.../dp/B00FM23RPG

[Zman]

So, now that I have a bear canister, if I chose to use it instead of going thru the hassle of hanging my backpack, that would suffice???

[Venchka]

No, canisters are put on the ground away from your campsite. Bears learn to avoid them in areas like the Sierra.

Post #8.
Wayne


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[QiWiz]

For hard-sided, Wild Ideas Bearikade; for soft-sided, Ursack.