[pct-l] Bear Canister

[Sean 'Miner' Nordeen]

I'm assuming you are doing the PCT and not just the JMT.  Red's Meadow (Mammoth Lakes) is the last place where you can pick one up assuming you have been camping next to bear boxes since Cottonwood Pass (and some bear boxes can be full when you arrive)..  Few hikers could make it from Red's Meadow to Toulumne Meadows in one day.  And no Yosemite Ranger will accept you being in the backcountry while not having one once you cross YNP border at Donahue Pass (they are more strict about them then other places).  Most hikers don't want to be forced to camp only where bear boxes are since it really limits your flexibility and you can't adjust your mileage based on how hard or easy the days hiking was.  Which is why most get theirs at Kennedy Meadows and a few go into Lone Pine from Cottonwood Pass area to get theirs.  Since you need to keep your Bear Can until you leave the northern boundary of Yosemite NP, you are stuck with it until you reach Sonora Pass (assuming you do the long hitch to BridgePort's Post Office to mail home) or even Lake Tahoe.  I picked mine up at Kennedy Meadows, resupplied over Keasarge Pass in Independence and again in Mammoth Lakes (Red's Meadow) and then carried it all the way to South Lake Tahoe before mailing it home.

-Miner

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Check my 2009 PCT Journal out at http://www.pct2009.lifesadventures.net/Journal.php