[pct-l] bear questions

[Bob Bankhead]

IMO, bulk is a bigger problem with bear canisters than their weight.

Some packs can not physically fit a bear canister inside, while other can only do so standing vertically, which eats up a huge amount of available pack space.  I suppose a carrier would work fine for attaching the can to the outside of your pack. Backpackers Cache http://www.backpackerscache.com/products.asp makes one for the Garcia Can. You do have to remember to remove the carrier before you go to bed or leave it unattended anywhere - even for a potty stop. 

Bear canisters are all 9 inches in diameter for a good reason - no known species of bear can open its jaws that wide and therefore can not pick it up and carry it off. For that same reason, even though some manufacturers will custom-make a canister to whatever capacity you choose, they won't reduce any dimension below 9 inches. 

However, bears can and do swat the cans around (in play or frustration?), and often for amazing distances if you didn't store them properly to begin with. Hence the recommendations by others to make them more visible somehow. 

Wilderness Solutions has a new, electrically-protected food carrier called the Palisade EST on the market that weighs less than a pound.  Very crudely, think "electrified Ursack".  According to the website, it has yet to be certified by SIBBG and IBGC, although results were submitted in April of 2007. See http://www.wilderness-solutions.com/palisade_est.htm


Wandering Bob
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